From the departments of “what are we doing?” and “who’s minding the store?”
I ask you this: Is the following an appropriate use of your tax dollars and is this in compliance with written City of Platte City policy? I present to you the fact-based opinion that it is not.
I’ve been provided an email that was sent from city administrator Marji Gehr to city staff members last summer in advance of the city’s July 4th celebration. For background and context, on June 14–about three weeks in advance of the celebration–Gehr told me (we were chatting at DJ Gehrt’s retirement ceremony at City Hall) that she and the chamber of commerce director were organizing a flag football tournament for the July 4th celebration. In so many words, I politely opined that it might be hard to find folks willing to play football in what could be 100 degree heat. She responded, in so many words, to the effect that she was comfortable in the ability to rally the troops and come up with enough teams for a tournament.
Based on the following email that was provided to me, it appears Gehr was offering up a liberal helping of public funds (in other words, your money) to help attract flag football players to play football with the mayor (I guess Tony Paolillo could not recruit his own team?) and dunk tank sitters to well, sit on the dunk tank plank. Here is Gehr’s message that went to city staff members about a week prior to the July 4th event:
“Staff
“We have a couple of opportunities to earn call back pay on the 4th of July–that’s 2 hours of guaranteed pay for less than 2 hours of your time.
“Any staff member that fills a 15 minute spot in the dunk tank gets 2 hours of OT pay. Yes, that’s right. You find someone (or volunteer yourself) for a 15 minute spot, the City will pay you 2 hours of OT. Fill more than 1 spot, receive more pay. Hmm, seems pretty easy right?
“Also, any staff member that fills a spot on a city flag football team–same deal. You play one game of flag football with the Mayor, elected officials and city staff–you get 2 hours of OT. You play more than 1 game, you get more OT. I know we have some competitive staff members that like money, right?
“Let me know if you want to receive some extra pay for having some fun next week!
–Marji”
The Landmark’s extensive public policy research team has found this applicable section of the City of Platte City’s posted employee manual. Section 5.02, part C of the city’s employee manual states:
“Employees working a city sponsored event must report the time worked during the event on their time sheet and will be compensated based on the hours worked.”
So finding someone else to volunteer for 15 minutes in the dunk tank gets you two hours of overtime pay? And Marji says if you find two people, you get twice the amount of overtime pay. That doesn’t seem to match the written policy. Per that email, the city administrator–at the expense of the taxpayer–agrees to give you two hours worth of overtime pay for 15 minutes of work that you didn’t do.
And, according to Marji’s message, you get OT pay based on the number of flag football games you play with the mayor, etc., not on “the hours worked,” which is what the city’s written policy states.
Lol. What the hell is this? In what world is this an appropriate use of taxpayer money?
As good luck would have it, the topic of compensating employees for participating in city activities happened to come up at Tuesday night’s regular meeting of the Platte City Board of Aldermen. It was perfect timing for this Between the Lines, which was being composed before the meeting and finished after the meeting.
On Tuesday night during a general discussion of 2024 wellness program criteria, alderman Dan Laxson asked city administrator Marji Gehr about employee compensation for participating in overtime activities.
Here’s how the conversation went down. You’ll want to compare Marji’s answer to her offer in the email above.
Laxson: “How are they (employees) compensated for participating in city activities now?”
Gehr: “They get paid. And that hasn’t changed. We are required to pay people for working, whether it’s working a city event or regular schedule, so they always get paid.”
Laxson: “So historically they get straight time or overtime?”
Gehr: “Mostly overtime.”
Laxson: “And no other compensation past that?”
Gehr: “Overtime. Correct. Correct. They get free water and hot dogs or food trucks just like everybody else.”
Do your own critical thinking analysis on all of this. My reaction is information like this would tend to make curious auditors and accountants want to crawl through all kinds of things with a microscope. And I’m not the only one who feels this way.
Prior to publication, I furnished the above information to an experienced former city administrator who worked elsewhere in Missouri. I wanted to be sure I was on the right track in my analysis. I asked the experienced professional to give me feedback on how appropriate or inappropriate this is. The feedback pulled no punches.
“This is unreal. If Platte City had enough people paying attention they’d be facing a petition audit after this comes out,” was the response.
You get to hold me accountable on this. Here are NCAA basketball championship futures bets I made last Friday, Jan. 19 at Hollywood Casino. For fun, I decided to take $131 and use it to make March Madness an enjoyable watch again this year. Follow any of these suggestions, or ignore them all, either way we’re still friends and stuff.
*I put $50 on Kentucky at 20-1 odds. Potential payout $1,050.
*I put $25 on Connecticut at 11-1 odds. Potential payout $300.
*I put $21 on North Carolina at 18-1 odds. Potential payout $399.
*I put $10 on Michigan State at 60-1 odds. Potential payout $610.
*I put $25 on Duke at 22-1 odds. Potential payout $575.
(Yes, he knows $131 is an odd amount to wager. There’s a back story to it that he’ll share at a later time. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)