Like to listen to good music? Sometime when you’re near your Alexa device, say “Alexa, play the yesterday café station.”
Thank me later.
A couple of new quotes from folks familiar with the inner workings of City Hall in Platte City. The quotes are referencing Marji Gehr, city administrator. And I think things have advanced to the point we can now accurately say “controversial city administrator” for Platte City.
“She thinks she has total control over the aldermen,” the source said. “She thinks she is just untouchable.”
I sat in on the regular meeting of the Platte City Board of Aldermen last Tuesday night. The meeting was dominated by the words of Gehr. Not so much what she was saying, it was the fact that it was non-stop talking by the city administrator. If the city is paying her by the spoken word the town will soon be bankrupt.
Good grief. At least pause to take a breath. Come up for air occasionally. Was it nervous energy or what?
I theorize that perhaps her non-stop chattering is a way to fill the air time and waste away the meeting. After all, if she’s talking at a rapid, non-stop pace no one has a chance to ask her a potentially embarrassing question.
This can be stopped, of course, if the aldermen show the fortitude to say, “Whoa Nellie (that’s old Keith Jackson phrase, for you non-sports fans), let’s slow down here. This is supposed to be a legislative discussion by the board of aldermen, not a non-stop recitation of material at a speed so fast it’ll make your head spin.”
The non-stop talking at a pace so fast and furious no one else can get a word in is a trait of someone who is accustomed to dictating, not someone who is fond of a real discussion of issues or someone who is comfortable inviting input or questions. It was all very strange.
“Fast talkers are people who articulately and assertively say things faster than they can be assessed as a way of pushing their agenda past other people’s examination or objections,” billionaire Ray Dalio tweeted a few years ago.
Dalio, who founded Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund in the world, is known for his belief in “radical transparency” in communications and decision-making.
As part of his trademark communication style, Dalio advises to beware of fast talkers. “They’re trying to bulldoze you,” Dalio told CNBC in a 2019 interview.
He isn’t wrong.
Back to the assault at the Mexican restaurant that occurred in May when the then-Platte City public works director, Brad Wallace, violently assaulted a man sitting at the same table. Yes, a man within the same dining party. Reason for the assault, according to a witness quoted in court documents? The man expressed a different opinion than Wallace in regard to the spiciness of the salsa. Seriously.
City officials were able to keep word of the assault on the down-low. The Landmark didn’t learn about it till August, just as Wallace was pleading guilty to the charge. He was sentenced to two years probation, ordered to complete drug and/or alcohol treatment, no contact with the victim, submit to random urinalysis testing, and pay restitution. A sheriff’s deputy wrote in court documents that he considered Wallace “a risk to the public” due to the nature of the assault and the severity of the man’s injuries. Yet we would later find out, despite the violence and lack of self control, the city kept Wallace on staff in a public-facing position.
Yikes. That’s a pretty loosey-goosey atmosphere.
In mid-November, several of us in the business community were wondering among ourselves whether the public works director had somehow avoided being fired by the city, in particular from a high contact position with the general public. So I sent a pretty simple and routine email to Marji Gehr, asking: Is Brad Wallace still the public works director? I was expecting a simple and routine answer in response. Instead, I received what I now call the Marji Manifesto. This does not sound like a typical response from a publicly-funded supervisor talking about an employee under her watch. Here’s her response:
“An immediate family member of Brad received a terminal leukemia diagnosis in mid-October. Brad requested and the city fully supported his use of accrued time so that he could spend the final moments with his family member before they passed away at the end of the month. Brad just buried his family member at the end of last week.
“Like millions of Americans, and certainly many staff of the city, cancer has stricken and taken the lives of many that we know. Sometimes suddenly and sometimes over the course of many years. The city has been a gracious employer to the Wallace family, allowing Brad to spend the short weeks remaining in a loved ones life, and carrying the operations of the city’s public works department so that he could focus on what really matters–family. I’m certain the city has many residents that have also experienced tragedy of this nature that would certainly sympathize with the Wallace family.
“Brad elected not to return to the city after the sudden passing of his family member. The city has been operating effectively in Brad’s absence and will continue to do so moving forward. We hope that the Wallace family is treated with kindness and respect while they grieve the recent loss of a family member and assure the residents that we are properly staffed to maintain full operations.
“Thank you for reaching out the day after I sent the announcement to staff and our elected officials.”
Three weeks later, Wallace was arrested after an armed barricade with law enforcement at his residence near Tracy in which he allegedly held a gun to a female victim. He is facing felony charges of harassment and armed criminal action. He remains jailed without bond. At a court hearing Tuesday, he asked for a continuance and his next court appearance is now set for Feb. 13.
The wording of her final sentence seems like Marji was suspecting that an inner-office mole had tipped me off to something.
Look for more analysis on the Marji Manifesto in future editions.
(Mention manifestos and more via email to ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)