June 9, 2017 at 4:30 p.m.
Facebook post exposes latest City Hall spat
Alderperson Belliveau accuses mayor Johns of plotting to influence April 2018 election; Johns denies accusation
Facebook post exposes latest City Hall spat
Sherrie Neff Belliveau made a public Facebook post (see right) accusing Dick Johns of telling an unnamed person that he intended to sign up to run for reelection in the April election, only to exit late in the race and throw his support to another candidate in an attempt to influence the outcome. Belliveau said that person then alerted her of what he or she had heard. Belliveau declined to release the identity of the tipster, either in her initial post or when contacted by the River News Thursday morning for additional comment.
Johns, also contacted by the River News Thursday, said that Belliveau's claims are unfounded.
"I would never do that to the city," said Johns, who added he is yet undecided whether he will seek re-election in April 2018.
Thursday afternoon, Belliveau issued an additional statement giving a little background as to why she made the public Facebook post, which had garnered 27 reactions, 41 comments and 20 shares as of Friday morning. She said what forced her to take her complaint to social media was the long-simmering tensions in the public works department that were made worse when former city administrator Kristina Aschenbrenner was terminated on Aug. 29, 2016 by a 6-2 vote of the council following a closed session.
Belliveau explained that during Tuesday's meeting of the finance, wage and salary committee, she alluded "that as Chief Executive Officer of the City, it is mayor Johns' responsibility to handle any issues with regards to the Public Works Department."
The "workplace culture" in that department - which resulted in street superintendent Tony Gilman and street crew member Jeremy Walker resigning late last month - are set to be addressed in closed session at Monday's city council after the board of public works voting 3-2 to refer it to council.
The council held a closed session meeting at the Dec. 12, 2016 meeting to address the problem, but no formal action was announced when the council came back into open session.
In her Thursday statement, Belliveau said the matter has been "stewing since November of 2015," she believes it is time to address the matter once and for all, and that the council and the taxpayers deserved to have all the facts on the issue.
"After the finance committee meeting (Tuesday), the mayor asked me to stop in and speak with him. I told mayor Johns I did not believe it was appropriate for me to have a one-on-one conversation with him and any information he has to share should be shared with the council as a whole," Belliveau said in her statement.
She said that Johns called her on Tuesday "and we had a heated discussion."
"He continues to refer to several of the Council members as those 'six damn no votes,' a disrespectful name he has used for certain alderpersons since the termination of the former city administrator in August of 2016," she said in the statement. "During that call, I asked him about his plans for re-election and his plans on running, withdrawing and, ultimately lending support to another candidate. He didn't respond to that question, but went on to say he has not been involved in any way with reconciling the issues within the Public Works Department. We've been hearing a lot of 'not me, not me.' If not me, then whom? His response to my question about the upcoming Mayoral election was 'maybe I did, maybe I did.' At that point, I ended the conversation."
Belliveau said in the statement she decided to make Johns' plan and their conversation public because she felt the city of Rhinelander's taxpayers have a right to know.
"The Mayor has two choices: he can admit to his plan for re-election and making these statements, or he can deny them. If he admits, he loses all credibility with City of Rhinelander residents. If he denies this plan, at least it was exposed and he cannot do it because his tactic has been exposed," the statement said.
Belliveau said that she has served on the council since 2004, and plans to end her stint as an elected official in 2020.
"I care very deeply for this city and do my best to represent the taxpayer's at a level that they expect. The current atmosphere has made that difficult. It's time to put the petty behavior behind us and to the job we were all elected to do," she said in the conclusion of the statement.
Johns said he wasn't aware of Belliveau's post until reached for comment Thursday, but admitted to talking to her on the telephone about her allegations. He said he was surprised it took this long for the matter to come out.
"I thought she would do it earlier," Johns said.
When asked if there was any truth to what he was accused of saying, Johns replied, "possibly."
"I don't know, you get to talking, but I don't know if I'd do it (run for reelection) or not," Johns said. "I'll tell you something, I don't know what I'm going to do, I just don't know. You're telling me what she put on there, I do know what she's talking about because she asked me some questions, and I said I might have said something along those lines. I don't recall that stuff, but you know me, I can say anything, that's the way it is."
Johns was asked if he had said something like what Belliveau has accused him, might it have been out of frustration over what has happened in the last year with Aschenbrenner's termination and the protracted problems in the public works department.
"The way to answer that is I believe you're right," Johns replied. "It's damned disgusting what has been happening around here."
He said the alderpersons airing grievances on social media is counterproductive, although he was momentarily at a loss as to how to convey that in a way that residents wouldn't misinterpret.
"The only thing I can say about it is as far as I am concerned, and my role, is to make this a better place for all of us to live in," Johns finally said. "And all this stuff coming out on social media certainly isn't helping it at all. And that's my concern."
Johns also said he doesn't refer to the six aldermen who voted for Aschenbrenner's termination in August 2016 - Belliveau, Mark Pelletier, Dawn Rog, Alex Young, Tom Kelly and George Kirby - as "the six no votes."
"I don't refer to them that way, but that's what it is. That's what it's been," he added. "They have a right to do whatever they want to do (as the council majority)."
While not all of the remaining seven members of the city council could be reached for comment Thursday, those that were had mixed reactions to Belliveau's post when informed of its contents.
Rog said she had not seen the post, and when told of the accusation in it, didn't have much comment.
"I kind of thought that the mayor would run again, but I was hoping that, for his wife's sake and his sake, that he would choose not to," Rog said. "But I guess that's his choice if he chooses to run again."
She characterized the accusation, no matter the validity of the claim, as "unfortunate."
"We have a lot of great stuff going on in the city and it's just unfortunate," she said.
She said that the council is only answerable to the residents of the city.
"That's who we represent, period," Rog said.
Kelly said he doesn't use social media, but chuckled when the post was read to him over the phone. When asked if it would cause the council to issue some kind of rebuke like alderman Steve Sauer received for inflammatory posts he had made on Facebook, Kelly didn't have an answer.
"We took Steve Sauer to task over that with some of his friends threatening to burn down city hall with of us in it. That's history," Kelly said.
Kelly agreed that alderpersons using social media to make accusations was giving the council a bad image in the eyes of city residents.
"Probably, I'm not really up on social media, I don't use it myself," he said. "But I can see where it can be dangerous and it can lead to wrong opinions."
He also said that non-city residents commenting on such posts "has always been an issue."
"We get non-residents telling the city how to spend its money. Granted, these non-residents use the city facilities; they use our parks, they work in the city, but they don't live in the city," Kelly said. "Nor do they pay taxes in the city, unless they own a business."
Kelly said that he doesn't believe that the turmoil on the council will manifest itself in the work to put together the 2018 city budget.
"There are five members (of the council) on the finance committee," he said. "I think we'll be fine on the budget, everyone is cooperating. (Recently departed finance director) Julie (Ostrander) left us with a time line before she left, so I think we're going to be okay, they'll work as a team. We have to."
Pelletier, the finance committee chairman who also serves on the board of public works, did see the post Wednesday evening. When reached for comment Thursday, he agreed that Johns may have made the comment as a way of releasing some pent up frustration over what has been happening in city hall.
"Emotions are exceedingly high right now with everything going on," Pelletier said. "And then the way things blew up Monday night at public works..."
Both Pelletier and Belliveau used expletives in a heated exchange with fellow committee chairman Tom Gleason during Monday night's Public Works meeting.
Pelletier was asked if Belliveau's post could result in an increased negative public perception of the council.
"I suppose for a lot of people, it could. And for a lot of them, it will. And I guess that's one of the downfalls," he said.
He said that he understands and shares the frustration that Belliveau is feeling with the prolonged situation in public works. He also said that he knows she made the post with the best intentions.
"Sherrie has done a heck of a lot for this community, she was on when I started," Pelletier said. "I've sat next to her for 13 years so far, and we've had our ups and downs together. If there is something that really has Sherrie's attention that strong, she feels what she feels. I'm very frustrated myself right now, too."
When asked if he felt Johns would tamper with the outcome of an election, Pelletier said he would like to think he wouldn't.
"I guess anything is possible. Would I expect that of him? I hope not, I really hope not," Pelletier said. "He's given 50-some years of dang good service to this community, and a lot has been accomplished and I have learned a lot from him."
He did say he has heard comments from the mayor himself referring to the six alderpersons who voted to terminate Aschenbrenner as "the six no votes," but his relationship with the mayor hasn't always been strained.
"We're (a) couple of block neighbors, and we have always gotten along well," he said. "But we haven't gotten along well since last August, if you can read anything into that."
Jamie Taylor may be reached at [email protected].
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