After Confusion, City Administrator Tells Staffers They Can Speak Directly With Councilors

City employees have received mixed messages for weeks about whether they’re allowed to answer questions directly from the new city councilors.

Steve Novick. (Jake Nelson)

In an email to city employees Friday afternoon, interim city administrator Mike Jordan gave them the green light to speak directly with the 12 members of the City Council.

It had been unclear up to that point, according to city staff and city councilors who described the matter to WW, what license bureau directors and city staff had to furnish information directly to councilors under the new form of government, which recently split the city into legislative and administrative branches.

Some city staffers, as a result of the unclear directives, declined to speak with councilors or were deeply wary of doing so when asked for information in their areas of expertise. It became another among many gray areas as city employees and elected officials navigate the new form of government that took effect Jan. 1. Unlike the previous form of government, councilors now make policy but do not oversee bureaus.

The inconsistent communication between the council and the city’s administrative side was causing frustration for some councilors, who felt it prohibited them from learning about city services and programs as they approach a budget cycle in which they’re being asked to make steep cuts.

Jordan wrote in his email that employees should give councilors the information they seek—and let their bosses know.

“If a city councilor reaches out to you with a request, please reply promptly to provide readily available information and documentation in your area of expertise—and give a heads-up to your bureau director and deputy city administrator," Jordan wrote. “A cc on your reply to the council, or a standalone email, is great. This helps us track requests across services areas.”

A number of city councilors had brought the issue up with Mayor Keith Wilson in recent weeks, pressing him to make sure employees were responsive to councilors' information requests. One of them was Councilor Steve Novick.

“Some of us had conversations saying, look this doesn’t really work. We have to be able to have information, and if every conversation has to go through the [deputy city administrators], the DCAs will spend all of their time dealing with that,” Novick says. “On the other hand we recognize that, yeah, we don’t want councilors telling people how to do their jobs.”

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