Kingman council alleges Foggin failures
KINGMAN – Kingman City Manager Ron Foggin is inflexible and insubordinate and has failed his duties to serve the construction-related business community and ensure city residents are provided adequate public safety and reasonable street conditions. Those are the highlights of a six-page letter of reprimand delivered to the city’s top administrator following a 2.5-hour review of Foggin’s contract and job performance during a May 23 executive session of the council.
The letter said the Council finds Foggin’s performance and conduct unacceptable.
“The City Manager’s actions have eroded the City Council’s trust and confidence in the manager’s ability to perform his job duties as outlined in the city manager job description and the duties and responsibilities outlined in the city code,” the reprimand letter said. It outlines an arduous course of corrective action with demand for immediate implementation.
Foggin is directed to map out a plan to improve the way the city serves the building industry by June 12. He has until June 9 to conduct a workshop in that regard with representatives of that sector in a public forum before council and city staff.
“The Kingman City Council has made economic development a top priority,” the reprimand said. “However, due to the many problems that builders, developers, utility companies, and engineers are experiencing when completing projects in and around Kingman, we see those investments as being wasted.”
Foggin politely declined when offered comment opportunity Wednesday.
PUBLIC SAFETY:
The Council, which of course approves budgets and resource allocations, blames Foggin for staff shortages in the Police and Fire Departments. The reprimand said he has not taken appropriate action to address high turnover and critical staffing levels.
“The city’s public safety departments are no longer providing the necessary levels of service,” the letter said.
STREET MAINTENANCE:
“The city council finds that the city manager has failed to administer the pavement preservation budget every year since FY 2018-19,’’ the reprimand said. “In the last five years, the city council has budgeted $19,912,438, however, only $9,328,900 has been invested in pavement preservation.”
The Council informs Foggin it expects all of an $11.4-million allocation to be spent on street maintenance in FY 2024.
ELECTRIC VEHICLE MUSEUM:
The Council has determined that Foggin deliberately withheld information from elected officials regarding the Electric Vehicle Foundation’s interest in handling the project itself rather than the public private partnership first envisioned. The multi-paragraph narrative essentially alleges that Foggin intentionally kept Council out of the loop and was insubordinate.
“The city manager held private meetings with the foundation and began negotiating a contract for a public/private partnership without the appropriate authorization of a majority of the council,” the reprimand said. “It is alleged by the foundation that the city manager instructed them to only deal with him and to not speak to any of the council members about their proposed electric car museum project.”
REPRIMAND WRAP:
In addition to the mandatory workshop to address building industry issues, the Council directive imposes a cumbersome mandate that Foggin now provide comprehensive weekly and monthly reports documenting his efforts to correct failures identified in the reprimand.
“We seek transparency, direct answers and council involvement with decisions … The city council finds that the city manager is not transparent with the council or taxpayers,” it said. “There is a lack of clear, complete, effective and regular communication. The city manager does not receive constructive criticism well. Often times, the response from the city manager is to talk `in circles’ for an extended period of time, drilling in his narrative and emphasizing why he is right.”
The reprimand letter was approved by a unanimous vote of the Council.
Dave Hawkins
