The Cottonwood City Council debated the appointment of an interim city manager during its Tuesday, Jan. 16 meeting.
Interim Manager
The city announced in a Jan. 12 press release that Deputy City Manager Rudy Rodriguez would be serving as interim city manager until further notice following the departure of City Manager Scotty Douglass.
Councilwoman Lisa DuVernay subsequently emailed Rodriguez, Mayor Tim Elinski and City Clerk Tami Mayes claiming that the council was in violation of City Ordinance No. 644, §2, 10-16-2018, which provides that in the event of the city manager’s extended absence or disability, the deputy city manager will be the acting city manager, “subject to the approval of the city council.”
Elinski responded to this email on the same day, seeming to agree with DuVernay’s interpretation of the code and noting that as he believed appointing an interim city manager would require council approval, Rodriguez was still deputy city manager.
“This item was queued up for Jan. 16, but now that we do not have an attorney to advise us, I am postponing this item until our new attorney is in place,” Elinksi wrote. “That way, the firm or individual can assist us with drafting contracts if we decide to go with a temporary service, or assist us if we just want to directly appoint … If everything goes well, we will be reviewing applications from firms/individuals Feb. 6, and hopefully can get them started straight away. We can proceed with the discussion on the Feb. 13 agenda.”
“Neither council nor the mayor can direct personnel and the deputy city manager is personnel and not a contract employee of the council,” Councilman Michael Mathews stated at the beginning of the meeting. “This means that the mayor, by default, is currently acting as the city administrator and a manager outside of his legal authority and is blocking the agenda item requests in violation of city ordinance. I believe the majority of council will agree the mayor is acting unlawfully and must allow this council to act according to law now.”
The announcement of Rodriguez’s promotion to the interim post did not originate from Elinski, but from Tricia Lewis, the city of Cottonwood’s public information officer. Mathews provided no evidence that Elinski had any involvement in Lewis’ actions.
“First and foremost it is imperative that the council move expediently and transparently to secure an acting city manager as we had planned tonight,” DuVernay said. “The recent removal or blockade of the critical decision item by the mayor is both unethical and a violation of the code. This should have been discussed tonight and a decision made appointing an acting city manager from within or moving to hire an interim from outside. This is especially disturbing given the fact the Deputy City Manager has been appointed by the mayor without counsel input per code.”
As Elinski had previously informed DuVernay, Rodriguez had not been appointed interim city manager by him. DuVernay also did not provide any evidence that Elinski was involved in the statement from Lewis. The city has provided no official update to the Jan. 12 statement and — without a city attorney or legal council to clarify — it is unclear if Rodriguez’s appointment was automatic upon the termination of the previous city manager or requires an affirmative vote by the council.
“However, the mayor has the authority to call an emergency meeting to allow council to identify a pathway forward regarding the city manager position,” DuVernay continued. “I for one am ready to meet at the earliest moment to address this critical matter. If Mr. Rodriguez or any other staff member desired by the majority of council, that can happen immediately without any legal support. If the majority chooses to hire an outside interim manager, we can direct staff to move in that direction and bring those candidates back for consideration. These issues were submitted as agenda items for this meeting by two council members and blocked by the mayor and confirmed by the illegitimately appointed Mr. Rodriguez.”
Palosaari Addresses Sexual Harassment
“I want to make it clear that I have never, ever sexually harassed any city employee,” Councilman Derek Palosaari stated. “This assertion is unequivocally false and has resulted in devastating consequences for my family.”
A human resources investigation found that Palosaari has sexually harassed at least three city employees since May.
“I want to take a moment and share my side of the story,” he said.
Palosaari admitted making an inappropriate comment to a female city employee at the Dec. 8 holiday party and expressed remorse. He said that the woman and her husband have been good personal friends of him and his wife for the past year and said that it was typical that they greeted each other with hugs and conversation.
“When I made the comment to her I viewed it as a close friend trying to joke around with another friend as we have in the past,” said Palosaari. “It was immediately evident that I had erred and offended her resulting in my prompt apology at the party …
“In retrospect, the comment was inappropriate on its face for any elected official given the same circumstances, regardless of our friendship…
“I’ve never inappropriately touched anyone, nor have I propositioned anyone … The accusations made against me appear more as though this is a concerted effort to label me as a sexual predator by Mayor Elinski with the objective of completely destroying my reputation.”
Palosaari did not address the statements of the other three female staffers who wrote complaints detailed in the city’s Human Resources Department report about his sexual harassment.
Council Statements
“I’d like to clarify, I did not neglect to condemn council member Palosaari’s behavior,” DuVernay said. “Instead, my criticism was directed toward the absence of any proper procedure by the mayor, former attorney and the former manager.”
“I have never condoned nor condemned Mr. Palosaari’s actions,” Councilman Stephen DeWillis said. “I lacked prior knowledge of this matter, making it impossible for me to conduct due diligence and make an informed decision when we had to vote. The entire manner in which the mayor handled the situation, in my opinion, was completely atrocious. It should have been discussed in an executive meeting prior to being made public.”
The notice of the condemnation resolution was agendized on Dec. 18, the day before the meeting. On Dec. 19, DeWillis had asked Palosaari directly if he was guilty of the allegations against him. Palosaari declined to respond to DeWillis and said he would defer to what an attorney might tell him.
“I want both city staff and the community to be aware of my stance regarding the resignations of the city manager and the attorney,” DeWillis added. “It is possible that the city council may not have selected individuals who are best suited for the tasks at hand, which remain ongoing. I am not aware of any incidences of bullying, and it could be that they simply lacked the strength to effectively manage responsibilities, especially when faced with inquiries from both the council, staff and city residents.”
“We need to find a way to move forward,” Councilwoman Helaine Kurot said. “The only one that can call a special meeting or an executive session is the mayor and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have an interim appointed and certain conversations that are requested by other council members put on the agenda. The real reason we’re in this situation is 100% because of a lack of communication … We need to start having those conversations and move past it.”
Public Speaks
Fifteen residents spoke during the call to the public, expressing their discontent with the council’s behavior or addressing Palosaari and his conduct, both in support and against.
Verde Villages resident Michael Nisito claimed that both the Cottonwood Journal Extra and the Verde Independent provided a “stage for the mayor with four columns of an op-ed and yet nothing was offered to the rest of the council in exchange for that.”
Kyle Larson, General Manager of the Cottonwood Journal Extra, twice offered Mathews the opportunity to write his own guest perspective in response to Elinski’s. Larson also offered to meet with Mathews in person to discuss his concerns.
Mathews declined both the meeting and the offer to write a guest perspective.
Cathy Ransom
Mathews pulled an item from the consent agenda appointing Catherine Ransom and Patricial Monell to the Board of Adjustment.
Human Resources Director Amanda Wilber explained that the board constantly lacks members and currently only has two out of the required five. The board is a quasi-judicial decision-making body that hears variance requests and appeals of decisions of the zoning administrator. Vacancies on this board have been advertised five times in 2023 and four times in 2022, with two applications having been received.
Wilber added that both applicants went through the interview process and that the majority of council gave feedback to move forward with the appointments.
Mathews asked Ransom to come forward.
“We’ve already determined that you’re the Cathy Ransom who pulled two recall petitions against two members of the dais here,” Mathews said, referring to recall petitions targeting DuVernay for nepotism and for screening pornographic material at a council meeting and against Palosaari for his sexual harassment and sexual misconduct. “I assume you’re the same Cathy Ransom who wrote letters to the editor in two [news]papers.
“You stand up here and attack people up here and you’re doing that in the press also. You seem to be a bit of a political operative on the board of directors of that particular organization [Democrats of the Red Rocks]. Why would we want to bring you into this organization?”
“She received confirmation from this council that she was qualified,” Elinski said. “If we want to change what we said last time we interviewed her, I say we just call for a vote rather than what appears to be a public scouring.”
During the call to the public, Ransom noted, “If you don’t like the facts, maybe you don’t really support freedom of the press, which is guaranteed, like freedom of speech, in the First Amendment, and which was celebrated by a resolution to make Cottonwood a ‘Sanctuary City for the Bill of Rights.’”
Elinski, Vice Mayor Debbie Wilden and Kurot voted in favor of appointing Ransom to the Board of Adjustments, while Mathews, Palosaari, DeWillis and DuVernay voted against her appointment.
The First Amendment reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
In his speech at the beginning of the meeting, DeWillis had stated, “I am here to tell you that I will not infringe upon your First Amendment right to the freedom of speech.”
