Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Councilman Hackworth,

If you are looking for reasons that your survey indicates that the public does not trust city council, perhaps here is yet another reason why.


Pickerington clarifies which e-mails to save



Council members have argued about sharing of messages


By Kirk D . Richards THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




When people make publicinformation requests to Pickerington seeking e-mails between officials, they cannot be sure they are receiving everything.

Some e-mail messages are not automatically saved.

It appears to be a defect in the system that occurs primarily when a council member forwards a message through a city account.

Councilman Michael Sabatino says that enables some of his colleagues to engage in discussions behind the scenes without any review.

He has made public-information requests for some e-mails that four council members have sent to one another but not to him, Ted Hackworth or Council President Brian Wisniewski.

The issue came to a head in August when Sabatino, Hackworth and Wisniewski found out that Councilman Jeff Fix negotiated an economic agreement with Violet Township on his own. The other three council members ?— Cristie Hammond, Heidi Riggs and Keith Smith ?— had been kept in the loop through e-mail.

In that instance, however, all four used personal e-mail accounts, and Sabatino obtained 55 e-mails from Fix after complaining about not being included.

Fix said it?’s not his responsibility to copy every council member on every issue.

''Perhaps if he acted more professionally, we?’d keep him more in the loop,'' Fix said of Sabatino. ''I keep all my records, and all anybody has to do is ask.''

City Manager Judy Gilleland says that council members will be relied upon to retain their e-mails and provide them to the public when requested. She said the city is looking at installing an updated system but that it could cost up to $10,000 a year to maintain.

Officials in other suburbs say they have not faced this issue.

The more common complaint in Bexley comes from citizens who say they sent e-mails that no one responded to because the messages were blocked. Sometimes it?’s the officials who say they were expecting an e-mail they had not seen.

Even blocked e-mails are saved in Bexley.

''We quarantine them,'' said Bill Minckler, technology director for Bexley. The blocked e-mails can be accessed and released if Minckler deems them safe.

If the issue were to arise in Hilliard, Law Director Pam DeDent said she would advise council members to retain the e-mails.

''Everybody?’s system is different,'' DeDent said. ''They?’re not always 100 percent reliable.''

Pickerington Law Director Phil Hartmann prepared a memorandum on the city?’s e-mail retention policy.

E-mails pertaining to policies, departmental procedures and fiscal and personnel matters should be retained permanently. Other business e-mails should be kept for one to two years, the memo said.

Personal e-mails such as ''Let?’s do lunch'' and transitory e-mails such as phone messages do not have to be maintained long-term, the memo said.

Wisniewski said the e-mail issue needs to be addressed mostly ''as a matter of perception.''

''You?’re basically allowing council members to decide whether any e-mail is really a public record,'' Wisniewski said. ''It?’s a trust issue as to whether council members are giving them all up.''

He said the city should pay whatever it costs to ensure that a record of all city e-mails can be retrieved by staff members to respond to information requests.

''It comes down to what cost do you put on public trust,'' Wisniewski said.

krichards@dispatch.com

How deep is our hole?

Councilman Sabatino,

I have heard through the grapevine (no pun intended) that you read this forum. If so I would ask that you consider taking this matter to the next level. Since it wasn?’t mentioned in here that all official correspondence to the city email account for Mr. Fix goes to his Steak Escape Enterprises business account, Steak Escape Enterprises may not be aware that their employee has forced a corporate account to be subject to a public information request from anyone that wants to make it. Perhaps you may want to contact Steak Escape Enterprises and make a full and complete request of all emails sent to and received from their employee?’s account since taking office. I realize that this may compromise corporate information but that is the risk taken when an employee is allowed to conduct himself in this manner. They may not know this is going on and may appreciate any information you may offer them to safeguard their corporate information.

Perhaps their email system is more technologically sound than the city system appears to be. Perhaps their administrator can obtain all the emails necessary to honor a public information request. Perhaps Steak Escape Enterprises has a corporate policy outlining proper usage of corporate technology as most to all of us regular folks?’ do.

Mr. Sabatino, it seems I remember reading in the paper a year of so ago where your associate Brian Fox made statements in the public forum admonishing two other council people for their use of their employers?’ email accounts to discuss city matters. Why is this any different? You seemed concerned at the time Mr. Fox made accusations. Are you as concerned now?

Council President Wisniewski, you seen to be tsk-tsking this incident. I realize from reading this article that you, Mr. Sabatino and Mr. Hackworth are certainly discriminated against effectively making you the official minority of council in Mr. Fix?’s own words. Are you willing to take this to the next level with State Boards or Commissions to assure the circumvention of keeping public information in the public eye comes to an immediate halt? I can?’t seem to locate on the city website the ordinance or resolution you passed in 2005 adopting ethics standards for elected offices. Have you overturned that law? You have three councilmen who weren?’t in office when the ordinance was passed. All sitting elected officials had to attend ethics training. Have the newly elected councilmen attended the same training? Was this just a popular topic at the time and no longer important to council or the city? I have to wonder. Is a little note fro the law director sufficient to cover all this up?

Councilman Hackworth, you seem to have documented a lack of trust of this council. Are you prepared to lead the effort to try to earn back trust? If so, wouldn?’t the ongoing questions regarding Sunshine Law violations, Open Meeting Act violations and now public information laws questions be a logical jumping off point? I am sorry all the allegations center around one individual but doesn?’t it all have to begin somewhere?

To the three minority members of council I remind you what lack of trust has cost people in this area. A complete lack of trust and confidence in the school board has resulted in kids being schooled in hallways. Even if this board has earned back any trust from the community, the damage done is so severe it will take more schools than the three on tomorrow?’s ballot to recover. We?’re talking potentially over $100,000,000 to offset the trust lost in the school board. At what point in the city matters will you say enough is enough and take the steps necessary to earn back trust before it is too late?

How deep will you let the hole get before you stop digging?

Is it too late for us?

More than likely, come tomorrow night, you will see how widespread issues like this are and the consequences. All this controversy is centered around Jeff Fix. Fix is a leader in the county GOP. According to fairfieldgop.com, he is listed as Secretary. On the site they list the following in their banner:

Working Hard for Ethical, Conservative, Responsible Government

Obviously Mr. Fix holds none of these tenets to heart. The questions raised in regards to secret meetings, obtaining votes long before issues go to council floor and now the Mail-gate seem to defeat the ethical and responsible parts. His willingness to effectively give away the city?’s right to self destiny to the township eliminates the conservative part.

What you see is the reason I am sure the Democrats will regain control of virtually every office they are competing for tomorrow. People are sick and tired of Republicans who set themselves above the law of subjugate it to their own interpretations. I am a lifelong Republican and I am sorry to say that I might go to the polls tomorrow and vote on the school issue and nothing else. I don?’t want the Democrats to take over but I don?’t want the Republicans running to keep control.

The county Republicans are going down the very same road this group accused Brian Fox and his allies of doing just a few years ago. This has lead to an overall disenfranchising of loyal R?’s in the county. While they may not vote D, the lack of support and trust is growing making the county party ripe for the pickings of the likes of Fox and his old pals DeMastrey and MacCauliffe. Different names and faces ?– same old games.

Now we have a city council divided and neutered. What is the bottom line in their downfall? Partisan Politics. You have a nonpartisan government style that has succumbed to partisan influences. In other words, you have the likes of Fox and his pals once again in control of this city. Different names and faces ?– same old games.

Isn?’t it time that we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, wipe the blood from our lip and try to restore ethics and integrity in the county party? Isn?’t it time we once and for all run the Fixes and Foxes out of control? Isn?’t it time we take pride in our government at the local level and distinguish ourselves from the Tafts, Noes and Neys in this state?

Can Pickerington and county politics become something to respect once again or is it too late?

Old news

I believe this is old news. The facts are that the City manager has control over her employees but has no say over the elected officials of the city.

Second issue is that emails are not considered in ethics violations and if they were I am sure something would have been filed by now.

Third is that if you all look closely Councilman Sabatino has an email address other than a city controlled email address. The members of council have their contact information listed on the city web site.

Fourth; most governments have some form of an email policy. I believe the City email account is set up for the convenience of the members of council and for their separate contact point for the public.

Fifth; Mr. Fix works for a private company. In addition, if there is a public information request made then it is Mr. Fix's responsibility to provide that information.

What I have not heard as of yet is did Mr. Fix withhold information? Was any information provided by Mr.Fix electronically altered? Using emails as evidence in an ethics commission investigation is not acceptable. So Mr. Fox is wrong in his assessment of last year. I filed an ethics complaint four or fifth years ago against a member of the Pickerington School Board and the commission's advisor told me emails can only be used as the ''smoking gun''. To even file a complaint I needed collaborating evidence like testimony or other written documents.

I believe I read here where Mr. Fix claimed to have four votes for his economic agreement with the township. Since that document has not made it to the council floor I think that email only proves that Mr. Fix is dishonest and likes to boost

By rereader