Crockett needs to publicly apologize, not cover up for self, others

Sometimes just a simple apology goes a long way. But for Tim Crockett, removing the evidence of the sin is the way to correct it. One might call it naive.

Unprofessional is another word for it.

We have been asked by Lakeside Councilor Crockett, through a third party, to remove an article on Lakesideinfo.com, in which at the February city council workshop, Councilor Mack Eubanks  publicly called the two sewer plant workers: “Lazy asses.”

Should we also create an 18 1/2 minute gap in that portion of the video of the meeting to help erase evidence that it happened? Should the minutes of the meeting also be retroactively edited?

In point of fact, we actually under-reported the incident. Maybe we should also have reported the full extent of Crockett’s appallingly negative remarks about those same employees. Now we will.

To recap the incident at the February work session, Bob Dillard from North Bend came to town to answer questions for a general Q&A about the city’s sewer plant.

But it turned into something else

Mayor Nelson, council members Mack Eubanks, and Tim Crockett turned the session into a chiding of fellow board member Rod Schilling, a rallying around plant supervisor Phil Heley, and a dissing of the two more qualified, Class II employees at the plant.

Heley has no such classified training certification, which is what largely brought this entire discussion about.

Workers should never be trampled in public session; it can lead to lawsuits against the city. Personnel discussion is what executive, closed session is reserved for.

The problem here, however, is Mayor Nelson’s tradition of pre-meeting manipulation. He connives and pressures council members to help fulfill his own personal quest for iron-fisted control.

Sometimes that even coincides with the best interest of the city.

In the case of Schilling, Nelson was positively Nixonian in his approach.

One minute he’s graciously showing him the plant. The next thing Nelson is threatening, even to the point of challenging the councilman to a fist fight at a meeting! (Nelson later apologized for that one.)

So a demonization of the workers ensued

In the mayor’s zeal to defend his hiring of plant supervisor Phil Heley, he went a wee bit too far this time in public.

He and his cohorts on the council actually went on the attack against the two plant workers under the lesser qualified boss, Heley.

The over-reaction on behalf of Heley raises some red flags in itself.

But why would Crockett and Eubanks drink the cool aid for Nelson by adding fuel to the fire? What mystical powers does he hold over them?

In a backhanded compliment, Councilman Tim Crockett asked the public to “have some confidence in the direction we’re going.”

And, he added, “I would not doubt that this guy knows more than our ‘twos’  [Class II workers] do, honestly.”

Crockett also added, “I know, I know a good worker [Heley] from a cull [two employees], and that’s a terminology I know.”

The solution to the problem of reporting reckless comments isn’t an eraser. It’s the magic wand of a well-placed and heart-felt apology.

Keeping a good face on your job performance as a mayor or a councilor requires actually doing good things and certainly not making dumb remarks.

Will Tim Crockett ever learn?

Crockett, who like Nelson and Eubanks, has shown no remorse about discarding his signed promise to a lofty minded contract with Lakeside residents in 2006. It’s what he relied on to get elected.

Crockett  is also, of course, under investigation by the state for possible ethics violations in connection with his former duties as abatement officer.

There’s a simple way for Crockett to make amends. He might even gain in his quest for better publicity from our news-site when we report the potential fact of his theoretical apology.

We’ve even reported comments at meetings by some blasting this website, especially when it’s part of what some in the city seem fixated with.

That’s what happens in reporting.

So, in conclusion, here’s some simple tips for better etiquette for the wayward council member.

These might include:

• both a private and then a public apology to the workers involved;
• bringing up his contracted promises at future Lakeside meetings;
• recognizing and admitting to failings with regard to using an abatement oversight position as if one of the big boy D.C. politicians, and finally;
• ceasing from being part of the closed-clique oriented way of governing.

Many have hopes for the remaining two years of Crockett’s term.

But any improvement will only come from a change of heart and not from covering up reckless remarks at a public meeting.

Trust is earned from wisdom, not a virtualized book burning.