Phone call prompts council to request panic buttons

RIVERSIDE ? The Riverside City Council voted to install panic buttons in the staff offices at city hall in response to a phone call the city clerk received last month. The vote, taken during the council?s Monday night meeting, was 3-2 in favor. Councilors Christine Kirkwood, Nate Kasdorf and Kevin Kiene voted yes while councilors Bob Schneider Jr. and Ralph Schnoebelen voted no.

Deputy City Clerk Teresa Sladek sent an e-mail to the council on May 1 concerning a phone call she overheard between City Clerk Missy Carter and Riverside resident Larry Simon on April 26. Sladek was able to hear both sides of the conversation once Carter put Simon on speakerphone. Sladek wrote in her email that she was ?appalled and extremely disappointed in regard to his behavior, tone of voice, personal threats, not to mention his lack of respect.?

Sladek wrote that Simon said on the phone that he was Carter?s boss since he pays taxes. She said Simon swore on the phone and that he made statements she interpreted as threats. Specifically, Sladek wrote that Simon said, ?And if you hang up on me, I will come down there? and ?You better watch your back.?

Simon addressed the council Monday and said the e-mail blew the issue out of proportion.

?I think this e-mail was a joke,? he said. ?I will not apologize for my phone call. I felt I was justified in chewing Missy out. I spoke my piece. At the end of that conversation, my voice got calm. I calmed down, and I said, ?You had your tirade, now I?ve had mine.??

Simon disputed some of the things in Sladek?s e-mail, saying they were taken out of context and that some of them were not true. He said he did not make any threats to Carter. In an interview after the meeting, Simon denied saying the phrase ?You better watch your back? to Carter. He did say that he would come to city hall if Carter hung up, but he said this was meant to convey that he would continue the conversation. He also said that he told Carter he was her boss because he believes every taxpayer is the city?s boss.

Kirkwood said the sheriff should have been called after the phone call. She said she was disappointed that Mayor Bill Poch attempted to take Sladek?s e-mail off the agenda. She was disappointed that Poch did not advise any of the councilors after he learned about the incident. Sladek said she was upset that Poch spoke to Simon after the incident but did not get back to her or Carter about whether the issue with Simon was ?still a viable threat.?

?Things weren?t good going into this city council,? Kirkwood said. ?Since January, they have gotten terribly, progressively worse. And now we?re at the level where threats are being made to our employees. It needs to be dealt with.?    

Poch said he was upset that Sladek would send an e-mail to the council without notifying him first about her plans since he is her supervisor. He said that Sladek?s e-mail could be considered insubordination.

Simon said he called Carter to request information pertaining to the city audit in 2011, which was done by Ann M. Menke CPA. Simon was curious why Menke charged the city $26,500 when her quote was $11,000. In an interview, Simon said he wanted to see an itemized breakdown of the hours Menke spent on the audit that would justify the additional $15,500 the city spent on it.

Carter said in an interview Tuesday that she asked Carol Ross of Ann M. Menke CPA for a breakdown of the $15,500. Ross told her that those were working papers and that she was not obligated to give the city of Riverside her firm?s working papers. Carter called Susan Battani, who works in the financial audit division of the state auditor?s office, who said that Menke did not have to provide those papers.

Carter said she told Simon that she didn?t have the papers he requested. She said that Simon continued to demand the information, and that she continued to tell him that she didn?t have it. She said Larry exploded at her and started screaming.

?He said he was a taxpaying resident and that he decided if I had a job, not the council,? Carter said in the interview. ?He said, ?You better watch your back because we?re watching you.? He said if I hung up he would come down here and take care of it in person.?

Speaking about the phone conversation from April 26, Simon told the council, ?Did I get pissed? You bet. This ?viable threat? thing? I wish you would have called the sheriff. I wish [Deputy Nathan] Schmuecker or [Chief Deputy] Jared [Schneider] or any of the guys had come. I wish [Sheriff Jerry] Dunbar himself would have come.?

Before the vote on the motion to install panic buttons, Schneider suggested that if the council were going to install panic buttons, it should also install video cameras. He said he was against spending money foolishly on a security system that was installed hurriedly. Schnoebelen said the council should slow down and study the issue of security measures more fully.