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By Barbara Wood
Special to the Almanac
Atherton’s Interim City Manger John Danielson is out of the state and unable to return due to medical issues, so the council has been asked to appoint Interim Police Chief Ed Flint as “acting interim city manger” until Mr. Danielson can return to the job.
An “urgency item” has been added to the agenda of tonight’s (Nov. 16) city council meeting in Atherton to name Chief Flint to the position. He would serve until Mr. Danielson can return to work.
Deputy City Clerk Theresa DellaSanta said she is not allowed, by law, to comment on an employee’s medical issues.
The council will meet at 7 p.m. in Holbrook-Palmer Park’s Jennings Pavilion, 150 Watkins Ave., Atherton.
coup d”etat
I notice the Police Dept. is requesting another new patrol car-another new motorcycle-and 30 something new radios on tonight’s consent agenda. This after just hiring a new officer from the ONLY department that has NOY been sqeeezed completely dry and then out sourced.
So what’s the Town’s budget going to look like with the Police Chief now running it?
Was the Police satisfaction survey meant to represent their satisfaction?
Or, Was the 99% figure meant to represent their portion of the budget?
This is a horrible decision, mainly for the reasons Coup d’etat outlined.
Nothing against Flint personally, but he was hired to clean up the APD, not run the town. His clean-up job involves conduct and professionalism issues. Or is supposed to. We haven’t seen any real change.
The second clean-up job, to be performed by Danielson, was the financial one. The costs of the department were and are unsustainable.
The same person cannot run the town to keep the police department budget in check and also run the police department in a way that engenders good relations with the officers. A police officer cannot be running the town as that is a conflict of interest.
I have a question for anyone who knows the answer. No speculation, please. The article’s headline says the council will be asked to make this appointment. Who is the person authorized/empowered in City government to make this request of council? (i.e. City attorney, City manager). I understand the need for needing a protocol to react in emergencies such as this, but just what is the protocol? Lacking one, coup d’etat is clearly the right description for this move if successful.
WhoRUpeople, the answer is the “staff” proposed Flint as the person they wanted.
Now that the building and public works departments have been eliminated/outsourced, and the finance director has left, the “staff” is, with the number of exceptions you can probably count on the fingers of one hand, the police department.
Seems easy to understand, right?
With everything now outsourced (except the police department),–“the staff” was all recently chosen by Danialson–including the new Chief. Why is “staff” choosing how our Town is run?
The piece of this puzzle that no one is connecting the dots on is the sudden disappearance of yet another finance director–and with no replacement.
Wonder why Atherton has financial problems much?
Might as well let the PD go ahead and cut their own checks.
I always wondered what happened to “Ed” who graced these message boards with so many conspiracy theories throughout the years. He went missing.
But, the conspiracies offered by Coup d’Etat are intriguingly similar to the “Ed” of old. So, in keeping with Ed’s outrageous conspiracies, one has to ask …
Is “Ed” actually Ed Flint the new City Manager? The closed loop may actually exist! Call the Service League!!
Stockbridge…you read my mind but I think your last sentence is a bit conspiratorial not unlike the “Ed” of old.
Yeah, I miss Ed too. I also miss Insight and finally. They graced these message boards with many expressions of support for Atherton’s police department. Rumor was Insight was actually an Atherton police sergeant who grew up in Atherton, and finally was his dad. I know they both have a lot to say about not putting the library in the park, so the library money can be given to build a police station, thereby ensuring Atherton’s police force doesn’t get outsourced like Millbrae’s just did.
Fortunately they are still here in a way, as Insight is video taping every council meeting to assure residents who want to express an opinion that they should be intimidated if it is not one aligned with the police department.
Come on back ink guys, the water’s fine.
Let’s hope all “staff” is lined up like Dominos. Danielson is probably making the moves on another unsuspecting town/city – needing to know his knowledge on how to capture and destory a town within 6 months. Kashawagi is the wizard behind the curtain. Just watch…