Posted: 5/10/06
Harris clerk charged with incompetency and more
Allegations take 5?1/2 hours...
 Kim Hugger and her attorney, left front, faced the allegations of the city council last Friday. |
By MaryHelen Swanson
Twenty, 30, 40, 50, eventually nearly 60 Harris residents were on hand Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. for a special council meeting.
It was to be closed to discuss allegations against city clerk Kim Hugger, allegations that at the time of the meetingís opening, were known only to the council and as it was later learned, a few friends of the clerk. Hugger is currently on suspension from her duties as city clerk, treasurer and zoning official.
Hugger, accompanied by her attorney Teresa J. Ayling, affirmed her desire to have the meeting open when asked by the mayor at the onset if she still wanted it open.
There were 49 allegations against Hugger in a packet distributed among the councilmembers.
Mayor Rick Smisson laid out the ground rules, saying because of the number of allegations, they would address five at a time and give Hugger or her attorney time to respond after each five.
Ayling made a request to have public speaking and that the council receive written comments. She also said it would be fairer if Hugger could respond to each allegation individually.
The mayor did not allow the allegations to be addressed one at a time because of the amount of time it would take up.
City Attorney Peter Grundhoefer also said he would like time to read through affidavits given to him by Huggerís attorney. This was done later in the meeting during short breaks.
By the time the formalities were completed there was standing room only in the city hall.
Thus began the ordeal of going through the allegations that lasted until past 9:30 p.m.
The allegations
Mayor Smisson began the session by noting that in January 2005, Hugger had remarked that she would do whatever was needed to get her job done. This statement was to surface much later in the meeting also.
While reading the allegations, the mayor would include some additional comments not in the written allegations.
Huggerís attorney questioned this. Grundhoefer said the council and mayor could talk at any time during this meeting.
The allegations began with noted errors and incorrect minutes of planning commission meetings. Also that minutes were brought to the council for approval weeks late.
The mayor had asked Hugger, as clerk, to use the signature tool on e-mail emanating from city hall to look more professional.
An allegation had been made that she was rude to a citizen.
Allegations were made that people tried to call city hall and there was no answer.
Allegations included failure to clean up the office files as requested and inability to find documents when requested.
The mayor said he had given Hugger specific steps to take in organizing the office and she did not follow through.
Allegations were that the mayor had requested a bottom line total on claims for the council meetings and it was not being done.
Bills, said another allegation, were paid without receiving goods.
There were allegations that some bills had been paid twice. The mayor said it was Huggerís responsibility to see that the goods are received before being paid.
It was noted that four years of fire charges to Sunrise Township had not been billed.
The mayor said it is the clerkís duty to ask for information to pay bills.
Allegations were that Hugger failed to maintain a ìto doî list for all employees and council. There are many things that havenít been done, he said, because there is no way to track them.
The clerk did not establish a calendar of events and continue it, it was alleged, nor was information provided ahead of time about what people wanted to talk about who asked to be on the council meeting agenda.
The mayor said that Hugger did not follow through without constant supervision.
There were issues of a deficit bank balance that caused checks to be bounced, inability to use QuickBooks program, poor attention to detail and a sticky door on the bulletin board that she should have resolved.
There were allegations that Hugger spent too much time in personal phone calls. Allegations included inaccurate audit papers, and that the city code of ordinances was in disarray. Keeping it in order, the mayor said is the clerkís responsibility as well as in giving copies of requested ordinances to whoever wants one.
As the custodian of city records, it was alleged that Hugger often could not find documents.
Things were a mess when she started, the mayor admitted, but he added that there had been little change.
One allegation alluded to copies of information for a Feb. 2006 council meeting. The mayor said because they had only received them one minute before the meeting they were unable to respond to the angry public. It was alleged that Hugger had the information earlier in the afternoon that day.
When the mayor returned a printer he purchased and bought another more expensive one, he said he was reimbursed for more than the difference.
The overpayment is costly, he said and puts him in a bad position.
There were allegations of general ledger errors. Because of the issues with the general ledger, the auditor, it was alleged, had to charge $2,000 more than allowed by the council. In addition, the mayor said, the auditor said if he had to do as much work again he would have to charge the city $12,000.
Hugger, it was said, should have discovered the discrepancies.
It was alleged that Hugger gave advice on the repair of a tractor that would cause problems for the city, that she continued to buy licenses for fire trucks when it wasnít needed and an issue with a gas credit card that almost had fire department members arrested when they took a city fire truck out of town and tried to get gas with the card.
When fire chief Will Lacina was injured in a fire at RC, the bills at Fairview were not paid. Hugger was responsible for that error, the mayor said.
Allegations were that a developer was unhappy because he was not billed for development fees in time for taxes.
Allegations were that Hugger posted the time for a public hearing on the liquor ordinance at 7, instead of 6 p.m.
There were allegations of many typo errors.
Hugger was accused of spreading the word that the city was broke when one of the accounts was out of money.
The mayor said there was over $300,000 available cash elsewhere.
It was alleged that information shared by Hugger regarding the invoice for the rescue boat caused trouble for the fire department.
There were issues of the price of the new bulletin board going back to January 2005.
Another issue was a time when it was alleged that the audience had copies of information and the planning commission did not. The chairman of the PC submitted a letter of complaint.
Some allegations were repeated, it seemed.
Hugger was alleged to have made a false statement to the mayor regarding an OSHA visit.
Five minute breaks were taken at hour intervals.
It was alleged that Hugger did not follow through in seeking information from the League of Minnesota Cities on handling group anger. When she told the mayor she couldnít get through to the LMC, the mayor told her to call every 2-3 hours until she got a live person.
The mayor said when he called LMC, they said they had no record of her leaving a message.
It was another incident of Hugger not following through, the mayor said.
And that point he reminded the council of the importance of Huggerís statement that she would do whatever it takes to get the job done.
Final allegations had to do with what occurred after Hugger had been served with papers at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 25.
It was stated that Councilwoman Kathy Olson had come to city hall with fire chief Will Lacina to post the notice of a special closed meeting on the allegations.
Olson then stated that Hugger and others who were not city employees were in the locked city hall. She had said they were going through papers and this was included in a resolution that suspended Hugger later in the day April 25.
It had been assumed that the papers were city documents, possibly even confidential in nature.
Friday night Olson said she could not say if the papers that one individual held were confidential.
Allegation 47 said that Hugger was at Big Daddyís establishment next door when she claimed to be at work, according to her submitted time card.
No. 48 said that another day her time card indicated she was in the office and Olsonís husband and the mayorís wife could not get through to city hall. The mayor said someone tried to get through to city hall and couldnít and they were upset because they wanted information on land for sale. The mayor said he took them on a tour himself.
Finally, no. 49 was about a citizen who was upset because he felt his calls to city hall were screened and not answered. He claimed he let it ring 37 times. Allegations included misinformation about what the city maintenance worker was doing that day, also.
Click here for Kim Hugger's response to allegations.
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