Galletly Retires as Grove City Manager

"I Am Proud to Have Served Here"

Grove City Manager Bill Galletly officially retired from city employment as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, following City Council approval by a 3-2 margin of a Retirement and Consultation Contract calling for Galletly to receive a lump sum payment of $83,864 plus a Consultant's benefit amount of $734.78 from April 15 to Dec. 31, 2007.

Voting against the agreement were Councilors Larry Parham and Gary Bishop, with Mayor Carolyn Nuckolls, Terry Ryan, and Dave Helms voting aye. While the session could have been closed to the public, considering the subject, councilors had decided to hold an open session in front of the public in attendance.

No public comments were allowed on any item on the council agenda at Tuesday night's regular meeting. The room was packed 15 minutes prior to the start of the meeting, with about an equal number of Galletly detractors versus supporters.

Galletly receives $64,016.40 in severance pay plus $19,434 for accrued vacation and sick pay, under the agreement approved by Council.

In a masterful move, Galletly's opponents were caught flat-footed when Councilman Ryan brought up the severance agreement with former city manager Richard Ball. Ryan said "this is no less than the previous city manager received upon his retirement, and I see no reason to deviate from the earlier agreement in honoring this agreement with the current City Manager."

Assistant City Manager Debbie Mavity was named Interim City Manager at a salary of $75,000 with the stipulation that she return to the Assistant City Manager position and be paid accordingly, when a new City Manager is retained.

The city still has resumes from some 15 applicants which were solicited last August. City Council now has the task of selecting a new manager, for a city still split from the hiring of Galletly in December, 2002. At that time, one faction wanted retiring State Senator Rick Littlefield hired, including current city council candidates Harry Worley and Larry Parham, but Galletly, who had 30 years of professional city management experience, was hired instead. He has faced considerable criticism his entire four years in Grove but was praised Monday night by Nuckolls, Helms, and Ryan for his service to the community.

Councilman Parham wanted to delay the consultant contract until after the April 3 council election, in hopes that he and possibly two other candidates could change the terms of the agreement. Parham said he had hired Logan and Lowry, attorneys, to question the agreement "under a 28 day umbrella" but City Attorney Ron Cates said he disagreed with their opinion.

Galletly will still advise the city and its trust authorities, if requested, on the many projects currently underway in Grove. Part of the agreement releases him from "any and all liability for claims, demands, losses, damages, expenses, or any relief or liabilities," with each agreeing not to sue the other, and also agrees that the City will hold Galletly harmless from any actions, duties, performance, while he was City Manager.

Councilman Dave Helms noted that Galletly saved the city more than $700,000 in materials cost by purchasing them ahead of time, for the highway 59 utility relocation project.

Terry Ryan noted that when Galletly was first hired in December 2002, "little did he know that he would walk into a culture of favoritism, where the sales tax exemption was frauduantly allowed, where businesses failed to report accurate sales tax amounts thereby cheating the city out of revenue; where city employees used city equipment for private developers on weekends and pocketed the money themselves, where illegal water taps were made, where the management and accounting systems were in shambles, where the trust authorities were run like fiefdoms, where the airport authority defied the city in transferring title to land. Mr. Galletly did not tolerate any of this and it upset a lot of people." He noted that the city now has a state of the art accounting system in place, reviewed each year by outside Certified Public Accountants.

Galletly announced that the city is receiving more than $60,000 from FEMA for city expenses incurred as a result of the ice storm in January; that the contractor hired to pick up the tree debris will start Wednesday with zone 1, proceeding through zone 12 the next 60 days; that through negotiations, the city has reached agreements with Frank Hallacy, former owner of Cedar Oaks Leisure Living, and the current homeowners association there, for a settlement of $25,000 and that water taps will be metered. "I am pleased that both parties could reach a settlement in this matter," he said.

Parham criticized the way the matter of the water tap at Cedar Oaks was handled, with city staff giving information to the local newspaper. "The water was not stolen," he said.
On the Simmons gas matter, Parham said "surely they knew they owed for the gas, but the city should have known about it also."

Galletly, in closing remarks, stated his appreciation to the citizens of Grove for their support during the past four years. "I am proud to have served here," he said. He also praised the city staff. "I am extremely proud of this staff, their performance, and their attitude, the result of years of working together."

In other action, Council approved spending $5,000 to match a GIDA contribution of $15,000 to the American Heritage Festival scheduled for June. The organization had asked the city for $30,000. The vote was 4-1 with Nuckolls voting nay.

Council also approved a Jake Brakes Ordinance that will forbid the use of Jake Brakes inside the city limits, with fines of up to $500. It goes into effect May 1 and signs will be posted at all entrances to the city.

Council also approved 5-0 authorization for right of way acquisition on Shundi from 9th to 3rd Street, funds previously approved in the city budget.

Letters to the Editor...

To the Editor:

Citizens of Grove, within the next month you will be called upon to exercise a responsibility you have in the election of three councilpersons to guide the city for the next four years. If past elections are any indication, many of us do not feel a vote in this election is important.

Of all elections you have the opportunity to participate in, the city elections are the most important. Neither the Federal, State nor County elections can have more impact on your daily lives. City Councils have the ability of have a profound effect on what happens to your city in a way not possible by other political entities. The City Council can effectively use existing tax revenues to enhance the city by making proper decisions that will benefit everyone in the city, or they can make decisions that are self-centered and benefit only a certain element of the city. Decision supporting a popular item may result in a disastrous result, resulting in court imposed property taxes without a vote of the public. Positive decisions need to be made using wisdom and knowledge of the subject, not by pandering to a group or a self-centered personal agenda.

How many of you have heard the candidate's statements that they will fire the City Manager if they are elected. Fine do that, then what? Having an agenda of this type due to personal feelings certainly isn't the type of leadership we need to assure the future of Grove. The next City Council will be hiring a new City Manager. Will the decision be made based on the individual qualifications or will it be made as a political payoff?

Get out and learn more about the candidates. You certainly have a choice of extremes. Will the candidate tell you that utility rates will not be raised, although it is a legal requirement of the loans for the utility improvements? This isn't a point that can be changed on a whim. How about construction of the infrastructure, should we do the job correctly the first time, or throw something together that needs constant repair due to poor initial planning? A City Councilor can not govern by constantly voting in the negative on everything that needs to be done. It is the Councilors' responsibility to work within the framework of proper prior planning and the establishment of priorities for the good of the entire community.

Citizens of Grove, the decision is yours to make. The outcome of the upcoming election will have long term ramifications for the future of Grove. Get out and vote, but make it a knowledgeable vote.

William Miller

Employee of the Month...

Officer Ruben Hernandez was honored as Grove's Employee of the Month at Tuesday night's Council meeting, cited as having an "unblemished reputation and record of service while receiving many letters of commendations from both citizens and supervisors."
He leaves Grove March 15 to become a member of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
"He will be greatly missed by his fellow officers and co-workers, as well as citizens of the City of Grove," the citation read by Mayor Carolyn Nuckolls said.

Galletly's Four Year Performance Summary

Since arriving in Grove four years ago, many things have occurred that were positive for the city. Here is a review of those items. You then decide if the decision made by past City Councils was indeed correct in the hiring of our present city manager. These are listed in no particular order. (compiled by Bill Miller, Grove citizen)

1) Established a public participation plan to encourage and obtain citizen input on important actions.
2) Established an Alcohol and Substance Abuse Policy for all city employees.
3) Established an employee Internet Policy.
4) Installed new phone system in city hall and the police department.
5) Centralized the Accounting System
· New contemporary accounting software
· Set generally accepted accounting standards for the accounting system.
· Purchased new computer equipment and established in-house network
6) Developed standards for retaining professional audit firms.
7) Developed competitive evaluations for the selection of Engineering and consulting firms.
8) Completed first draft of up-to-date personnel manual.
9) Created job descriptions for all positions.
10) Created a fair and equitable pay scale and salary package treating all employees equally and fairly.
11) Developed a project filing system to allow for better control of construction projects.
12) Improved rotation program on police cars to 3-year vs the old 7 year.
13) Improved the city vehicle fleet rotation program to 5 years vs the old 15 years.
14) Established ongoing program to keep the city owned construction and maintenance equipment up-graded.
15) Installed sidewalks on several streets around the Middle School to keep students out of the street while walking to school.
16) Created a system for employee participation in the budget process.
17) Rectified construction deficiencies in the library project
18) Developed a long range city wide plan which includes:
· Organizational Development
· A capital improvement program.
· Creation of new zoning and development standards for future growth.
19) Upgrade traffic signals to video control – state of the art.
20) Started a storm water management program
21) Expanded the city street overlay program.
22) Expanded the city street-striping program.
23) Established a uniform color program for painting the city’s recreational facilities.
24) Installation of traffic light at Shundi and Highway 10.
25) Installed boat ramps on 16th Street and on Patricia Island.
26) Paved parking lot at the sports complex and constructed new restroom facilities.
27) Paved all sidewalks at sports complex
28) Installed new backstops at sports complex.
29) Paved Rotary playground parking lot at sports complex.
30) Expanded city’s fireworks display and July 4th event.
31) Started the downtown revitalization program.
· Rebuilt parking lot between 3rd street and O’Daniels Street.
· Installed new retaining walls on the parking lot.
· Completed grant application for revitalization program, which resulted in nearly $300,000 of state funds to finance the initial program.
32) Complete plans for new city hall parking lot.
33) Completed the 18th Street project.
34) Developed plans for the expansion of State Park road from Main to Broadway
35) Resolved the misunderstanding of the financial responsibility of installing the traffic light at State Park Road and Main, in the cities favor.
36) Completed the Honey Creek Bridge project resolving many misunderstanding disputes between the city, ODOT and the contractor.
37) Worked closely with economic developments projects that will provide long term benefits to the city, including:
· All State Tank (currently 35 employees)
· Rocket Gaming (110 employees moved to Grove with future expansion of 80 -100 more)
38) Through GMSA improve the utility infrastructure with the installation of sewer and gas lines east of the city along highway 10. GMSA can now provide all utilities to commercial entities along this road. All provide future revenues to GMSA.
39) Retained consultant for a civic center study.
40) Retained full time litter control officer to keep main thoroughfares clean.
41) Worked with ODOT to extend the Honey Creek road project north from the original termination at 18th street to 13th street.
42) Worked with ODOT to extend the N59 project, from Sailboat Bridge south to the original termination at 16th street, south to include the Leisure Road intersection and traffic signals.
43) Developed a concept of a city park on Grand Lake at 98th street
44) Has had significant input into the reconstruction of the utilities on Hwy 59 prior to the road improvements.
45) Brought the new sewer plant construction to completion.
46) Re-paved many side street intersections with Highway 59 to improve safety at these points.
47) Reconstructed the alley between PSO and the Grove Sun to improve the access to those businesses and parking lots and replace the old utility infrastructure in the area.
48) He has made the difficult decisions regarding the employment situations in city government to provide a professional demeanor to the organization.
49) Renovated the city hall administrative offices to improve efficiency and customer service.
50) All business that has transpired has been done in public, with full disclosure and City Council approval.
51) Favored, through private industry, the process of establishing high speed wireless internet service throughout the city.
52) Has finalized the transfer of all GMSA,. GIDA and Airport assets to the City of Grove, thereby minimizing the risk to those assets from any legal judgement that might occur.
53) Through an agreement with ODOT, he purchased all materials needed for the Highway 59 project in a single bid arrangement, saving approximately $750,000.
54) Has worked with a blue ribbon committee to review the possibility of a new swimming pool for Grove, and a new events center.
55) Managed one of the most significant disasters to hit the city by taking a proactive actions to cleanup the city after the Ice Storm of 2007
56) Has worked with cell phone companies to build a new tower, at the suppliers' expense, to provide better cell phone service in Grove. In addition, the cities communication system will be greatly improved with the installation of the main transmission antenna on top of the new tower, at no cost to the city.