With city manager Jellie out, Palmer faces its problems including finances

City managers don’t typically run in popularity contests. Also, city managers often have jobs with short lifespans, particularly if they run afoul of local interests.

Steve Jellie’s 53 days as Palmer’s manager may be one of the nation’s shortest tenures. Jellie resigned Wednesday night after a tense meeting with the city council in executive session, meaning the doors were closed, during an emergency meeting.

The resignation was effective immediately, leaving Palmer Mayor Steve Carrington having to quickly put together a caretaker management until a new manager can be recruited.

Jellie’s problems seemed to stem mostly in his management style which was described as direct and confrontational, and which upset city employees. He also ran afoul of council members who became infuriated when Jellie told city workers not to communicate directly with the council, but to work through him.

One member of the council, Carolina Anzilotti, said she valued an ability to seek information directly from Palmer city staff. Anzilotti pushed for immediate dismissal of Jellie after a regular council meeting on Monday when city public safety workers turned out to complain about the manager.

Another factor that likely weighed heavily in the executive session discussion, which was confidential, was Jellie’s decision to put Palmer’s popular police chief, Dwayne Shelton, on administrative leave after an argument over some of Jellie’s decisions. That included a policy change that officers not be allowed to take police cars home overnight.

During the Tuesday regular council meeting police officers said taking a car home made it possible to quickly lend assistance during an emergency without having to first go to a motor pool to get a car. Having a police car in the neighborhood overnight also gives residents an additional sense of security, others said. Passions were high at the Tuesday meeting as city workers urged the council to immediately put Jellie on administrative leave or to fire him. Carrington, as mayor, urged people to keep cool and to follow proper procedures, which was to convene a special emergency meeting with an executive session to give Jellie a chance to defend himself.

That was done the following day, on Wednesday. The council appeared ready to introduce a resolution putting Jellie on leave pending an investigation, but Jellie decided to resign.

Jellie had been developing ideas for streamlining services and reducing costs as he worked on development of the city budget, which is to be presented to the council next week.

The ideas, including combining the Palmer and Wasilla emergency service dispatching, were only in the discussion and information-gathering stage because they cannot be implemented without the council’s approval, Jellie told the council Wednesday before the body went into executive session.

Merging Palmer and Wasilla emergency dispatching became a hot-button issue for Palmer public safety employees, who feared loss of jobs and slower response times if a local dispatch capability was downgraded or eliminated.

Jellie said he had discussed this idea and others with some council member, and Carrington confirmed that.

“I told every one of you (on the council) in two updates, and most of you verbally, that we should study the consolidation and merger,” Jellie told the council. “All of you responded affirmatively that we should study it. Most of you said if there’s money to be gained from it, we should definitely study it.”

Jellie also mentioned city financial problems that will have to be dealt with. “Next year, your expenses will exceed your projected revenues. At the same time, you will likely drain a significant part of your fund balance to pay for the largest capital project this city has seen in some decades (the public library reconstruction).”

Another problem is that the city sewer and water fund is running a $2.7 million negative balance which will weigh against the city’s general fund. The city water system is stressed because new housing continues to be approved without adequate requirements for developers to assure adequate water service can be provided, Jellie said.

“Our water system (has prompted) a lot of talk (about) about selling water without the water capacity to sell. We’re at capacity. Yet we continue to make decisions that are not in our best interest, such as allowing new subdivision in the city to be built without looking into our water system,” he said.

“We have a subdivision in the city that is taking great offense to that. They want to put in a well in to be able to water grass. We’ve objected to that.”

City finances are thin. “You are operating at the bare minimum, and city departments are stretched, from police to planning,” Jellie warned. Without new taxes, which Palmer has prided itself in avoiding, the city will likely have to draw on its fund balance emergency reserve. The alternative would be closing departments of the city government.

A city manager’s job is to do the research and spot problems, Jellie said, even if people don’t like to hear bad news. “There are hard decisions to be made. There are things that require the city manager to be able to function to bring the facts,” Jellie said.