Parks Chairman rejected by Council after negative remarks
After brutally criticizing the Council and multiple (beyond bending the truth) online posts, Parks Commission Chairman, Dave Pautz did not receive enough Council votes for reappointment.
During the 2017 election, friends of Mayor Olson created spin aimed to help Pautz keep his seat by claiming non-supporters would be pegged as denying Pautz's First Amendment Rights. However, based on his ruthless and attacking statements towards the Council and repeated distortions of facts online, many Council members believed he went too far.
Pautz's history of attacking the Council perhaps began at the behest of the Mayor, with the debate of Kayla's Playground's location. At that time, Pautz accused four of the six aldermen of being "in collusion” because they were able to override a mayoral veto. Olson vetoed the Council’s motion directing him to work with the County to place the playground at Froemming Park on 51st St. The Council had viewed this as a more regional location with better access and existing water and sewer lines to lower project costs. (The current location ran taxpayers about $1.5 Million). Shortly after the veto was issued, Council President Wilhelm and Alderman Doug Schmidt (now replaced by Alderman Barber) authored a joint Council rebuttal resulting in Council support towards overriding Olson’s veto; a letter Mayor Olson would NOT allow in the meeting’s public record. Olson again got his way by ignoring the veto override by swooping in with support for Franklin Woods as the new location without any attempt at locating the playground at Froemming. Conveniently, Franklin Woods adjoins Pautz’s residence (see photo above, map is pre-Kayla's Playground construction). Pautz stated his neighbors were fine with the park at a Parks Commission meeting when the new location was discussed, when in fact neighbors sounded blind-sided, eventually resulting in the recall of their alderwoman, Janet Evans.
As residents began finding out and complaining, Pautz quickly placed the blame on the site location on Wilhelm (never mentioning his support and easy access from his home). As the Evans recall efforts heated up so did the finger-pointing at Wilhelm by Olson and his allies. Residents supporting Wilhelm said she did for her residents what Evans should have done by insisting neighbors be notified and road access reviewed prior to the Pleasant View Park site choice; one that would have removed their new roughly-$50,000 tennis court.
Pautz was front-and-center in the blame-game to discredit Wilhelm. Olson's bud the Baleful Blogger allowed him to post mistruths about Wilhelm and the Council-approved College Avenue sidewalk. FT debunked Pautz's claims, and Wilhelm informed FT she sent him a letter asking him to “clarify or retract his statements”. For the most part, Pautz stood firm on his baseless accusations, leading up to last Tuesday's failed reappointment.
Free speech has its boundaries with any entity including the Council reserving a right to reject nominees they believe cause harm. In fact, many private sector companies would frown upon employees openly criticizing their business and if criticism proved a determent to the company, termination often results. The same can held true in the public sector. Why have volunteers declaring open hostility to those approving their nominations? Additionally, to allow a volunteer commissioner to hash out falsehoods and allege a corrupt city leadership without backing crosses other boundaries.
While Pautz has a long-term of service (and now a pavilion and a larger, vastly improved playground directly behind his house) that does not provide complete armor from truthful accountability in his public position. FT supports the decision of the Council and plans to continue highlighting the major Negative-Nancies that keep Franklin from moving forward. Hopefully, the Parks Commission can take on a new direction and use some of those tightly-held impact fees toward a Community Center.