Fairbury Mayor Addresses Bad Behavior Toward City Employees
By Gordon Hopkins
Fairbury Mayor Kelly Davis took some residents to task over what he sees as abuse of city staff.
The city has faced a number of controversies in recent years, particularly involving the enforcement of city codes, the South Jefferson Land Bank and the rental inspection program. Anger over these matters have resulted in some citizens coming to the city office to complain and, in some instances, according to the mayor, their behavior was not always appropriate.
T
he mayor made a statement at a meeting of the city council Tuesday evening, February 3, “There are nine people sitting up here that, when they made the decision to serve the public, put targets on their backs. We all did this knowing we would get cussed at, called names, have things said about us that aren’t always the truth. We all knew this going in and we are all adult enough to accept it.”
“The city employees on the other hand do not deserve to be talked about and treated this way. I have had about all I will stand for when it comes to coming into their place of employment and being cursed at, hollered at, threatened, and unreasonable demands being made of them. Every employee in this office has their plate full, and many of these unreasonable demands really take precious time away from their daily operations,” said the mayor. “If you have information you are seeking, or want to share, you will be expected to do it in a civil way, and you will talk to them the way you expect to be talked to. If you seek copies of city documents, most of what you want can be found online and you can print them yourself. If they are not available online and you want copies made of documents the city can share, when asked, we will make copies for you for a fee. The same goes for if you bring in a document and want a copy made, you will pay for the copies.”
Mayor Davis warned, “If you come in to the city offices raising hell and threaten of law suits, all conversations will be over and at that time the only correspondence will be between our lawyer and your lawyer, and you will be asked to leave.”
The mayor added, “The city employees are doing their jobs and doing what I have instructed them to do, so if you have a problem with that, come talk to me.”
