As a young adult, I loved watching game shows. The mid-1950s were a period of rapid growth in popularity for quiz shows. I remember watching Jack Barry, on-air host from 1947-1958 and 1960 – 1980 who produced and appeared on “High Low Quiz,” “Juvenile Jury,” and “Tic Tac Dough.” Then, there was Dennis James who is credited with hosting television’s first network game show in 1946 called “Cash and Carry.” One of the most popular of all times was, “The Dating Game” with Jim Lange. Rodney Alcala, a contestant on the show in 1978 is often referred to as “The Dating Game Serial Killer” because when he applied to be a contestant he had already committed at least four murders and decades later authorities discovered he was a prolific serial killer, but, I digress.
The best game show in my opinion is “Family Feud,” which started in 1976 and was hosted by Richard Dawson. He was the host known as the Kissing Casanova for his signature kiss on the cheek and lips to all his female contestants. The show would be hosted over the years by Ray Combs, Louie Anderson, Richard Karn (Home Improvement), John O’Hurley (Seinfeld), and Steve Harvey. My wife and I tune in every day to hear Steve Harvey say, “We asked a 100 people” and “The survey says!” Game shows give the audience the chance to live out our fantasies thinking, “Well, if someone must win, it could be me!”
Who uses surveys? And, what is the survey’s purpose? A better question might be “Who doesn’t use surveys?” It is common for companies to do employee surveys to measure staff engagement or companies may reach out to customers after a purchase to measure satisfaction. The overall purpose of a survey is to get feedback and ideas to understand areas of improvement. We were a little surprised and intrigued when we heard rumors in the last few weeks that the Local 3732 Executive Board of the FFA had done a survey of the firefighters in response to a new chief and in regard to some of the Mayor’s recent statements.
Let’s look at the questions in regard to the Mayor’s Statement Survey:
Question: Do you want Interim Fire Chief Glover to be the next Fire Chief of the Frisco Fire Department? The survey says 92.5% said NO, they do not want Interim Chief Glover to be the new Fire Chief, which is alarming considering he is currently running the Department. Have the firefighter’s lost confidence in Glover?
Question: Do you believe Interim Fire Chief Glover has improved/rebuilt morale and regained trust of the Department? The survey says 91.4% of the Association said, NO Glover has not improved morale or rebuilt trust. Interestingly, this directly contradicts what Mayor Cheney said at the Star Patriot Debate where he adamantly said Glover has increased morale and is starting to regain trust. When the Mayor answered with such confidence, did he knowingly lie? Was it an attempt to mislead the public to win the election? Just listen to him in his own words…
Now, let’s look at the Fire Chief Questionnaire in regard to the future hiring process of the fire chief position.
Question: Do you believe the organization has any qualified candidates to assume the task set forth by the City Manager’s office? The survey says 89.4% said NO that the organization does not have any qualified candidates as of now to assume the task. That is pretty telling that Frisco firefighters don’t agree with the Mayor’s view.
Question: Would you like the next chief to be an external hire or internal hire? The survey says, YES, 93.8% would like an external hire which is mind-blowing because it shows they have no confidence in current interim Chief Glover.
Question: Do you believe the finalist list should be composed of National Candidates? The survey says 91.7% responded, YES it should have national candidates. So, if it were a “national” search, why did they need to be Texas Certified? Oh no, nothing to see here.
Question: Do you believe the finalists should have experience as a chief in a department of equal or larger size and city population density? The survey says, 86.1% said YES they should have the current experience equal to Frisco’s department.
Question: Do you believe the department is appropriately preparing for the future or heading back to the past practices? The survey said 91.5%, YES, that they are heading back to the past practices. Are they referring to Mack Borchardt, the previous Fire Chief, who works now in the City Manager’s office as a special assistant?
Question: Do you believe the Department is appropriately staffed? The survey says 95.2% responded NO it is not adequately staffed. As a resident, that scares the shady shit right out of me that its own department feels that way.
Question: Do you believe there should be a stakeholders’ group of FF consisting of all ranks involved in the hiring process? The survey said 96.6% responded YES, they want to have a say in picking their next leader.
After seeing the survey, we too had some questions and decided to do some research.
Frisco’s Fire Chief was Mack Borchardt who started as a volunteer firefighter in 1973. Then, in 1982, he became the Administrator and Chief of Volunteers until 1987 when he became the City’s very first Fire Chief. Oddly, in September of 2011, the City announced he would retire and then assume new duties as a Fire Programs Consultant and Special Assistant to then City Manager George Purefoy.
Why would a fire chief take a new role out of the blue? Multiple off the record sources tell us that Borchardt was caught in some compromising situations which could have been a factor, or it could have been his staff and the association just didn’t like him either.
In the fall of 2011, a Climate Survey was done in the Frisco FD to identify growing concerns of firefighters and officers. It notes, “…there is a lack of trust, respect, and dignity between officers and firefighters. The culture… is very negative and one of intimidation, retaliation, and fear.” The examiner notes that in the conversations with the Chief and Officers they lead her to believe there is some truth to the claims. The report also notes there is considerable animosity regarding Chief Borchardt and that many in the department felt the entire senior staff along with the Chief needed to be replaced because they were all trained in Borchardt’s style. The most telling part of the report was that many firefighters believe the then Chief Borchardt was trying to run the growing department like it only had 20 employees, and instead of hiring those best suited for the job, he hired his friends.
Lastly, it notes the department is understaffed for the growing population (ding, ding, ding). At the time 76.3% of the respondents indicated they would leave the department if they could.
While we have no concrete evidence, multiple sources said Borchardt was pushed out. George Purefoy stood up for him and said, if he goes then I go, so instead Borchardt was moved into a new job at city hall working for George himself. After reading the report, it begs the question was Chief Borchardt removed “not retired” because of his personal behavior and management style that had torn apart the Department?
Did then City Manager George Purefoy save his friend with a cushy job right next to him at city hall? It is important to note that the current Interim Chief and candidate Lee Glover steadily advanced through the ranks of management in the fire department under the leadership of Mack Borchardt; so, based on the report, it might be plausible to assume Glover still has Borchardt’s management style and that is why the new survey shows no confidence in him. Either way, Borchardt and Glover are what some would call “thick as thieves.”
In 2013, the city hired Mark Piland as the new Chief of Frisco Fire Department. According to many of the sources we talked to, YES, change did start to happen, but it didn’t help that Piland was met by resistance from then Manager George Purefoy who conveniently had Mack Borchardt, the previous fire chief, in his ear. Think about it, if you are an old fire chief of 20+ years, would you want to see what you built in the Department change right in front of your eyes?
Tension began early on from what sources tell us, making it very difficult for Piland to make significant changes. Borchardt worked the ear of his longtime friend and boss George Purefoy for years, straining the relationship from the onset with Piland and Purefoy. We are guessing Piland realized early on he was facing a losing battle going up against the old fire chief in the City Manager’s ear day-after-day during his entire tenure. One has to wonder, is this why Piland thought he might better serve the City as Manager? One also wonders if the new City Manager Wes Pierson was really chosen because he would fall right in line?
As a side note, I had some of these suspicions months ago when I filed a PIR asking for Borchardt’s recent contract renewal by Purefoy that was signed just before retiring, which, NO, we still have not received.
Now, it’s 2023 and Glover, who has been the Interim Chief, is a candidate for Chief of the fire department. You can bet he wants that position badly, and his mentor and friend in the city manager’s office, Mack Borchardt would not mind seeing him in the position either. If that wasn’t enough, we asked around, and multiple officers told us shocking things regarding Glover that left us flabbergasted. YES, flabbergasted!
Obviously, out of fear of losing their jobs, I can understand why they would not want to go on the record. With that said, multiple firefighters spoke off the record. They have witnessed the Interim Frisco Fire Chief belligerently drunk multiple times in public and threatened them if they ever spoke up about it. The same firefighters confirmed he was recently seen in the street at a FD Conference, again belligerently drunk, peeing on a tree in the median during the middle of the day. Witnesses also say he drank heavily at lunchtime during some of these conferences. So now, the current survey makes total sense. All of these factors, history, and more, contribute to the survey results. We were told he has a known history of maliciously undermining all ranks of FD leadership for his own personal gain.
Based on what we were told, someone at city hall might want to ask the following interview questions of Interim Chief Lee Glover:
Is it true you have a history of being belligerently drunk at FD training conferences and FD apparatus purchasing meetings?
Do you have a DUI on your record from August of 1985? Were you sentenced to 2 years’ probation? Is the city aware of this?
Did you urinate on a tree in the middle of the street at an FDIC conference in Indianapolis? And is it true, you threatened FD staff if they spoke of the incidents and suggest they would “regret it?”
Is it true you have a history of using your rank to cause people in your department to fear losing their job should they go against you?
If we told you there was a tape of you making racially inappropriate statements how would you respond? Do you have a history of making racially inappropriate statements?
If the City had the guts to sit down with the staff today face to face for an honest conversation, would your current staff say all these incidents were true?
Lastly, does the Public Lewdness charge from 1992 and the indecent exposure charge in 2000 belong to you or your father?
From the City’s recent meet and greet, we now know the candidate shortlist is Rob Bergersen, Richard Davis, Lee Glover, Kenneth Johnson, and Marc Pate. None of them have held the position of Chief. But, we learned of a few names that were removed, and we are interested in asking, why since they seem to have much more experience? Take Paul Henley, who is the Fire Chief in Flower Mound and President of the Texas Fire Chiefs Association–why was he taken off the list? Chief Lasky in Lewisville, a 40-year veteran and has served as a Fire Chief for the last 12 years–why was he taken off the list? Hello? With the stellar background of on some of these candidates, one should wonder why they were removed from the list. “Survey Says…“
It was a nice sunny day, and my dad called my name and asked if I wanted to ride with him to town and I jumped in the truck before he could even turn around and get an answer. I loved being with my dad because he was interesting yet peculiar, and he always had interesting things to say. I asked what we had to do, and he said in his gruff voice “get supplies” and I just buckled up. We hit a few stops in town including the 5 and dime to get our candy bars and then we started back down the pebbled roads to Chateau Vino (home). My dad slammed on his breaks out of nowhere he said “son, I smell smoke!” He yelled, start looking so as we drove we looked everywhere around us and there it was black smoke rising on a neighbor’s land. My dad slammed on the gas, and we drove fast towards the neighbor’s land, and I remember just bouncing up and down from all those damn pebbles. We got there and saw the old man holding a hose and we grabbed others laying nearby and started spraying. It took a while before the fire brigade arrived from town with a portable water truck. I don’t remember much after that as I think I was in shock as it was my first fire. We had the help of other local farmhands and the brigade and after it was out everyone sat on the back of their trucks watching for hot spots late into the evening.
Why is this important? Because when I was a kid my dad always told me that if your business involved the land you lived on such as a farm or winery then you know the most detrimental thing that can happen is a fire. He said within minutes a small fire in open dry land could decimate an area and destroy our family’s winery. When we first moved to Texas I learned the city we lived in had Citizens Fire Academy, so I signed up. We learned that a fire requires a flame, air, fuel, and heat. We learned a backdraft is caused by the sudden introduction of air into a fire that has depleted most of the available oxygen in a room or building. Firefighters look for signs such as smoke being drawn in along with the air under doors, and windows. They also look to see if the windows are showing signs of excessive heat, such as brown stains and cracking. It saves them from opening a door or window and being caught in a backdraft of fire. My experience as a young lad and my short time in Citizens Fire Academy gave me a whole new perspective on what these men and woman do.
As a Frisco resident in 2017 and 2020 when the Frisco Fire Fighters endorsed Cheney I figured if they felt he was the right leader I would support him too. Then in April 2021 you would have thought an El Paso dust storm full of tumbleweeds came through Frisco and upset the equilibrium of our city. As we discussed in our earlier blogs Where There Is Smoke PT 1 and There is Fire PT 2, there has been a long standing point of contention between fire fighters and the city in regards to workers compensation. In 2021 the city opposed House Bill 2242 brought forward by their own district House State Rep Jared Patterson. In 2023 the FFA and Patterson brought HB 471 and they have been working very hard to get it passed in Austin and it would protect first responders across Texas.
While our local Frisco Fire Fighters Association and State Rep Jared Patterson are working so hard to protect first responders, you can imagine our shock on May 2, 2023 when we learned a 27-year veteran of the Frisco Fire Department felt the need to speak at Citizen Input on how he was recently terminated by the City of Frisco while he was on leave and under medical supervision for PTSD.
Those that wish to watch the City Council Meeting, be sure to watch the end of citizens input for the disgusting smug pre-written response by our new City Manager, Wes Pierson to Assistant Fire Chief Cameron Kraemer’s passionate plea for the Council’s intervention and assistance.
The Frisco Fire Association also spoke on Kraemer’s behalf and on behalf of all first responders that may be suffering from PTSD or any other work-related injuries or illnesses. You can watch the meeting in its entirety here. Citizen Input begins at approximately 54:00 minutes.
In a post of Chief Kraemer’s Facebook page he confirmed that since this meeting, the City has not reached out to him. Then on May 16th Kraemer, along with the FFA President Matt Sapp, and Former Frisco Fire Chief Mark Piland, spoke out again at City Council during Citizen Input. You can watch that meeting in its entirety here. Just go to Citizens Input at the 23:30 minute mark.
We are going to continue to follow Kraemer’s situation and if you want more information please visit the Fire Fighters Association Facebook page. They will be posting updates on Chief Kraemer, House Bill 471 and the City’s opposition to the Bill down in Austin. It has also been interesting following their page for daily updates on the Department’s Staffing issues that the city continues to deny exists.
As we always do every other Tuesday, my wife and I tuned in online to the council meeting on May 16 and as soon as the meeting started I wanted scream like Alanis Morrissette…
Isn’t it ironic? Don’t you think? A little too ironic And yeah, I really do think
Ready for the kicker? May is Mental Health Awareness Month and the city terminated a 27-year employee by email over mental health then Mayor Cheney presents a proclamation to Denton County MHMR for all they do for mental health. Nothing regarding this has sat well with me so my wife and I did find Chief Kraemer’s email and sent him a note to say we support him. We told him we didn’t expect a response we just wanted him to know as citizens we appreciate everything he has done for this city, and we hope for the best for him and his family.
Lastly are my words for Wes Pierson, a man the city hired about a year ago that now sits up high in his lofty thrown next to our City Attorney. I was shocked, stunned and dismayed at the absolute disrespect you displayed and spewed out of that mouth of yours to a man who served our city for 27-years. If my mom were alive she would say wash that disrespect out with a bar of soap. In my 70 years of life, I have never seen anyone as cruel and callous with their words as you were that night. It showed your character, and I am guessing you have no idea how Mr. Kraemer feels since you have never kept a job in the same place for more than 5 to 7 years and the good lord blessed you with perfect mental health. I am sure you are very proud of yourself sir, but you showed me and many other residents something that night. If you can have that much disdain for a 27-year fire fighter of this city, then how do you feel about us the residents who pay taxes here and your salary and the other first responders in this city?
If you live in Denton County and need help please reach out to the Denton County MHMR Center Crisis Line at 800-762-0157 or click on the May Mental Health picture and it will redirect you to their website.
I thought that I’d been hurt before But no one’s ever left me quite this sore Your words cut deeper than a knife Now I need someone to breathe me back to life
You watch me bleed until I can’t breathe Shaking, falling onto my knees
I’ll be needing stitches Tripping over myself Aching, begging you to come help
Imagine you are a high-strung marketing executive on a business trip in New York and you just want to get home for the Thanksgiving holiday. You get to the airport and your flight is delayed and you get seated next to a goodhearted but annoying shower curtain ring salesman who likes to talk. Your plane gets diverted to Wichita due to a blizzard in Chicago which is your final destination. You can’t get a room but the annoying guy next to you did and he offers to share the room with you for the night. The next day you both get on a train which breaks down near Jefferson City leaving passengers stranded in a field. You then travel with the annoying companion by bus to St. Louis where you try to get a rental car by fail. Then that annoying travel companion shows up in his rental and offer you a ride and with no other options in site you head out for a 24-hour death-defying ride. Finally in Chicago, the new friend drops you at the L-Train (subway) and you jump on to get to your house with the hopes to just enjoy some turkey. Now imagine how funny it would be when the travelers are played by Steve Martin and John Candy.
Personally, I loved the movie and I think a trip full of nonsense sounds like a lot of fun. This old fart would love to be young and travel carefree like even if it was a trip from hell. Somewhere in all the crazy you find a little big of “it was worth it moments.” In our previous blog Frisco Delays PIR Request, we mentioned that a citizen reached out to us after they could not get the PIR they requested from the city. As of today, its been 2 months are still waiting for what the city sent to AG claiming proprietary work product. It is our opinion that the City of Frisco wanted to delay the citizen receiving the information until after the election. Is the city with holding information that could change peoples decision on how they vote?
Mayor Cheney said more than once they (the city and council) took a trip to Universal during citizen town halls, council meetings and on social media. It made us a little curious about the trip, was it anything like Planes, Trains, and Automobiles? Probably not, but the Curious George in me went into overdrive. So when we were sent the details we dove right into the deep end to start going through it.
Who went? Based on the travel documents provided to us through the citizens PIR we learned that Jeff Cheney (Mayor), Angelia Pelham, Brian Livingston, John Keating (City Council), Wes Pierson (City Manager), Ben Brazina (Assistant City Manager), John Lettelier (Development Services Director), Marla Roe (Visit Frisco), Jason Ford (President of Frisco EDC), and Phillip Climer (Building Inspections Division.
When was the trip? It appears the participants had different travel dates. Jason Ford and Marla Roe traveled 10-8-22 to 10-11-22 and the rest of the city staff went flew out on the 10-9-22 to 10-11-22. Then Jeff Climer went in November for two days, but we are not sure what the point of that trip was.
How much was the airfare for City Council?Jeff Cheney, Angelia Pelham and Brian Livingston were booked for direct flights on Southwest Airlines from DFW to Orlando and the total shows $2678.88 (base fare + fee’s) and each Amex was charged $892.96. Then we noticed a credit was issued for Brain Livingston’s ticket and a new ticket was purchased in the name of John Keating. It was a direct Southwest Airlines flight which cost $809.96.
How much was the airfare for City Staff?John Lettellier’s direct flight on Southwest Airlines was confirmed on 09/19/2022 and it totaled $553.20. Wes Pierson our new city manager confirmed his ticket 09/22/2022 on American Airlines for a total of $911.04 which included the Preferred Seat Charge of $15.71, Main Cabin Extra charge of $78.13. Ben Brezina’s trip was confirmed 9/22/2022 on American Airlines and cost $730.20 and Phillip Climer airfare was $623.00.
How much was the airfare for Frisco EDC and Visit Frisco? We did not find any airfare cost for Marlo Roe so we assume she rode on the magic carpet with Aladdin. According to Jason Fords expenditure sheet his airfare was $1284.73.
How much was the hotel cost? Each room at the Sapphire Falls Resort was $167.63 (tax included) per night. All together it was about $4000 for the travelers. Now here is where it gets interesting.
Resort Details: If you remember there was a ticket for Brian Livingston that then was credited back to the Amex. A new ticket was purchased for Councilman Cheating John Keating. However there is a room expense for Brian Livingston and NO room charge for John Keating. My wife did her thing online and confirmed that Brain Livingston was in DFW during the time of the trip, so how did he have a room in Orlando Florida for $335.26. If Livingston didn’t go, and Keating went in his place then the city should have updated the reservation with the hotel, but they didn’t. Awe golly, maybe he stayed in some girl’s room as he is known to get around and he didn’t need a room. We feel confident that he stayed in Livingston’s room, which still leads us to ask – why did the city not change it? Is it illegal to expense it under Livingstons name? Did Livingston know he had an expense in his name?
What about other expenses? There are no expense reports for Cheney, Pelham or Keating so we have no idea what they spent on food or “extras.” Ben Brezina and John Lettellier expense reports had no food charges, and based on both men being pretty fit we just assume they don’t eat. Both men had about $56.00 each in parking or taxi expenses. Phillip Climer had $172.50 in food for two days.
Who wins the award for the “HEY, BIG SPENDER” gold trophy? Well, that would be Mr. Jason Ford, President of the Frisco EDC. We believe his travel expense report may be inaccurate because it does not add up to what we received. It reads his flight was $1284.73, then $116.77 in transportation charges, $439.16 for meals, $3047.89 for lodging and $15 for airplane Wi-Fi. Let the suspense music begin because when you look at his Sapphire Falls Resort Hotel Bill his room for 3 nights was $512.04. That means he either paid the bill for everyone’s room or something on this report is NOT RIGHT.
We did find some of his receipts. The evening he arrived he had a meal that included a Flatbreed Pizza, two side salads and lava cake which came to $38.34 + $7.20 tip for a total of $46.24. Then on 10-9 Jason Ford expensed a dinner that he notes with John Keating on the receipt, and it included sliders and Mich Ultra- since when does the city pay for alcohol? The total came to $24.50 + $5.50 tip for a grand total of $30.00. It appears the morning of 10-10 Jason took Keating, Pierson and himself to breakfast and the total was $89.46 plus a $15.54 tip! It appears that evening he took everyone to dinner at a Universal Sports Grill and the total was $194.64. Before I tell you THE BIG TIP, just remember at this week’s city council meeting the city tried to hide on the consent agenda a $5 million parking garage for some collector’s cars that were donated to the city and candy store (side note Livingston removed the item from the consent agenda to post pone it). Either way that must mean the city has a “big purse” and we have the money to spend! As Angelia said the night of the council meeting in March where they made the big Universal Decision “money is not a bad word, it is how people use money that is troublesome.”
DRUM ROLL PLEASE: Jason Ford left a $5.35 tip! We thought maybe they included gratuity since it was a large party but we could not find it so unless it got cut off the page, it was $5.35. (You can’t make this shit up).
It was clear after reviewing everything that a lot of details for the traveling city representatives was missing from this PIR request. There was not a travel expense report for each person. Hotel room bills for people who didn’t go, and no hotel room bills for ones who went. We are guessing the trip cost tax dollars at the minimum $10,000+ dollars. As a taxpayer I think maybe instead of sending 9 people we could have done it with half the number of people. Now they will argue, it will bring us millions in tax revenue over 30 years, but I am old and most likely will be 6 feet under in a few years and my kids will be arguing over their inheritance so who am I to care about 30 years from now. I like many other taxpayers hope you had a good time on our dime. If I were not in a wheelchair I would come to the next council meeting and break out in song during citizens input and sing
The minute you walked in the joint I could see you were people of distinction Real big spenders Good lookin’ so refined Say, wouldn’t you like to know what’s goin’ on in my mind? So let me get right to the point I don’t pop my cork for everyone I see Hey big spender, Spend a little money on me
Wouldn’t you like to have fun, fun, fun How’s about a few laughs,
Hey big spender Hey big spender Hey big spender Spend, a little money on me …or just help me with my property tax bill that is due since we have money to build a garage and take $10,000 dollar trips.
We received an email today from a resident who said they are upset that their PIRs are being delayed. The resident asked for “All electronic communications via email for Project P117/ Universal from 1/1/22 – 2/27/23 amongst all city council members , Wes Pearson, Maria Row, Ben Brezina, Jason Ford.” We have laid out the timeline sent to us by the resident below and we are wondering why the city is trying to delay this information from being released until after “THE ELECTION” Feb 27, 2023: Resident files PIR request
March 14, 2023: Resident receives response that the documents will cost $72.36 (for labor)
Resident Makes Payment
March 20, 2023: Resident sends message asking when they can expect files?
March 23, 2023: Resident notices status change reads “sent to attorney” sends message asking when should they expect their documents? Then they ask why has it been sent to attorney?
March 29, 2023: Resident receives a response asking for them to clarify what information they are seeking from the city.
April 2, 2023: Resident replies asking them to confirm they are asking for clarification of the request after they charged the resident $72.36 for files. They state what they are asking for is very clear all files related to the Universal Project (code name P117 or US). They state all emails between council members, city management, and Frisco EDC, the developers Fehmi and Universal management. Travel Expenses for the 10 people who went to Universal Florida. The resident states how did you determine a price for labor if you did not know what I was asking for and why are you delaying the records release?
April 5, 2023: Resident writes to city again asking where are the files they have requested and paid for? They note they have been waiting patiently since Feb 27, 2023. The resident notes the games the city are playing by charging them, then asking for clarification, then sending to city attorney. The resident then asks how they can have a city council meeting, vote to releases records for a PIR request regarding a MAYORAL CANDIDATE and an article can be in the paper the next morning but they can’t seem to respond to others requests regarding Universal. The resident asks for a response in 24 hours.
April 18, 2023: Resident “FINALLY” receives an email that that they have released a few documents but the rest has been sent to the Attorney General in Austin, Texas due to “confidentiality” issues. The resident said he received travel invoices, 6 redacted emails and a Choose Frisco presentation. Is the city trying to say there are no emails regarding this project?
April 21, 2023: Resident calls AGO and asks the turn around time on approval or denial to the city’s request and how they can file a objection. They are told by the state representative it can take “UP TO 45 DAYS” for a response and gave the resident the address to mail a letter of objection.
QUESTION: HOW CAN THE CITY RELEASE HR DOCUMENTS ON A RETIRED EMPLOYEE AND A DMN REPORTER CAN HAVE AN ARTICLE IN THE NEXT MORNING PAPER WITH A FULL ARTICLE BUT THEY CAN NOT RELEASE DOCUMENTS REGARDING UNIVERSAL?
WHAT IS CONFIDENTIAL? WHAT IS THE CITY WITHHOLDING?
TO SUM IT UP – IT IS CLEAR THE CITY IS PLAYING GAMES AND DELAYING THESE DOCUMENTS UNTIL AFTER THE ELECTION AND WE WANT TO KNOW WHY? WHAT ARE THEY HIDING?
If you have filed PIR’s are getting the run around from the city we want to hear from you! Email us via our contact us page.
It started like any other January day residents across Frisco woke up and started getting ready to take on a new day. I stepped out of the shower and could hear the morning newscaster on the television giving the traffic report followed by the weather. The deep voice said, prepare for the warmest January day since 2009 because today we should hit a high of 83 degrees. Texans generally joke about how we hit all four seasons in one day. Winter starts at 6 am, spring starts at 10 am, summer is at 2 pm and fall starts around 5:30 pm.
Midmorning sitting at my desk I get a notification that Visit Frisco has gone live on their Facebook page so of course I tune in to see what is going on. Standing behind a podium is Mayor Jeff Cheney announcing all the officials and guests in attendance. He then goes on to quote Dr. Seuss and says “One Fish, Two Fish, Frisco has a new wish and that is to welcome Universal Studios and Universal Kids to Frisco, Texas.” I was thinking about why would we want a theme park, where would it go, and how did this development come about. Mark Woodbury, Chairman & CEO of Universal Parks & Resorts, share a rendering of a bright and colorful theme park geared towards young children with a hotel featuring 300 rooms. Page Thompson, President of New Ventures for Universal announced they just purchased land 97 acres east of the DNT and north of Panther Creek Parkway in the Fields development. Mayor Jeff Cheney takes his position back at the podium to thank Fehmi Karahan of Fields and Karahan Properties as well as Hunt Real Estate who brought PGA here and is now bringing Universal Theme Parks.
In my head, I was thinking how did this dynasty development come about? The response on social media was swift and it soon became clear not all Frisconians were pleased about the park’s announcement. Weeks went by and I passively watched everything play out online and at city meetings. The key message being communicated by our mayor was how excited everyone was to welcome universal, and how the project had been fully vetted by the city and council. The key message from residents, they didn’t want the park. I was just intrigued by how much our Mayor was trying to sell the project to residents and news channels, and how he advocated relentlessly for the development.
Then one night while sitting in my recliner, I remembered back in October a post that I had seen from The Cheney Group that said his agents have been working on something very special for over a year now. They were excited to announce The Preserve at PGA is about to tee off and if someone was interested in building their own custom home reach out to them asap. He talked about early interest being historic levels and how they were the Fields Experts. My golf buddy in real estate around that same time was pretty upset telling me that The Cheney Group had snagged the exclusive to list The Preserve homesites. He even showed me an alluring glossy mailer that he had received in the mail from The Cheney Group. The front talked about the residential communities of PGA, living at Fields with renderings of the development. It had an attractive picture of The Cheney Group in front of the Fields boxes we see along the feeder road of the DNT. The back talked about Fields West, from the visionary behind Legacy West referring to Fehmi Karahan and new communities The Preserve and Brookside.
Growing up I always wanted to be like Perry Mason, Matlock, or Remington Steele probably because of my curious nature. It is that curious nature that leads me to ask how can The Cheney Group be the exclusive Fields Experts and now Jeff Cheney, acting as Mayor is advocating for Universal? Fehmi spoke twice at the February 7th, Special Meeting of the P&Z Commission and City Council meeting on behalf of Universal, so it is clear he has a personal interest in seeing Universal go through as it will be a part of the overall Fields project. I am no legal eagle, but I would think that if The Cheney Group is in any way financially benefiting from representing The Preserve for Fehmi Karahan which is part of the Fields Development then Jeff Cheney should recuse himself from any development talk regarding Fields and Universal as it is part of the same overall project.
My curiosity had me wondering, is that why when several residents showed up to a city council meeting to speak at citizens input he responded to each of them like he was selling the features and benefits of the Universal theme park. Am I the only one who feels like the mayor is trying to sell this project so hard to the public? Am I the only one with these questions or think they may be a reason to be concerned? Am I the only one who thinks something feels shady about it? It goes back to that little word transparency, and the perception or appearance of a conflict of interest.
After the council ruled on the complaints at the July 2021 council meeting, a resident came forward at the August 3, 2021, council meeting to speak during citizens’ input requesting an independent ethics committee. Mayor Cheney responded to the citizen announcing the Governance Committee would be meeting later that month to review the current ethics policy and the citizen was welcome to attend and speak at that meeting. He then said when it was first put in place that the city attorney told them it could be used as a political weapon against council members. Then Ms. Rouse took the podium and spoke and Mayor Cheney responded to her red faced and with beady little eyes, that the city did not need to hear her complaints because they were not filled out correctly but he insisted they be heard because he wanted them dismissed since they were not factual and ridiculous.
It made us wonder, what do other cities do? The City of Denton has a Board of Ethics which was created in 2018 and their duty is to solely hear ethics complaints filed against city officials. The city website thoroughly details the policy, procedures, and forms. The City of Plano is much like Frisco in how they hear ethics complaints. One interesting thing to note about their Code is Sec 2-109 which states the acceptance of a campaign contribution in excess of $1,000 by any city council member(s) shall create a conflict of interest based on an appearance of impropriety. In a nutshell that means they must recuse themselves from votes that could benefit anyone who gave more than $1,000 to their campaigns. The City of Dallas strengthened its code of ethics policies in 2021 and all complaints go before the Dallas’ Ethics Advisory Commission whose 15 members are appointed by the council. We were surprised to see most cities have the same process as Frisco when it is clear there are major conflicts of interest involved.
Now that you understand the process, and we broke down one of the complaints, it is time to talk about a few reasons why the ethics policy is bogus.
Reason 1: Relationship Conflicts
A conflict of interest occurs when an individual’s interests such as family, friendships, financial or social factors could compromise his or her judgment, actions, or decisions. In this case, several conflicts of interest led to the whole process being bogus.
If one of the fellow council members is indirectly linked to the issue then how could they vote on it? In this case, indirectly, Angelia Pelham was named in the complaint. The mayor campaigned for her, held fundraisers for her just months before the vote, and the alleged allegation in question is related to a post about her. While Angelia is not accused of anything in the ethics complaint, and we don’t believe she had any knowledge of the mayor’s actions or what he planned to post she is indirectly connected to the complaint. One could argue that she could not be impartial and should recuse herself.
To have a council member vote against another council member whom they have served next to for some time and could be friends with smells like shit. The whole thing is questionable and creates an appearance of impropriety.
One of the ethics complaints that evening was against Councilman John Keating for his alleged poor public display of public behavior. For Cheney to vote on Keating and then Keating to vote on Cheney, how is the public supposed to think they don’t have a gentleman’s agreement to not vote against each other? Let’s also take into consideration they are neighbors, literally right next door/across the street from each other in the same cul-de-sac.
Reason 2: Campaign Donations
Did you know that for years those who serve on the council have donated to each other’s campaigns? Some more than others but this is a time-honored tradition based on our review of campaign finance reports.
John Keating over the years has donated $3500 to Mayor Jeff Cheney’s campaign, he also donated 477 dollars to himself, he donated $7000 to Angelia Pelham’s campaign,, $1000 to Bill Woodard’s campaign, and $1500 to Laura Rummel’s campaign. Oh yeah, let’s not also forget Jeff Cheney and John Keating are neighbors (in the same cul-de-sac).
Jeff Cheney along with his wife held a fundraiser for Angelia Pelham that was valued at $1556 bucks according to the campaign finance report as well as he publicly supported her during her election. Dana Cheney also donated 250 dollars to John Keating’s campaign.
Bill Woodard donated $200 to John Keating’s campaign and according to his campaign finance reports he received a $100 donation in 2016 $100 from someone with the last name Abernathy. Is that the same person who serves as the City Attorney? We don’t know but it left us wondering.
Will Sowell donated $450 to Jeff Cheney’s campaign, and $100 to Bill Woodard’s campaign.
Brian Livingston donated $265 to Jeff Cheney’s campaign as a (food expense) and $500 to Laura Rummel’s campaign.
Shona Huffman donated $100 to John Keating’s campaign.
With campaign finance donations going back and forth between candidates, there is no way the council could claim to be impartial. Money flowing between candidates should be an immediate reason for recusal. To one on the outside looking in a donation could be equivalent to a gift. It could also be seen as reciprocal favor where there is an understanding with another person that official action will be rewarded directly or indirectly. Regardless of the amount, a donation should automatically be a reason for recusal.
Reason 3: The City Attorney
You are wondering, what the city attorney has to do with it being bogus? The city attorney works for the city and his goal is to protect the city. That means he advises them of the merit of the complaint and provides a written report describing the nature of the complaint and an assessment of the complaint. What could influence the city attorney in how he does his job or the decisions he makes? You know that thing you call a yearly review – where your company grades you on your performance which ultimately can affect your pay or your employment. The city council and the mayor write the attorney’s yearly review every year. That could influence anyone on how they do their job and the decisions they make.
All residents want is transparency which is important when there is a perceived conflict of interest. Pretend for a moment, everything is above board, and there is no shady shit happening but there is an appearance of wrongdoing, that appearance is just as important as reality in the minds of the public, citizens, and voters.
A resident should not need an attorney to file a complaint against an elected official that was voted into office by the residents. The city should have the City Charter, Code of Conduct, and how-to instructions easily available on the website. It should be easy to obtain all the necessary forms from the city secretary’s office. Calling for a review of the Ethics Policy after complaints were made, gives the appearance of being shady. The city should also consider adopting something similar to Plano, which states a campaign contribution in excess of $1,000 to any city council member(s) shall create a conflict of interest based on an appearance of impropriety. Meaning Jeff Cheney and others on the council would have to recuse themselves from voting on developments where they have received large campaign contributions from those associated with the project. That would be a game-changer rule in Frisco and not one that you would see many on the council voting for anytime soon.
The conflicts mentioned above are glaring red flags and the residents of Frisco should be outraged. We recommend you file your complaints with the Texas Ethics Commission or the Texas Attorney General because it is clear your voice of concern is not welcome in Frisco and that is some shady shit!
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