Russian Roulette is the practice of loading a bullet into one chamber of a revolver, spinning the cylinder, and then pulling the trigger while pointing the gun at one’s own head.  It is basically a game of chance!  When it comes to filing a PIR with the City of Frisco, it too is like a game of Russian Roulette.  Will they provide the documents or won’t they?  Will they do it in a timely manner or delay it by sending it to the Texas Attorney General for an “opinion.”   

Since Whistleblowers’ inception back in February of last year we have continually addressed the issues of PIR GATE.  In our April 2023 blog we talked about a PIR that FWB filed for Universal Theme Park / Project P117. An email came back from the city that the cost of the documents would be $72.36 and payment was made.  Imagine FWB surprise when the city came back asking them to clarify what information they are seeking?

Problem 1:  How did the city determine a price of $72.36 for the documents requested if they needed clarification of what was being requested?   

THE CONCLUSION: Then on April 18^th FWB receives an email saying they have released a few documents, and the rest has been sent to the Attorney General for an opinion. Well, 8 months after initially filing for the PIR the documents were finally released.  Why did it take so long?  What was it the city didn’t want us to find out about the Universal Kids project? 

Now, let’s talk about the PIR we filed for any communications between John Keating or Angelia Pelham and Venton Krasniqi.  When the city responded with no responsive records, we were curious, who is Venton Krasniqi?  He is a mystery man who donated $10,000 to John Keating and $5000 to Angelia Pelham yet neither of them has shared a text or email with him?  That sure seems strange since those are not small donations.  Furthermore, we are now curious is this the same man listed in several lawsuits in Collin County regarding debts? 

Then we talked about the PIR we filed in May 2023 in regards to the “Public Safety Study regarding the Police Department Staffing” that was funded by federal grants.  The response was we could view the document only by coming to city hall because it was copyrighted.  However, the organization who did this study has done many other similar studies and they are all published on the web.  Why is Frisco’s copyrighted?  What made Frisco’s study so special?  We never went to view the report because we were contacted by an internal PD source who supplied us with a full copy of the study after seeing our blog.  What did we learn after reading it? The city probably didn’t want the residents/public to know the city they claim to be one of the safest cities in Americas has a staffing deficiency in the PD department.

A few months later in October 2023, on a tip from a resident, we filed a PIR that reads, “We would like any emails regarding the flooding that took place on 7/3/23 near 2447 Sleepy Hollow Trail.  Emails from PD, streets department, city management and city council. We would like any pictures taken by the streets department at the scene since they were called out by PD. We would like to know what caused the flood?”  On October 23, we were surprised to see the status change to: Sent to AG for a Ruling. 

WAIT A DAMN MINUTE, you are going to tell me a simple PIR about a street flood must be sent to the Texas Attorney General?   The Conclusion: As of today, this still has a status of Sent to the AG for Ruling which means it has been open for over 2 months (about to be 3 months).  Something smells like SHIT in Frisco.

If you remember in our Day 6 Breaking The Law blog, we explained how we filed a PIR on Fire Chief Lee Glover and were told no responsive records.  In the case of this PIR, who is responsible for releasing those records?  Well, that would be the Human Resources Director, Sassy Lauren Safranek, that’s who!  Interesting how Sassy came up with the responsive records the second time around, AFTER WE TOLD HER WE ALREADY HAD A COPY OF THE LETTER AND A VIDEO CLIP.

We decided to file another PIR to broaden our search on November 22, 2023, that reads “Copy of all emails and documents related to Lee Glover over his career span with the City of Frisco relating to any job complaints both formal or informal (confidential) by equals, superiors, and subordinates. Any complaints received informal or formal even if confidential via the Frisco Fire Department Complaint Form, relating to his breaking the Frisco Fire Department Policies or City of Frisco Code of Conduct or policies. Any Administrative Warning Letter issued to Lee Glover over his career with the Frisco Fire Department. Any Notice of Investigation issued to Lee Glover over his career span with the Frisco Fire Department. Any emails between Lauren Safranek, Henry Hill, George Purefoy, Mack Borchard, Wes Peirson or Lee Glover regarding the hiring of Lee Glover going back to 1/1/2022 to Present. Feel free to redact personal numbers, birthdays, contact info, etc., allowed by Texas State Law.”

The Response: On December 14, we received a letter in which they located the responsive records and that they re-released at no charge the records because they had already been provided to us.  However, that is not exactly true.  What we asked for above is very clear so imagine our surprise when we find in the documents they sent back one titled Case 64.  The Problem: Case 64 is related to a previous PIR request regarding HR Director Safranek falsifying documents which this document should have been included in, but it wasn’t which is more proof they are withholding documents.  Why did we accidentally get the document in the current request, we have no idea.  Secondly, it has the Fire Chiefs Candidate Binder that we didn’t ask for.  Third it has the pay scale for the Fire Chiefs, which we didn’t ask for.  It has the Appleton Complaint which we already know about and was in the previous PIR request.  That’s it!

The city wants you and I to believe that Lee Glover has never had any other complaints, write-ups, warning letters, or has broken policies or procedures which he has been cited for over his entire career.  Do you believe that?  Well, you shouldn’t because we have evidence to the contrary.  It leaves us asking, why has the city not released the information related to this PIR that we requested?  Again, something smells like SHIT in Frisco.

The Conclusion: You may have guessed it; we filed ANOTHER PIR that said we want to follow up to clarify that Appleton and Mayday are the only two items in his HR file over the span of his career?  We asked for anything starting from the beginning of his career in 1991 to the present: 1. Any job complaints, write-ups, or reprimands, both formal or informal (confidential) by equals, superiors, and subordinates. 2. Any complaints, write-ups, or reprimands received via the Frisco Fire Department Complaint Form that includes informal or formal even confidential 3. Any complaints, write-ups or reprimands relating to his breaking the Frisco Fire Department Policies or City of Frisco Code of Conduct or policies. 4. Any Administrative Warning Letters issued to Lee Glover during his time at Frisco FD. 5. Any Notice of Investigation issued to Lee Glover during his time at Frisco FD Are we to believe that since 1991 there have been only 2?  We paid $30 plus dollars and want the full PIR as we already know of some that have not been included in the original PIR response.”  It is currently in processing!

Lastly, we can’t forget Bobblehead Bill Woodard who went off halfcocked on Facebook defending the city’s decision to cut a lifesaving blood program that just a few years before the council praised from the top of the city council meeting pulpit. While Bobblehead Bill said folks could just email him and he would share the documents we decided to handle it the proper way by filing a PIR on 11/1/23.   We uploaded images of his statements in the PIR and asked for the items he referenced.  The PIR said,

1. On November 1st Bill Woodard posted on North Texas Politics page a response that talked about a 12-page report and posted a picture of a Section 2.2 Supply of Blood Products. He offers to email the 12-page report to anyone who emails him so we are requesting it formally and since he is willing to send it out freely to anyone who emails him we assume there will be no cost for it.  

 2. He also posted the following comment below: The blood transfusion program isn’t going away, in fact it’s expanding. We use data to analyze the best use of resources and right now the squad sits idle almost all the time. So that staffing is being divided up and assigned to the BC vehicles, along with the blood transfusion program. This will double (from one to two) the availability of this program on every shift, and better utilize personnel and equipment. In 2024 we expect to add this program to every ambulance we have further expanding the program, which necessitates the training of everyone on those pieces of equipment. We will also be doubling (from one to two) the number of safety officers on shift. This will allow for additional training and promotional opportunities.  We would like a copy of the study and data used to analyze the best use of resources that reflect how this decision was made.  We would like a copy of the new contract/agreement that the hospital and blood banks will supply the blood for all ambos now and going into 2024.  We would also like to know the cost and how it will be funded to train everyone (as he states) on those pieces of equipment.  

3. Bill Woodard also stated “We are putting the blood transfusion program on multiple vehicles. So yes it is expanding. And we have been working with our medical director (as well as any other required parties) to ensure the program is run appropriately and has all the proper staffing.”   We would like to know how many vehicles the blood program will be on with trained personnel. We would like any emails between the city management, fire department and council with the medical director and required parties he mentions.

4. Steve Cone of P&Z also chimed in so we would like to see the numbers of how the proposed changes to Squad / Blood Program is better than the status quo arrangement.   We would like to know the # of blood transfusions teams available per shift, before and after the changes to the program.

The Conclusion: Because Bobblehead Bill offered to send this to folk we assumed there would be no charge but guess what, the city charged us $90.00 which we paid, and we are STILL WAITING FOR THE INFORMATION.  Now, they have updated the status to read “Sent to Attorney.”  We are not holding our breath we will get the information back before the end of 2023. 

In closing, we have a very important question for you to consider.  How can the city get a request or for an item, then go to a council meeting, have a discussion in executive session, come out and vote to release confidential HR documents on a retired employee who is under a gag order and is actively running as a political opponent against Mayor Cheney?   Please note while Cheney recused himself from the vote 4 of the city council members who participated in the vote had already publicly endorsed Mayor Jeff Cheney which means they probably should have recused themselves.  The CHERRY ON TOP is a DMN Reporter had an article in the paper 12 hours later which in our opinion was a political hit piece!  If all that can be done in a simple council vote how come they cannot do that for other PIR’s?

Why did the city not send the request from the media to the Attorney General like they do all other requests?  Well because they have 30 to 60 days to respond with an opinion which means the election would have been over.  At the time Mark Piland was gaining momentum on Mayor Cheney.  Cheney and his big developer friends who have BIG INTERESTS in Frisco needed Cheney to win so they just did not have that kind of time.  They needed a push in the polls so hence the vote to release the records.  It is even more questionable that they didn’t release the full report only a subsequent report that was done related to the political candidate.  Being that the vote had HUGE RED FLAGS pertaining to CONFLICT OF INTERESTS which is a great reason to SEND IT TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL. 

This is our public plea to the City of Frisco and the City Council Members, IF YOU HAVE THAT KIND OF POWER THEN WE ASK YOU TO BRING OUR PIRs UP FOR A VOTE.  Then VOTE YES unanimously, JUST LIKE in April 2023 to release the following: 1. Universal Kids Documents   2.  Documents related to Bobble Head Bills rant on Facebook regarding the Blood Program.  3.  The entire HR file for Fire Chief Lee Glove and Mack Borchardt  4. Documents related to a simple street flood  5.  All of Lauren Safranek emails for the last two years and 6. Any other open PIRs currently just for the purposes of being FAIR and TRANSPARENT

They would never vote to do that because it does not help them, but it possibly hurts them.  The City of Frisco withholds documents, delays the process and flat out lies as to what they have and don’t have.  Kristy Morrow is the City Secretary but we don’t think it is her decision on what is released.  She sends the requests to the departments or individuals named in the PIR and they respond with the appropriate documents.  So, if Sassy Lauran Safranek is colluding with Lee Glover do you think she is going to release the documents requested, probably not.  It is a game of RUSSIAN ROULETTE, A GAME OF CHANCE OR TRUST.  We DO NOT TRUST the City of Frisco – not one bit!  We have proof they have lied and withheld information and that should make residents very wary and angry.   This is our city, not their city.  It is our tax-dollars!