As a kid I always heard about my dad’s iconic work trips to the Big Apple.  Every time he came home I hit him with a ton of questions, and he would always say son, New York is a state of mind.  Now I had no idea at the time what any of those phrases meant but I dreamed constantly of the day I would finally get to go to New York, the city that never sleeps.  So as a young teen when I overheard my parents talking about my dad’s upcoming business trip to New York City, I begged and pleaded with him to take me across the pond.  To my shock and chagrin, he said yes and the next thing I knew I was in New York City.  Walking down the sidewalk was overwhelming, so I held tightly onto my dad’s hand, and I stared up, looking at all the big buildings thinking this was nothing like the vineyards back home. You are probably wondering why I wanted to go so badly?  Well in 1956, across the pond all we kept hearing about was a tv show that epitomized the ever-evolving aspects of American popular culture. It focused on popular music, youth, dance, fashion trends and relationships. Now sitting in a New York City hotel, I parked myself in front of a little tv and there it was…American Bandstand with host Dick Clark.  It changed my life!  On the way home all I could think to myself was New York was the art epic center of the world.  It offered Broadway, Literature, Architecture, Film and Music and one day I would live there.

In February of 2022 Tammy Meinershagen entered the race against Shona Huffman for Frisco City Council seat for Place 2.  Shortly thereafter Huffman announced she was resigning her seat and withdrawing from her campaign due to a breast cancer diagnosis.  We all know someone who has had breast cancer, and we completely understand her need to refocus on health and family over politics.  Since Place 2 and Place 4 were both uncontested the city council chose to cancel the May 7^th general election. It was announced that Meinershagen would be sworn in at the May council meeting. 

In March of 2022, the Frisco Chamber of Commerce held a Leadership Exchange in Cary, North Carolina.   The website for the Frisco Chamber states, “on this trip, a diverse group of leaders will come together with one focus – to keep Frisco the best place to live and work.”  According to an article written by Audrey Henvey for the Frisco Enterprise on March 31, 2022, the goal was to allow leaders to hear from the experiences of city and business leaders from a similar city that continues to grow and evolve like Frisco.  We watched a recap video of the trip and what we found interesting was that Tammy Meinershagen went on the trip.  Why is that interesting?  While she was uncontested for her council position she had not yet been sworn in as a city council member yet, so we figured she went on the trip as a citizen, but a chain of emails stated otherwise.

In a March 3, 2022, email from Jeff Cheney to Holly McCall, he says Tammy has expressed an interest in going on the LEX trip.  He thinks it would be good for her to join to get a head start on her development and start building relationships.  He specifically notes, I know she will still be a council member elect as the time so not sure what hoops we need to jump through.  McCall, Sr. Administrative Asst. to the Mayor & Council responds, “I’m sure it will be fine to pay for Tammy.  We’re just waiting on confirmation/advisement from the attorney’s office before proceeding.” 

Then on March 7, 2022, in an email from Tammy Meinershagen to Tony Felker, President/CEO for the Frisco Chamber she states it looks like she will be able to join “representing the city council” so can you let me know what you need from me.  She also notes she has cc’d Mayor Jeff Cheney.  Tony responded with an email asking Jeff Cheney what the best way for her is to register and then Jeff responds Holly McCall, the Sr. Administrative Assistant to the Mayor & Council, can book it.  McCall responds again that she believes it will be fine to pay for her to go but she is waiting for the official city approval.  Then on March 15 in an email from Brian Davis, Director of Marketing and Event Sponsorships to Henry Hill, Deputy City Manager it states Tony asked me to send over a copy of this invoice for Meinershagens registration for the LEX Trip later this month. 

Fast forward to the April 19th, council meeting, Item #20 under the Consent Agenda (remember that is where they hide things) there is an action to consider and act upon approval of the attached reimbursement request presented to the Mayor and Council.   The memo reads that the $3000 request was the cost for Tammy Meinershagen to travel to Cary, North Carolina for the LEX trip hosted by the Frisco Chamber.  It states she is a ‘CANDIDATE FOR CITY COUNCIL RUNNING UNOPPOSED.”  It further reads she will begin her term in May, but members of the council believe the trip provided knowledge and experience that serves the public purpose of the city and was beneficial to the duties of a city council member.  Upon approval a payment of $3000 will be remitted to the Chamber for Invoice 94534 on behalf of Tammy Meinershagen.   The cost was approved!

SO WHY IS THIS ALARMING?  First these trips are paid for by tax dollars.  Tammy, while running unopposed WAS NOT YET SWORN IN UNDER OFFICIAL OATH and she was NOT AN OFFICIAL COUNCIL MEMBER.  Meinershagens own email stated she was going to attend and represent the city council.  Let’s say the city paid for her to go and at the end of April she dropped dead, got a job transfer, or got struck by a meteorite – are you going to say then it was a good use of tax dollars.  We don’t know what tomorrow brings but what I do know is that if Tammy wanted to attend she should have paid for it herself.  Council members have to take an oath and sign and notarize the oath which Tammy had not done at the time of the trip.  When the council approved the expense in April she WAS NOT A SITTING COUNCIL MEMBER.  Runing unopposed or not should not matter – what should matter is she was not sworn in to uphold her official duties as a city council woman.  Post after post we continue to show that the city and some members of the council live by rules for thee (ha, ha) don’t apply to me.  It’s wrong!