We have spent quite a bit of time combing through the City of Frisco elected officials’ campaign finance reports and as we come across items of interest that seem questionable, we bring them to the public’s attention. In our recent dive, we came across the name Veton Krasniqi, and it appears he made two substantial donations to two sitting council members. We did a simple Google search of the name in Frisco, and we found a LinkedIn page with no details except self-employed.
The first time we come across his name is in John Keating’s campaign finance report for the period of January 16, 2021, through April 1, 2021. It shows Veton Krasniqi donated $10,000 to John Keating’s campaign on March 10, 2021. The report shows the address listed as 6400 FM423, #15109, Frisco TX 75026. Immediately we noticed a red flag, because the zip code for the address, 75026, is not a Frisco zip code. It is a Plano zip code located near the George Bush Tollway and Coit, almost near Richardson.
We searched just the address without the zip code which came back to a company called German All Construction, LLC according to Open Corporates. It shows the “Agent Name” as Veton Krasniqi and the agent address as 6400 FM 423 #15109, Frisco TX, 75036. We expected to find an office building but instead, we found the Courtland Apartments at Phillips Creek Ranch.
The registered address for German All Construction, LLC on opencorporates.com comes back to 2552 Stonebrook Pkwy, Ste 402, Frisco TX 75034. We decided to google that address to see what we could find, and it came back to Lit Smoke & Vape. We don’t believe it was there in early 2021 but it did open later that year to some controversy which is detailed in a Frisco Enterprise and Dallas Morning News article. The article talked about how many parents and residents living in the area felt a Vape Shop at Stonebrook and Teel near an elementary, middle, and high school was inappropriate.
We decided to go to the Texas Comptroller to view the franchise tax certificate for German All Construction, LLC. It was registered on November 11, 2019, and appears to be active today. It shows the mailing address at 2552 Stonebrook Pkwy, Ste 402, which is the Vape Shop, and the registered address appears to be the same apartments at 6400 FM 423. When we clicked on the Public Information Report for 2023 it came back with two addresses. The first address we have already seen in previous reports is 2552 Stonebrook Parkway. The second address was new and belonged to a 1.544-million-dollar home in Phillips Creek Ranch on Tailwater Trail. We decided to look the home up on Denton CAD which shows a Veton and Lena Krasniqi purchased it in August 2021. It appears to have been transferred to a Family Trust in June of 2023, then the trust sold the home in October 2023. Are you confused yet? We are!
We continued to look through more campaign finance reports for other council members when we saw the name Veton Krasniqi again. This time it was not Keating’s finance report, it was Angelia Pelham’s finance report. It appears Veton Krasniqi also donated $5000 to the Pelham campaign on May 15, 2021, just a few short months after he donated $10k to Keatings.
The original campaign finance report filed by Pelham has Veton’s name and email address, where there is supposed to be an actual physical address. We found an ethics complaint on file with the Texas Ethics Commission because report after report was inaccurate with emails instead of physical addresses which are required by the state election code. Pelham was ordered to fix the incorrect finance reports, and when she did, she showed Veton Krasniqi’s address as 2552 Stonebrook Pkwy, Ste 302, Frisco TX 75034.
Immediately we had a red flag with Pelham’s corrected report because she listed the suite number as 302, which is different from Keating’s report which is 402. We Googled the address using suite 302 and it appears that is the Mexican restaurant Dos Amigos. We decided to look at Denton CAD and Viton Krasniqi is listed at 2552 Stonebrook Pkwy in suite 300B and the legal description says it is a restaurant.
Can you guess what we did next? Well, of course, we googled 2552 Stonebrook Pkwy, Ste 300B and we pulled up a Community Impact article from Feb 2019 which reports the Berlin Café is now open in Frisco serving German-inspired cuisine. The article states the café opened in late December and is located at 2552 Stonebrook Parkway, Ste 300B in Frisco. We looked up the Tax ID for Berlin Café on the Texas Comptroller’s website which shows it was owned by Veton Krasniqi. Then we came across another article in Community Impact in March 2021 titled Berlin Café Rebrands as Dos Amigos in Frisco. We decided to look up Dos Amigos Frisco on the Texas Comptroller’s website which showed it was registered in November 2020, but the franchise tax involuntarily ended. According to OpenCorporates.com, it shows that on July 28, 2023, the restaurant filed for a tax forfeiture. The mailing address is 2552 Stonebrook Pkwy, Ste 302 but the registered office address is 6400 FM 423, which is the Courtland Apartments.
After all this research that left us completely confused, we were still wondering, who is Veton Krasniqi that donated $10,000 to Keating and $5000 to Pelham? We filed a PIR for any communications between Veton Krasniqi, Keating, and Pelham. We were shocked when we received notice that no sufficient records came up. Two council members, two large donations, and neither of them communicated even once with the donor, not even a thank you note. Um, we smell some shady shXt!
We decided to do a court record search for Veton Krasniqi and started in Denton, County. We found eviction case after eviction case for Veton and Lena Krasniqi starting in Dec 2018 up to June of 2023. Then we looked up court records in Collin, County and we found multiple debt cases from 2020 to 2023. One involves his company German All Construction and Italia Day & Night LLC, otherwise known as Italian Village, which is registered at 5840 Legacy Circle, Ste D100, Plano TX. Italian Village located in The Shops of Legacy was featured in D Magazine back in September 2021 if you are interested in learning more.
Veton Krasniqi had lots of problems that’s for sure, and just when we thought we had hit all the shXt we were shocked to find two very important lawsuits. The first was filed by Frisco Independent School District for a total sum of $24,093.74 in back taxes against Veton and Lena Krasniqi. It appears they didn’t pay taxes when living in the fancy million-dollar Phillips Creek Home. Remember, this is the same time they donated to both candidates’ campaigns.
With all the money issues the Krasniqi’s had, where did they find funds to be big spenders and donate to local political campaigns? Maybe, it was the money they ripped off from the United States of America (aka you and me and our tax dollars). Maybe the answer is in the case of the USA v. Veton Krasniqi filed In The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division indictment on Jan 12, 2023. Krasniqi is accused of unlawfully and unjustly enriching himself by obtaining The Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan, and Restaurant Revitalization Fund loan proceeds through materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises. NOW THAT IS A WHOPPER!
The indictment goes on to say the defendant (Krasniqi) used numerous restaurants and construction businesses including Berlin Café, Dos Amigos Frisco, German All Construction, Noahlena, and Foxtron to obtain multiple loans. It goes on to say he used his personal and business bank accounts to receive, deposit, and transfer the funds. It also accuses Veton of submitting materially false loan applications, lying about his qualifications, and intended use of the loan funds. It also accuses him of helping his family members and business associates in submitting false loan applications.
The indictment states that on April 28, 2020, he received his first PPP draw of $82,500 and on the same day he transferred $82,400 to his personal account. He then took out a cash withdrawal of $55,800, made approximately $15,000 in car payments, and transferred $9300 overseas.
The business closed at the end of 2020 and then he submitted a second withdrawal PPP application on Berlin Café. The indictment states on Feb 5, 2021, he received a SECOND draw PPP loan for $283,600 for Berlin Café, LLC which he claimed on the application would be used to retain workers, rent, utilities, etc., but the problem is Berlin Café had already permanently closed. The same day he transferred the entire sum to his personal bank account. We could go on and on but you get the drift the dirtbag was a fraud.
So how much did Veton Krasniqi defraud the US Government and taxpayers? Buckle your seat belt, because he obtained over $2.25 million in funds earmarked for emergency pandemic relief that real businesses in our community could have used. Let me summarize, he could not pay his school district taxes which hurts our kids, and he defrauded taxpayers (you and me), but he had money to donate $5000 to Angela Pelham and $10,000 to John Keating. As of today, neither of them has returned the money or offered to return the money.
This is not the first time John Keating has taken money from questionable donors. In October 2018, Keating took $5000 from Phillip Michael Carter who was convicted of bilking the elderly out 17.5 million dollars. It was not till March of 2019 when Keating and Cheney were confronted by the DMN asking if they would return the thousands, they received from a criminal that they both said they would be returning the money.
Why does this continue to happen, better yet how does this continue to happen to our council members? Cheney, Pelham, and Keating are all recipients of dirty funds. It is funny I saw an ad the other day on social media, and it was Pelham’s video where she says over and over “YOU KNOW ME” – yeah, we do! Then Keating boasts on his website Promises Made, Promises Kept which should read Promises Made, Promises Broken.
John Keating and Angelia Pelham, will you return the money to the federal government and taxpayers or return the money and give it to the school district towards his tax debt? Let’s see if they do the right thing!
In our blog Non-Partisan Politics. we asked if local municipal elections are as “non-partisan” as some want you to believe, and the answer is no. Then in our blog Go Fund Me – Campaign Edition, we asked if you would be upset to learn that a candidate whom you donated to, used their campaign donations to donate to other candidates that do not share the same ideology? We did a deep dive into John Keating, who is currently running for re-eleciton in Place 1 and is a registered Republican. Keating is also the #1 offender of transferring money between candidates both from his political campaign and personal pockets.
We wanted to look at other candidates’ campaign reports to see what stands out. According to Ballotpedia, Mayor Jeff Cheney is a registered Republican. In 2015, as Mayor Deputy Pro Tem, Jeff Cheney endorsed fellow republicans Chad Rudy for Frisco ISD Place 3 and as Mayor in 2018 he endorsed Angela Paxton. In 2021 he endorsed Angelia Pelham, a registered democrat, for city council. Mayor Jeff Cheney campaign reports might look boring at first glance; however, you have to look a little deeper and then you will discover some interesting things. We are guessing his endorsement of a democrat may be the reason Cheney was denied endorsements during his re-election for Mayor in 2023 by the Collin and Denton County Republican parties.
We also noticed from Cheney’s campaign reports that he received at least $4500 in personal contributions from John and Leslie Keating. As for others sitting on council, Cheney received an in-kind donation from Bill Woodard for $109 and Angelia Keating for $400. It begs the question, if an ethics complaint came before the council (which it has in the past) could Cheney be fair and impartial when Keating has given him over $4500?
Another name that appears over and over on his campaign report Lorie Medina. Not in the donations column but in the “expense” column. Medina, otherwise known as Cheney’s political consultant or one time Chief of Staff has been paid somewhere in the range of $191,500 over the last few years for her loyalty. Now, that is a lot of MONEY!
Lastly, as we have pointed out before, the majority of his donations are from developers with ongoing city projects. In 2019 Cheney accepted $15,000 from Phillip Carter which he later returned after public pressure because Carter was convicted of fraud. Another interesting name, Logan Anjaneyulu shows up in 2023 and he appears to be the founder of Alamo Equity, which owned the El Tropicano Riverwalk Hotel in San Antonio. In June of 2023 it was reported that the hotel had gone into foreclosure and was headed to the auction block by The Real Deal. The article stated the Alamo Equity founder and managing partner had been mismanaging the fund to limit his personal financial exposure. Should we be shocked, just a few months after his donation the developer is in the news for questionable business practices? Probably, but it seems to be a repeating pattern when you take money from developers.
Then we looked at Angelia Pelham who is running for re-election for Place 3. Since 2021, the Keatings have personally donated $8000 to the Pelham campaign. That is not chump change! Again, we pose the same question, if an ethics complaint came before the council against Keating (which it has in the past) could Angelia Pelham claim to be impartial when the Keatings have been her BIGGEST donor? Does accepting that kind of money when you sit next to the person on council create a conflict? Next Mayor Jeff Cheney and his wife Dana donated $1556.00 to Angelia Pelham as well as very publicly endorsing Pelham.
We also are curious if John Keatings conservative friends Jared Patterson, Drew Springer and Matt Shaheen (who was just at Keatings re-election kick off) would have a conflict with him donating that much or sending out a political mailer that shows an endorsement for a registered Democrat, who openly admitted on video she voted for Biden?
Pelham has received over $10,000 in contributions from Cheney’s developer friends since 2021. Should we be surprised? Her three largest donations were $3000 from the Williams family associated with LandPlan Development, $8000 from Keatings and $5000 from a Venton Krasniqi. Venton who? Remember that name as it is coming up in its own blog post soon.
Next, we looked at Bill Woodard and he likes to donate from his campaign to other campaigns. First, he donated $500 to Sean Heatley for Frisco ISD, $1000 in two $500 increments to Dynette Davis, a democrat for Frisco ISD and $500 to so called conservative Laura Rummel. Then he donated $1000 to Tracy Shipman, Dustin Paschal and Clint Bledsoe’s campaigns.
As far as taking donations from fellow council members we could only find that he took one donation in the amount of $1000 from John Keatings campaign. Again, we ask if the council members take money from each other, should we believe, they can be impartial when having to judge their co-council members of an ethics complaint?
Like all the other council members he took campaign contributions from the big developers ranging from $15 to $20,000. All in all, one might say his campaign list is pretty standard until we saw a recent donation from his campaign fund for $200 on November 6, 2023, to Safety First Frisco PAC. What is the Safety First Frisco PAC? It is a “Political Action Committee” started to work AGAINST PROP A & B, FOR THE FRISCO FIRE ASSOCIATION for their ballot measures for civil service and collective bargaining. Should a council member be giving to a PAC from his campaign fund (money you may have donated) to oppose our first responders? Bill advocates left and right for his trikes and bikes path and trails, but it is impossible for him to find money in the city budget for staffing and workers compensation. The city forced the Frisco Fire Fighters Association to the point of a ballot measure. I sincerely hope if anything regarding the fire department comes before the council that Bill Woodard recuses himself now that he has funded opposition to the firefighters.
Next up Brian Livingston, who is known as the most conservative of our council members. Most of his donors appear to be registered republicans. It is not a surprise that from 2020 to 2022 he used campaign funds to donate $3000 between House Rep Jared Patterson and Matt Shaheen. It also appears Patterson donated back to Livingston in the amount of $1000 when he was running for re-election. It also appears he donated to the Mark Piland mayoral campaign in early 2023 which is probably why the council removed him from all of his positions on different committees. Livingston also donated to several conservative organizations like the Denton County Republican Party for an event table in the amount of $1391 in 2021, the Frisco Conservatives in the amount of $400 in 2020 and the Republican Woman of Great North Texas in 2017. Lastly, he donated $1450 to the Americas Defender Foundation for the Thin Blue Line Ball in 2023. The interesting thing about Livingston is campaign donations aligned to his conservative values and within his political party lines.
As for council-to-council donations we found an in-kind donation in 2016 to Jeff Cheney for $265 itemized as food. He also has a campaign donation to Laura Rummel, which since being elected has towed the line of being a conservative. The one thing we did learn, is that Brain Livingston likes food, lots of food. He has several food related expenses on his campaign finance report at local restaurants. Like the others he has taken money from developers to the tune of about $5 to $6000.
Tammy Meinershagen, one of our newest council members, had a very short campaign contribution list. Craig Hall donated $2500 which kind of makes sense since he is into the arts and Meinershagen is poet and arts expert. She had three personal donations (not made from political campaigns), the first was $500 from Angelia Pelham. Then we found a $1000 from Dana and Jeff Cheney and a WHOPPING $5000 donation from the Keatings. Again, we ask the question if an ethics complaint came before the council against one of these 3 council members would Tammy recuse herself? Would she claim that she could be impartial?
What did we learn looking at these campaign reports? One, they all love developers, some more than others, which as a resident I will always find questionable. We also believe the constant back and forth between campaign donations and/or accepting personal donations from fellow council members gives the appearance that your vote or decisions could be bought and paid for. It also gives the appearance that you may be compromised should you have to be the judge and jury against your fellow council member if an ethics complaint were to arise. We also learned that John Keating and his ex-wife Leslie were the biggest donors to all the campaigns including his own. We are curious what Keatings conservative friends will think now that it is out that he gave over $13k to registered Democrats.
Here is the truth, we would love to believe local races are non-partisan, but that is simply not true. Who you donate to matters! Who you endorse matters! Who you align with matters! Just scroll through Facebook political pages and you can see the talks of partisan vs non-partisan and it always ends up in two sides bickering.
Ask yourself, if you are a conservative and you believe you are supporting a conservative but find out he has given $10,000 to registered democrats would you want to vote for that person. Same thing if you are a democrat and you believe you are supporting a democrat but find out they gave $10,000 to a conservative would you still support or vote for that person?
If you are a politician who has taken money from someone that you believed aligned with your party values but then learned, they donated to a candidate clearly aligned and registered with an opposing political party would you want to be associated with them? The point – know what you stand for and research your candidates.
If you have not read our blog from yesterday, Legal Logo Woes then you should. We told you about a citizen who emailed the city and after publishing our blog, we heard from many residents who also emailed the city, and got the same stock answer.
“The City of Frisco does not own the “Frisco” logo. The BNSF Railway Company owns the rights to the logo and has granted a license to the City for the right to use the logo under certain circumstances. The license agreement does not address use of the logo by candidates in City or other elections. Whether a candidate may use the logo or not is a matter of federal trademark and/or copyright law. The City does not have jurisdiction to enforce federal trademark or copyright law.”
The resident did not ask about the trademark of the logo it asked about the city’s rule posted on their website and in the candidate packet stating you could not use the Frisco Logo in campaigning. The city made that rule and published it so the city should be able to enforce it, especially with a sitting council member. Why publish it if you can’t, won’t, or don’t want to enforce it?
We emailed BNSF Railway to ask if the use of the city logo that they own, means and should be interpreted as they endorse John Keating and Angelia Pelham? They responded with we have forwarded this to our legal department. If the answer is no, they do not endorse these candidates, we plan to ask about Mayor Cheney’s use of the city logo in his campaign material in his 2023 election. We will let you know what we hear back!
Is a logo important to your business? Yes, of course it is! Logos are a point of identification; they are a symbol that helps folks recognize your brand. Any smart business is going to trademark their logo so that it cannot be used without permission from its owner. Trademark Infringement is when someone uses another party’s registered trademark without permission. Using a logo without permission can open you up to being sued by the owner of the trademark.
Recently, after a resident reached out to us, with his concern about political signs and the use of the city logo we did some research. Right on the city website, it says: Political Campaign Sign Summary:
The city website is clear in our opinion about the “City of Frisco Logo” not being used in any way for campaigning. That is why we were surprised when a citizen forwarded us an email this morning after he made a complaint to the city secretary regarding his concerns. The email response from Kristi Morrow reads: The City of Frisco has received your sign/logo complaints. Please see the response below regarding the complaints filed.
The City of Frisco regulation states that Election signs may not be posted 90 days prior to the Election. While the word Election can have many different interpretations/timeframes, the City considers the Election to mean the beginning of early voting. This gives all candidates adequate time to properly advertise and get the word out regarding their candidacy.
The City of Frisco does not own the “Frisco” logo. The BNSF Railway Company owns the rights to the logo and has granted a license to the City for the right to use the logo under certain circumstances. The license agreement does not address use of the logo by candidates in City or other elections. Whether a candidate may use the logo or not is a matter of federal trademark and/or copyright law. The City does not have jurisdiction to enforce federal trademark or copyright law.
Interesting response! When it comes to the political signs maybe the city should clarify in the candidate pack what they determine the meaning to be of the word election, which is the beginning of early voting.
As for the city logo, if the city has no jurisdiction over the right to use the logo, they don’t own the right to the logo, then why do they put it on their website that the use of the logo is not allowed? Why do they repeat saying it inside the candidate pack that is given to every candidate to fill out? Yes the candidate pack read, “that the “City Logo is a licensed product and isNOT LEGALLY AVAILABLE FOR YOUR USE.”
After reading the city’s email response that said, BNSF Railway Company owns the rights to the logo and has granted a license to the City for the right to use the logo under certain circumstances, we are curious what are those circumstances? Did John Keating or Angelia Pelham reach out to BNSF Railway for permitted use of the logo in their campaigns? Don’t worry, we did reach out to BNSF Railway. We also filed a complaint regarding the use of the logo in political campaigns with them along with asking if they are endorsing either candidate and if the candidates requested use of the trademarked logo.
Clearly a sitting city council member, especially one’s holding the title Mayor, Deputy Mayor Pro Tem, and Mayor Pro Tem should know the rules. because playing the “oh I am stupid card” just does not work here. If they seriously don’t know the rules after how long they have served on the city council then maybe they shouldn’t be on council.
Jeff Cheney: Council Member 2007 – 2016 and Mayor from 2017 to Present
John Keating: Council Member 2010 to 2016 in Place 4 and 2017 to Present Place 1
Bill Woodard: Council Member 2016 – Present
Brian Livingston: Council Member 2017 – Present
Angelia Pelham: Council Member 2021 – Present
Tammy Meinershagen: Council Member 2022 to Present
Laura Rummell: Council Member 2022 to Present
What is clear, over, and over is that the RULES FOR ME ARE DIFFERENT THAN THE RULES FOR THEE in the City of Frisco. It is such a blatant disregard and nose up at the rules and the residents they supposedly serve. We would think the city would not want to get in to trouble with BNSF so they would make sure to tell a sitting council member to make the needed corrections. The City of Frisco’s policy is clearly stated on their website and in the candidate pack, but if they have no control or enforcement then why is it listed in either place to begin with? We also know that in the past other individuals, political candidates, and some organizations have been told by the city (not BNSF), to stop using the city logo. Why is it okay now and why now are they saying well we can’t tell them what to do? Well, YOU KNOW THEM…it is the city, John Keating and Angelia Pelham!
In our last blog we asked if local elections are truly non-partisan and from the response we received most readers responded with a firm NO. We are not surprised by the response because we believe local races stopped being non-partisan a long time ago. Political campaigns are serious business according to the book Political Campaign Craftsmanship by Edward Schwartzman which notes that over one BILLION dollars are spent in presidential election years. Where do the candidates get all this money?
Candidates for political office at any level of government, must hustle to raise money to fund campaigns. Campaign finance laws dictate who can contribute, how much one can contribute and how those contributions must be reported. In Texas, campaign finance guidelines are published by the Texas Ethics Commission. Before any campaign can start raising funds, they must first file paperwork to identify their campaign treasurer who is responsible for keeping up with the campaign finance reports that must be turned in to the city.
Generally, when a person donates to a candidate they have a specific reason or purpose that drives that decision. People may donate to support a specific candidate or party whom they share the same values or has the same goals. One may donate to try and influence an election outcome in their favor or to gain access or influence with the candidate. In Frisco, who is donating to our city council members and what are they doing with the money you donated?
In an early blog called The Ethics Conclusion & The Bogus Ethics Policy, we addressed campaign donations going back and forth between candidates and how it can affect them from being able to be independent when an ethics complaint is filed against a member of the council. In our blog Dark Money, we talked about the corrupt campaign finance system that has shifted the power in politics from the residents to the pay-to-play system that developers in Frisco seem to take advantage of.
As we said local elections are no longer non-partisan so if you are democrat you mostly likely donate to democratic candidates and the same could be said for a conservative donating to republican candidates. We decided to start with John Keating because he is currently running for re-election and his campaign finance report has been the most colorful over the years.
John P. Keating is a registered Republican. In 2015, Keating announced he would not run for re-election in Frisco because he planned on running for Texas House Representative District 33. According to TransparencyUSA he has received contributions from some interesting groups, most likely during the time he ran for the Texas House District. Empower Texas PAC $52,160.01, Texas Right To Life PAC $10,000, True Texas Project PAC $2239.86, and the Collin County Republican Party as well as 2 republican woman groups. One interesting donation to point out is the James Webb donation during his run for Texas House. Webb donated $20,000 according to TransparencyUSA and he was convicted of Medical Fraud in 2016.
What about locally? Keating made several donations according to his campaign finance reports, remember this is money donated to his campaign. Keating donated over $3000+ to The Frisco Chamber of Commerce, the most recent donation in 2022. In 2017, he “sponsored” $1500 for the Collin County Republican Party. Fast forward to 2021, John Keating’s campaign finance report shows he donated $1000 to each of the following republican campaigns: Angela Paxton Campaign, Jared Patterson Campaign, and Pat Fallon for Congress. Also in 2021, he continued donating to republicans like the Chris Hill Campaign for $500, Jimmy Angelino for $1000, and the Rob Altman for $1000.
In 2022, from his campaign donations, he donated $1000 to each of the following republicans: Keith Self for Congress, Jared Patterson, Matt Shaheen, Drew Springer, Frederick Frazier, and the Jimmy Angelino Campaign.
In local elections, using his campaign donations, he donated $1000 to the Bill Woodard Campaign, and in 2022/23 he donated $2000+ to the Cheney Campaign. Now what is interesting is that John Keating and then wife Leslie Keating, made around $7000 in donations to Angelia Pelham, a registered democrat. We could not find the donations on his campaign expense reports so we are assuming that came from personal funds. QUESTION:Keating has always made campaign contributions to politicians from his personal campaign fund so why when it comes to Angelia did he change that? Keating has donated to some very conservative politicians in recent years and received money from very conservative groups over the years, so we are guessing he didn’t want his “REPUBLICAN” donors to know he was donating to a democrat which would have had to be listed on his campaign finance report. Since it came from his personal funds, the only way to know he donated to Pelham is by looking at her campaign finance reports.
Why is this important? First if you donate to a candidate like Keating, but you don’t support Cheney or Woodard, would you be upset to learn he is using campaign donations to support them? If you are democrat voting for Keating, and never researched his campaign funds, would you be upset to learn Keating has donated to and accepted campaign funds to some very far right conservatives? Lastly, Keating supported Angelia for council then and now and the fact that he gave her $7000 could be an issue for party driven voters. Maybe that is why he didn’t donate from his campaign fund like he did with all the other candidates. We don’t know the make-up of Angelia’s voters, but if most are democrat do you think they know Keating is donating to some very conservative legislatures and accepted money from some very conservative PACs over the years?
In our next blog we plan to deep dive into the other council members’ campaign contributions to see who they are giving their campaign money to which was been donated to them.
Over and over, we hear local municipal elections are nonpartisan, which means candidates do not officially run under “party labels” or political affiliations. While we would like to believe our local races are non-partisan in theory, it is simply not true. Unless you are living under a rock, you understand politics has heated up and taken center stage across the nation and that has caused more voters to ask a candidate their political affiliation at all levels of government.
According to Ballotpedia, the local government has become a testing ground for political movements and policy proposals. Many cities are starting to clash with state and federal governments over issues of immigration to marijuana legalization. They website lists out the 100 Current Mayors of the 100 Largest U.S. Cities by population. As of January 2024, the partisan breakdown of mayors for the 100 largest U.S. cities was 63 Democrats, 25 Republicans, 1 Libertarian, 4 Independents and 5 Non-Partisans. While several Texas cities made the list, the City of Frisco is not one of them.
Just recently worldwide politics took center stage right here in Frisco at the January 18th city council meeting when residents chose to address a very divisive and hot topic current issue. During citizen’s input, several members of the local Muslim community spoke out asking city leaders to pass a resolution on the Israel Gaza Conflict. One resident asked for peace and a “resolution” to condemn the conflict while another resident asked for a cease fire resolution. A young woman spoke and said she carries the weight of displaced Palestinians and talked of her people’s genocide. She called for the city council to call for an immediate cease fire in Gaza, facilitate unhindered aid to the region and put an end to the siege and address the occupation and genocide in Palestine. While I understand the residents’ concerns I am sure we have residents who have a very different opinion that the residents who spoke at council. It is simply false to say in 2024, that local elections are “NON-PARTISAN.” The proof is in citizens input, it shows most voters are not separating local, state and national/worldwide issues.
This week I was sitting at my favorite local coffee shop and a young college student walked in and sat down. We started up a conversation about politics and he repeatedly told me he is a proud Democrat, and that Democrats will take over Texas soon. I asked him if he would ever vote for a conservative, support a conservative, or donate to a conservative. With a stern tone he said, “no way, no that would never happen.”
I then asked him who he is supporting in our local elections for city council, and he told me Angelia Pelham and John Keating. I asked him to give me the reasons why he chose each candidate so I could understand his mindset. When he was done, I chuckled and said you know John Keating is a Republican, right? He looked at me as if I was a stupid old man and said that is not true. I invited him to my table, and I showed him John Keating’s campaign finance report on my iPad. I asked him if that changed his opinion, and he replied who is the Democrat running? I told him local elections are supposed to be “non-partisan” and he responded swiftly “well not for me.” It is further proof that people of all ages are not seeing local elections as non-partisan anymore.
Do you think local politics is non-partisan? If you do, would you be upset if you donated to a local candidate and then found out that candidate was using your money to donate to other candidates in state and national races who are affiliated to a specific party? Local politics has changed in very significant ways and we are diving into where the money goes in our next blog.
Campaigning has begun and we are excited to see how the next few months play out. We thought we should educate ourselves on the rules, so we read city’s Political Campaign Sign policy listed on the city website.
Rules 1 & 4 are pretty clear so we decided to look at the candidates social media pages and election websites.
Rule 1: Political signs cannot be placed on any City of Frisco, Community Development Corporation (CDC), or Economic Development Corporation (EDC) property or in a City of Frisco easement.
Rule 4: The City of Frisco logo cannot be used in any way for campaigning including on political signs.
John Redmond website appears to only be one page and has a short intro to who he is and his campaign logo. We could not find any social media pages for him. – Passed Inspection
Mark Piland website does not include pictures of political signs on city property, and it does not contain the official city logo. In a review of his social media, we did not see any violations either. – Passed Inspection
Angelia Pelham currently holds Place 3 and serves as Deputy Mayor Pro Tem. Her website passed inspection. However, her social media did not! On January 17th she held a filing party at city hall. She had several supporters come join her and there are numerous pictures of her and supporters holding Pelham campaign signs on city property and more so in the rotunda of city hall! That is a clear violation of Rule 1 even if it was temporary. The photos also violate Rule 4 regarding the city logo not being used for campaigning because clearly in several photos the official city logo can be spotted. It became campaigning when she turned into a filing party, had her political signs and several supporters wearing t-shirts. The photos appear on her political Facebook page as well as personal page and on Instagram.
We liked her campaign video, she looks good in red and has a catchy slogan. We are a little curious about one portion of the video which shows her standing at the back of the room with Frisco Public Safety officers from both the PD and FD. The video is tagged in the corner with her campaign logo which could give people the impression she is endorsed by either public safety group, which she is not. The picture includes Mark Piland who has announced he is running for Place 1 which made us curious how he feels his likeness in her video? Lastly, when the photo was taken we were pretty sure none of them knew down the road it would be used for campaign video. We are not sure if there is any violation here according to campaign rules or city rules, however one would think before using someone’s likeness, out of respect, you might want to ask them if they are okay with it. Many police departments have rules about offices being photographed and for the purposes they can be used for.
Lastly, we looked a John Keating’s website. He currently serves Place 1 and is the Mayor Pro Tem. We could not view his social media because has blocked us across all channels. Keating’s website is in clear violation of Rule 4. As soon as the page loads you see a picture of Keating with the slogan Promises Made Promises Kept and behind it is a watermark of the official City of Frisco Flag. Then if you scroll down, right after he asks you for your money, you can clearly see the official city logo.
On the “About John” page it shows him standing in the Frisco City Council Chamber up on the dais. This picture was taken on December 4, 2018, the night the council approved a plan for the PGA of America. The picture appears in an article for the Dallas Morning News.
The last page titled “The Mission” has a picture of Keating with the official city of Frisco Logo right behind him, which is again, a clear violation of Rule 4. Then under Public Safety he has a picture with Chief Shilson, Frisco PD which mislead residents of an endorsement that he does not have. Now the picture with Shilson may not be a violation but is misleading.
When it comes to campaigning, rules should be taken very seriously. We could understand how first-time candidates can make mistakes, but if they are running it is their responsibility to know the rules. As for the Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Angelia Pelham, and Mayor Pro Tem John Keating, they have no excuse. If they are serving in the Deputy Mayor Pro Tem and Mayor Pro Tem positions then clearly they should know the rules. Keating has been around since 2011, off and on and if he doesn’t know the rules by now then we may have bigger issues. We go back to why are there rules for thee but not for me? I can guarantee if some of the previous candidates who ran for office committed these violations we would not hear the end of it. The city should also be accountable to uphold their own rules! Email the city council and ask them to uphold to the city rules now and in the future.
A morning routine helps us set the tone for the day, better allowing us to control our schedules rather than our schedule controlling us. There are science-backed benefits of having a morning routine: Past research has shown that a consistent morning routine can reduce stress, boost your energy levels and improve your productivity at work.
My wife and I have a morning routine and my favorite part of it is sitting in front of our bay window reading the paper and having coffee. However, this morning my wife was not too happy when I spit my coffee out all over the bay window and her new cushions. What could make me do that? Well, it was the headline in The Real Deal, an online real estate newspaper that read, “Stillwater Files Bankruptcy on Highland Park’s Mondara Condos.”
What are the Mondara Condos? The condos were sold as a high-end luxury multifamily living project in the prestigious Highland Park area. Jess Hardin who wrote the article notes that today the community is at the center of a legal battle in which the developer, Stillwater Abbott Development, has filed for bankruptcy.
Harden writes, “The Dallas-based developer filed for bankruptcy protection in the Northern District of Texas on Jan. 12. The filing comes almost four years after the Mondara Condominium Association sued the developer – and related entities Stillwater Abbott Management and Stillwater Abbott Development – for construction defects. In the bankruptcy filing, Stillwater wrote that it had fewer than 50 creditors, less than $50,000 in assets and less than $50,000 in liabilities. The paperwork was signed by Robert Elliott, the manager of Stillwater Capital Investments.
Why would the association sue the developer? According to The Real Deal, in a 2020 lawsuit the association claimed the property was “negligently constructed!” Oh yeah, the lawsuit states it was poorly constructed causing leaks, floods, and was a fire hazard. The Real Deal also reported that the lawsuit alleged, “The roof, stucco cladding, windows, doors, fireplaces, interior and exterior walls, parking garage and courtyard must be extensively repaired or replaced.
You are probably wondering, what does this have to do with Frisco, Texas? If you read our blog Anatomy of a Friendship we did a very deep dive into the relationship of Mayor Jeff Cheney and Robert Elliott. In July 2016, Robert Elliott created The Associates, a full-service residential real estate brokerage that Mayor Jeff Cheney joined in November of 2017, right before the big “FRISCO PGA DEAL.” The same Robert Elliott who is a founding partner of Stillwater Capital. His own bio from the company’s website reads, “Through the company’s custom home building brand, Robert Elliott Custom Homes (RECH), Elliott leads one of Dallas’ premiere single-family builders.
In 2021, Clay Roby represented Robert Elliott and Stillwater Capital when asking our council to approve The Link project that connects to the PGA. At one point in the discussion it was clear Clay Roby was tired of the delays and truthfully they felt this should have been a no brain vote after what they did for us bringing the Frisco PGA to town. When the council members got caught up on apartment multi-family the Mayor Jeff Cheney tried to even redirect the conversation, saying what else will it offer?
Stillwater Capital has a large investment in Frisco starting with The Corvalla, The Link, PGA Frisco, Link Multifamily Phase 1, and Greenway Village at The Link. All the projects were approved while Cheney has been on council or up at the pulpit as Mayor. The projects Stillwater Capital pitched here are no different than the Highland Park project based on the pictures they presented to the council on the Frisco Cottage development was to look like. SHOULD WE BE WORRIED ABOUT THESE PROJECTS?
Our investigation into The Preserve at PGA Frisco has offered up a treasure trove of information over the last year. We first talked about this back in February 2023 in our blog Fields West Dynasty where we discussed the historic future Fields development and the woven professional relationship conflicts. We began to unravel our opinion regarding the conflict of interest at play for Mayor Jeff Cheney vs Real Estate Mogul Jeff Cheney and his relationship with the Fehmi Fields development. Just the Fields Frisco website was cause for pause – why is there a letter from Mayor Jeff Cheney on it?
Then in our Field of Dreams blog, we talked about how Texas Scorecard had questioned the same thing we did years earlier. We also shared an email by John Baumgarten to then-Mayor Jeff Cheney asking how he could get on the “unofficial lot list” for The Preserve and that he would like to make a “donation” to a charity involved in the development. We also pointed out there was no response to Mr. Baumgarten supplied in our PIR but there was a continuing conversation between Cheney and then Chief of Staff Lori Medina (MedinaUSA) on where the donation could be made.
We continued our questions regarding The Preserve and PGA Frisco in our blog, The Silicon Valley of Golf followed by our blog Dark Money where we pointed out some very questionable campaign donations from all these developers involved in future Fields / PGA / The Link. Then we laid out in detail the conflict of interest friendships Mayor Cheney vs Realtor Jeff Cheney built in our blog Anatomy of a Friendship.
Then we release our Breaking News: The Preserve Lots VIP Program blog where we have a recording of a builder rep telling local Real Estate Agents that Jeff Cheney has a lot in The Preserve along with other important people in the project, kind of like a millionaire or billionaire row so to speak of lots and future homes. Go listen to the recording you won’t be disappointed. Then we published the proof in Land Lies of the developer plot map which shows the names Cheney and Keating under a “Developer Hold.”
Why are we reminding you about this? You have to go back to the beginning to understand how what we uncovered today is concerning. For years now local Realtors have been questioning the potential conflict between Cheney’s role as Mayor and as Realtor/Broker of the Cheney Group. Questions also surround his convoluted relationship with Fehmi Karahan and the sale of the lots in The Preserve. Multiple times, Cheney has publicly stated he is not the Realtor of record for lots in The Preserve. He joked in front of a room of real estate professionals, please don’t call me as I am not the agent for these lots. Realtors questioned though how a majority of the lots were already sold before going public to real estate professionals.
With everything he has said publicly were surprised to see 3 lots worth over $2+ million for sale in The Preserve at PGA Frisco on his website. A few months ago it said it was listed by one of his agents but now according to the multiple listing service (MLS) the REALTOR OF RECORD IS JEFF CHENEY OF THE CHENEY GROUP!
In closing, we initially were doing research into some rumors about a possible shake-up or break-up within the Monument umbrella. That led us to these lots for sale which sparked us to look through public records, talk to some builder reps as we “house hunted,” and what we learned from our Realtor neighbor. The lots in question had been sold or contracted by other agents for client’s they had. So why are they for sale now? We can only assume the original buyers probably changed their minds or backed out for some reason which happens all the time according to my neighbor. If they were contracted by other agents, then why are those agents not selling the lots? Why are the lots now listed with the Cheney Group? Why is Jeff Cheney listed as the Realtor/Broker of Record? With so many questions, you can see we are still looking into this so stay tuned for more of what we uncover.
Are you ready for another adventure, well let’s visit Fort Collins, Colorado. Every few years the Frisco Chamber hosts a “Leadership Event” and according to the website it’s an opportunity to build new – and strengthen existing – connections among the Frisco business and community leaders that you otherwise may not have the opportunity or time to engage with. In English they mean it is a chance for the “commoners” to spend three glorious days collaborating and partnership building with the “important people.”
The event was held September 12 to 15, 2023 in Fort Collins, Colorado. According to the Chambers website the destination “offers a blend of outdoor adventure, cultural attractions, and a thriving business community. In September, when we will be visiting, the city is particularly beautiful with its golden aspens and crisp autumn air. The downtown area is full of art galleries, independent shops, and restaurants. The city is also known for its commitment to sustainability and its collaborative spirit.”
What is the goal of these fun trips on taxpayer dollars?To help shape the “Future of Frisco.” You can be an INVESTOR at different levels. The “Innovator Investor” costs $4000 and the description reads, “Lead community enrichment as the Innovator Investor. Your investment drives program growth, offers brand exposure, and shapes our community’s future. Benefit from positive community association, visibility, and impactful connections. The “Visionary Investor” is $3000, and the description reads, “Propel community progress as a Visionary Investor. Your investment aids program growth, aligns your brand with community investment, and supports valuable experiences for community development. Enhance your brand’s image while contributing to community success. Blah, Blah, Blah…
Lastly you can just be an “Attendee” which is $3250, and it includes airfare, hotel, transportation, and most meals. A few city insiders told us in the past maybe one to 3 people from the city attended these trips. However, in recent years Mayor Cheney turned it into the “Popular Club” trip on taxpayer dollars and felt that everyone in the city should go. We were curious of course over the last few years, who went?
In 2019, Council Member Will Sowell and John Lettellier, Director of Development Services were the only 2 from the city to attend the trip. Then in 2022, that number jumped to six which included four council members and two city officials. Last year in 2023, it jumped to 12 people which included five city council members and eight city officials. It is important to note that 1 to 2 months after the 2023 trip one attendee Paul Knipple, City of Frisco – Director of Engineering, left the city and took a position at the City of Westminster, Colorado. Do the math: 12 people x $3250 = $39,000 of taxpayer dollars.
Next we have Visit Frisco, the official destination marketing organization for the City of Frisco. According to the website it is their mission to generate a positive awareness of Frisco as a premier destination for meetings, sporting events, conventions, trade shows, leisure travel, and to positively impact the economic base of the City of Frisco. In 2019, zero reps from Visit Frisco attended the Leadership Trip. In 2022, one Visit Frisco rep attended the trip. Last year in 2023, Marla Roe the Executive Director attended the trip which cost taxpayers $3250.
What about the Frisco Economic Development Corporation? Well in 2019, two EDC reps attended and in 2022, one EDC rep attended the trip. Last year in 2023, two Frisco EDC reps attended the trip which is $6500 in taxpayer dollars.
Then we have the Frisco Independent School District, wait what? In 2019, two trustees attended, and zero attend in 2022. Last year in 2023, three Board of Trustee representatives attended which include Dynette Davis – Board President, Gopal Ponangi – Vice President, and Rene Archambault – Board Secretary. First, why did any member from the ISD Board of Trustee’s need to attend these trips? Secondly, when did Financial Hot Mess Express better known as Dynette Davis become the President? That means 3 x $3250 = $9750 of taxpayer dollars – but whose counting…oh wait we are!
Now it is a Chamber Leadership event, so we would expect several representatives of the Chamber to attend. In 2019 and 2022, the same four chamber representatives went. Last year, five chamber representatives went. Two representatives from the Frisco Economic Development Corporation include Stephanie Wagoner – Director of Business Retention & Expansion, Gloria Salinas – Vice President also attended. That means 7 x $3250 = $22,750 dollars.
Then we had a few people attend that held a place on local boards or committees. For example, Donna Schmittler of the Heritage Association and Danny Mehta with the Downtown Advisory Board. We also know Jake Petras attended who at the time was on the Planning & Zoning Board, but according to the registration it shows him under a business name. We don’t know if the city paid for Schmittler or Petras, but we did receive a registration confirmation for Danny Mehta. Add another $3250 dollars
It really was a “Who’s Who of Frisco” aka “Developer Friends” of the mayor and council that attended from the business community. A few stood out on the list like Lori Medina, owner of MedinaUSA, also the Mayors Chief of Staff for several years, and his campaign manager. She is also currently helping Angelia Pelahm in her re-election bid this year. The other person to stand out is Jake Petras who went under his real estate business name but was a current member of the Planning and Zoning Board. Correction, shortly after the trip was over he was quietly removed from the P&Z board for an ”incident” that happened in Fort Collins. You probably recognize other big names like Hillwood, PGA, Hall Group, Wilks Development FireFly Park, Rollertown Beerworks, Tumbleweed TexStyles and Dallas Cowboys.
It makes sense of course because obviously there was a heavy focus on the downtown area of Fort Collins as the City of Frisco is in the middle of a multi-pronged project to redesign and improve the infrastructure of Frisco’s downtown. The trip was well documented by another attendee Audrey Henvey for Star Local Media and Frisco Enterprise. “On Sept. 13, Frisco’s city leaders, city staff, school district representatives and business community members soaked up the kaleidoscope of components that make up downtown Fort Collins, Colorado. They took in the color explosion of flower beds nestled throughout the area — a product of the city’s downtown flower project. They took note of the outdoor painted piano, the murals on transformer cabinets and the activated alleyways featuring strung lights.“ Cheney is quoted in the article as saying, ““So we need to make some very strategic decisions, truly, over the next couple of months, adding that work will also continue with Velocity Group, a consultant hired by the city to help forge a vision for the Rail District.” Wonder how much that is costing taxpayers? Lastly, Cheney is quoted as saying, “Just seeing the horticulture they do and all the flowers is just so beautiful, and it helps them create that civic pride,”
The only question we have is, why didn’t the council and city officials who have been very vocal to the Frisco Animal Advocate community, that they would only consider a public/private partnership for an animal shelter stop by NOCO Humane? Who are they? Well, they are the PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNER TO THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS to provide animal protection and control services. If they were out there on taxpayer dollars they probably should have stopped by NOCO since that has been a hot topic lately. We would love to hear from an animal advocate on how the city has progressed since they took the Animal Shelter off the CITIZENS BOND last year because they wanted to “ look into public/private partnerships” possibilities. Simple answer, they don’t give two shxts about what the very vocal animal advocates have been asking for, it simply does not fit their agenda of FRISCO. Goes to show the “citizens” at the top of the org chart are not as important as Cheney’s idea of downtown and the flowers he wants that create civic pride.
It sounds like an amazing VACATION taking in all the sights, just look at the trip agenda. Did we mention it cost TAXPAYERS OVER $65,000 and that is for one trip, and it could be more if they paid for others to go. If the goal was how to help “Shape Frisco” did we really need that many people to go look at streets, painted pianos, murals, flower projects, alleyway strung lights? Could 2 or 3 people go and bring back video and pictures to share at a work session?
Before our leaders can shape Frisco they need to figure out what Frisco is famous for. For example, Fort Collins is referred to as the Craft Beer Capital of Colorado as it has 21 breweries, and it is near one of the most beautiful reservoirs in Colorado. Colorado is naturally an outdoor enthusiast dream, from food exchange outposts, gardens and parks. That makes sense as it generally does not go over 90 in the summer. What is Frisco? What are we already known for that we can build our downtown around? Build, create and design Frisco around the history of our city instead of trying to create a history. Instead, we are creating “Cheney’s Frisco” and believe me, he could care less with what residents want as he has already proven that over and over again.
On October 30, 2023, we published our blog Another One Bites The Dust which was about Fire Chief Lee Glover killing the Squad Unit and Blood Program. Generally, Squad which is a 2-person group, responds to all high acuity EMS calls and critical care calls, as well as all structure fires in a city. It is like no other unit in the department and when in trouble if you have a need for the most advanced or technical medical procedures in the field, they are the team you want at your front door. It must have ruffled a few feathers at city hall because Bobblehead Bill was quick to act as the mouthpiece for the city and troll social media to tell us we were wrong.
We took his statements and submitted a PIR the next day for the proof to back up his comments which he spewed all over the North Texas Politics Facebook page. On November 15th we received a letter back from the city with a PIR Invoice for $90 dollars. It is the breakdown that we found interesting of those charges:
Labor: Identify Search Terms / Set Up Search / Download / Export Emails: $3.75
Labor: Compile / Review /Conversion / and Redactions of Emails: $41.25
Labor: Fire / HR Department Records Collections: $30.00
20% Overhead: $15.00 for a GRAND TOTAL OF $90.00
We paid and then waited for our files. Now in a new year, still waiting, we emailed the city on January 12024, asking when we should expect our files. The next day we got an email back from the city that read, “The City of Frisco has reviewed its files and has located documents responsive to your request. HOWEVER, DUE TO CONFIDENTIALITY, the City has chosen to seek a ruling from the Office of the Attorney General regarding the release of a portion of the responsive documents. The remaining responsive documents are available. They also mentioned some figures we asked for were released in a different PIR that we chose not to pay another $100 dollars for.
What did $90 buy us? There was a PDF which contained 15 or so emails, two additional outlook message attachments, copy of the blood contract, two excel spreadsheets that contained the hiring/history breakdown and the call count. That’s it … because the rest (which we don’t know what that is) has been sent to the AG.
Question 1: Did the city charge us for a copy of the blood contract that Bobblehead Bill offered to send out to anyone who emailed him for free without a PIR? Question 2: WHAT IN THE HELL COST $90.00? We have paid $30 for way more information than this in the past.
Woodard’s Statement: The blood transfusion program isn’t going away; in fact it’s expanding. We use data to analyze the best use of resources. Right now, Squad sits almost all the time.
Fact or Fiction: We asked for the study or data they used to make their decision and the response we received was, “There are no records responsive to a “Study.” Then they said it was the number break-down for blood products administered and the number of squad responses that the department reviews for decision-making.
The breakdown for the “Blood Administration” since 2018 is as follows: 1 in 2018, 5 in 2019, 12 in 2020, 5 in 2021, 10 in 2022 and 13 in 2023 (through 11/1/23). Initially looking at the blood administration program the numbers are going up each year. While it is not tons of patients it is showing a trend that is going up, not down.
As for the Squad response breakdown the numbers provided to us by the city are 1502 in 2021, then 1103 in 2022, and 538 in 2023 through 11/1/23. Initially looking at the numbers it would appear Squad calls are going down just like Woodard stated, but we were curious what happened that resulted in 565 fewer calls on one of the busiest apparatuses in a growing city.
We of course went digging for the answer and we learned there are several call types for example, unresponsive, unconscious patient, medical emergency 1 and 2 calls. The call type determines which apparatus responds. Several whistleblowers sent us information on an email by Fire Chief, Lee Glover’s where he gives direction shortly after being named Fire Chief to start taking Squad off certain types of calls to reduce the numbers which makes them look EXPENDABLE. If you look at the call history SQUAD was removed from all ME 1 and ME 2 calls in district 4 and then they were removed from all unconscious and unresponsive calls for the entire city. WELL, WELL, WELL now that explains how calls for SQUAD dropped over 565 calls in less than a year. Maybe that is what Glover’s email meant when he said “Make It Look Pretty”
Woodards Statement: In 2024 we expect to add this program to every ambulance we have, further expanding the program.
Fact or Fiction: We asked about the costs and how they planned to fund the personnel training and the cost for every ambulance to be outfitted to carry the blood products. The response from the city was, “Paramedics will be trained in blood administration in an on-duty rotation at no added cost to the city and that blood will be carried on two vehicles with trained personnel every day.” We were not provided with any details on the cost to retrofit any apparatuses to carry blood.
Woodards Statement: 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. He also posted a picture of section 2.2 of a blood contract acting as if that was the guarantee they had.
Fact or Fiction: We asked for any communications between the city, blood bank, and medical director discussing the EXPANSION of the blood program. We were provided no communications between the city and their Medical Director where they discuss expanding the program and discussions to ensure the “program runs appropriately” as Bobblehead Bill stated.
We also asked for a copy of the approval letter from the blood bank and/or hospital where they guarantee to give more blood to more vehicles. The city provided us a signed 2018 Blood Contract and the signed 2023 Amendment. The 2018 Contact clearly states in the “SCOPE OF THE AGREEMENT” the city is to store a certain amount of blood and plasma in AN AMBULANCE UNIT in a continuously monitored refrigerator. In the section he posted “SUPPLY OF BLOOD PRODUCTS” it states it will provide what the city needs, however due to the unpredictable nature of the demands for blood products, the hospital can NOT GUARANTEE the city availability for ALL OR ANY PORTION of the blood products to be supplied. Hey Bill, it says an ambo unit meaning singular (aka 1) and did you read “No Guarantee.”
As for the 2023 Amendment, it is simply an updated FEE SCHEDULE meaning the cost the city has to pay for the blood and plasma product. Then it states the remaining terms and conditions of the contract from 2018 will continue in full force and effect, unchanged. Well, Well, Well Bobblehead Bill… there is NO GUARANTEE THEY WILL SUPPLY BLOOD FOR EVERY AMBO. Did we read that right? Prices for blood and plasma have gone up considerably and now we are talking about carrying it on every ambo instead of 1 or 2 specialized Squad Teams. In a nutshell it means more taxpayer money, more taxpayer money, and more taxpayer money. Besides the cost increasing for carrying the product that has a shelf life which means it has to be switched out, we also now have to retrofit ambos/vehicles and train more personnel. It sounds like we are wasting money when what we have currently is working.
In closing, it looks like Bobblehead Bill needs to do more research! There is no guarantee in writing that the hospital will agree to expansion or that they will guarantee you any product. Why would we retrofit any apparatus or vehicle on a “WHAT IF THEY GIVE US BLOOD MENTALITY.” The DRASTIC DROP in the Squad response numbers can be related to Glover removing them from certain calls. Why would he do that? According to insiders he has hated this program since its inception back in 2018. The city wants to sell you on that this is a good decision, however if you ask a firefighter, what might they say? Let’s just say it is your life on the line, are you willing to give up a dedicated team to critical care that literally could mean life or death?
Back in November you may have read our blog, Frisco – The City That Burns Bodies where we told you about local residents taking to Citizens Input at the November 21st city council meeting to discuss their concerns about the new Ridgeview West Memorial Park Crematory owned by Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow, Inc.
Even though the Texas Open Meeting Act states “the governmental body (AKA City of Frisco) MAY NOT DELIBERATE on any item from public comment that is not on the agenda the city continues to break the rule, meeting after meeting. The Act clearly states what they can do which is (1) make a statement of fact regarding the item; (2) make a statement concerning the policy regarding the item; or (3) propose that the item be placed on a future agenda.
At the city council meeting that night Cheney opens Citizens Input by acknowledging the large number of citizens who are there to speak. Then he continues, “so the speakers have the benefit of understanding all the facts the staff has a prepared a presentation,” followed by Jonathan Hubbard, Assistant Director of Development Services who took to the podium. Then RICHARD ABERNATHY, THE CITY ATTORNEY speaks about the regulation and omissions from a crematorium, and this is where the problem begins, but we will get back to that.
Next Cheney asks Jonathan to confirm that this crematory was approved before the neighborhood was ever contemplated and that all this information has been available to the public on the city’s website since it had been approved. STOP, JEFF CHENEY! REGULAR PEOPLE who are considering buying a home don’t go research the city’s planning and development that has been approved nearby over the last 10 years. As far as the city website, it is NOT USER FRIENDLY for the REGULAR PEOPLE to find information and most are not going to pay $90 for a PIR. Hell Sir, most people don’t even know what key words to look for in the search tools to find such information.
All in all, after opening citizens input at 40:09, the city held the floor over 10 minutes to “school residents’ which ended at 51:13. FYI, that is not a statement that is called a full presentation to pre-empt citizens at public input. Then NOT SHOCKINGLY, Bobblehead Bill Woodard mentions they have over 10 cards for public input and in response to the city’s policies and to be respectful of everyone’s time, he proposed citizens input should be cut from 5 min per person to 3 min per person.
THAT’S RIGHT FOLKS, they don’t want to hear from you the CITIZEN who Cheney says is at the top of theCITY’S ORGANIZATIONAL CHART! They can use up 10+ minutes of Citizens Input, EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE BREAKING THE OPEN MEETING ACT BY HAVING A DISCUSSION ABOUT AN ITEM NOT ON THE AGENDA, but you SIR/MADAM need to hurry up and get it done in 3 minutes or less.
At Frisco Chronicles we have told you over and over about how the city likes to school or educate us stupid citizens, we have told you about how they are breaking the open meeting act, we have told you how they are withholding PIR requests and delaying PIR requests. Just last week we told you how the city HR Department forged documents and spent $88,000 to do a needless investigation.
Well now, let’s get back to earlier where we mentioned a problem with the City Attorney, Richard Abernathy speaking. Why is it a problem? The City Attorney is DOUBLE DIPPING and has a major conflict-of-interest. What could that CONFLICT-OF-INTEREST BE? Well, did you know his firm represents THE CREMATORY! Yep, HOLD YOUR TOUPEE’S FOLKS, the city attorney’s law firm Abernathy, Roeder, Boyd & Hullett located on Redbud Blvd in McKinney represented Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow, Inc., A Texas Corporation in a lawsuit against The State of Texas in 2021. While the case is closed today, the fact that they represented the corporation in which the citizens are there to speak against probably means HE SHOULD HAVE RECUSED HIMSELF! Whose interest is he looking out for? Not the citizens! His job is to protect his clients, which in this case are the City of Frisco and Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow, Inc.
Frisco Residents should be beyond angry at this point, they should be done right pissed off! The city continues to waste tax dollars, put developers before residents, break rules and treat citizens as if they are stupid. When will it stop?
Other References
NBCDFW: Controversy over new crematorium in Frisco
The holidays are over and 2024 is here and we have continued our deep dive into the misdealings of the City of Frisco. We keep finding these little or maybe not so little nuggets of information that are cause for question and concern. Perhaps this will tie you over as we continue to investigate and verify our new leads.
In 2023 we saw several posts about the Frisco Firefighters Association regarding staffing, Assistant Chief Kraemer being fired after 27 years with the city, and the filing for Collective Bargaining and Civil Service. To say our interest was piqued is an understatement, we knew we had to investigate.
We decided to go back and read some of those old posts by the city and the FFA but we were surprised to see…many of them disappeared. We don’t know if anyone else noticed, but the Frisco Communications Dept. took down the city’s posts and propaganda videos that were paid for by taxpayers’ dollars, and the council’s open letter to residents damning the Frisco Fire Association for daring to gather signatures to place Civil Service and Collective Bargaining on the May ballot. They even deleted citizens’ comments in the posts from the late summer and fall.
Now, the naysayers will say the city didn’t delete anything, but they did. The proof is in the city’s posts where the links no longer work. For example, John Keating posted, “This isn’t a political battle or one for financial gain. It’s a powerplay by those who serve themselves, and do not have the best interests of Frisco at heart. They have misrepresented our city staff and leadership and our beloved Frisco Fire Department!” Then you have George Purefoy’s statement with a link that reads “unavailable.” Even Bobblehead Bill Woodard had to get in his two cents.
According to insiders the FFA never wanted to go in this direction, but they feel the city management and the city council didn’t follow through on the promises they made to silence them. In the past, the FFA threatened similar action when they felt that their concerns for safety were being ignored. Fast forward to today, what has changed since then? Insiders tell us they don’t trust Fire Department leadership, the city, or the council. On top of breaking promises, ignoring the results of climate studies done over the years, many feel the city used the FFA to oust the Fire Chief and an Assistant Chief who were threatening to file complaints on the city. The cherry on top is when the city ignored the Mayor’s Study asking the FFA if they would like Interim Chief Glover as their permanent chief. Despite the over 200 firefighters that said NO, they still hired him. This is the same chief that the city sent down to Austin to speak AGAINST Texas House Bill 471, protecting our first responders.
Now we know, you are wondering, why are we going over this again? Well, we learned the city HAD TO TAKE DOWN the propaganda they posted because it was a No-No (illegal) so they scrubbed their social media. What would they do? How would they fight against civil service and collective bargaining?
Well, we found a new nugget which is quite disheartening. On November 8th, papers were filed for what they call a Specific-Purpose Committee or PAC—Political Action Committee. It appears the city recruited former Mayor Mike Simpson (who endorsed Mayor Cheney) to appoint Richard Peasley as treasurer of a PAC called Safety First Frisco. The description reads, “Citizens opposing Civil Service and Collective Bargaining in Frisco, TX.”
This smells like shit and is clearly a move by the City of Frisco to get a highly respected Frisco resident to spin their story. I’ve met Mayor Simpson a couple of times. He wouldn’t remember me and my wife, but I certainly admired his leadership back then. I can’t help but think he might change his tune if he really knew the whole story. Can someone send him a link to our page?
Before deciding either way at the ballot box, talk to the Frisco Fire Association. I am generally not for unions and civil service, but learning most of the cities around us are Civil Service and that collective bargaining is the only thing that will protect them from a corrupt city making decisions that can literally kill them. My wife and I will be voting YES for them. Either way you can bet we will be following the campaign contributions for this NEW PAC! I have a feeling that is going to offer up a lot more nuggets.
According to Star Local Media, here are what those terms mean, according to state law:
Civil service: A system with a three-citizen commission to assess the hiring, firing and promotion of firefighters. Under Frisco’s current system, city officials have that power.
“What civil service does is eliminate favoritism,” FFFA Secretary Treasurer Dustin Allen said.
Collective bargaining: A system allowing both the fire department and the police department to become their own bargaining agents when it comes to agreements on wages, staff numbers and recruitment.
“That allows the [departments’] association to, as a collective, sit down and meet and discuss working conditions with the city or city management,” Allen said.
Every country has different traditions when it comes to celebrating New Years. I remember as a kid when I spent some time in Denmark with my family they would go door to door and smash plates on doorsteps of friends and family. The more shards there are in front of your home the luckier and more well liked were. One year we celebrated New Years in the Philippines and there everyone just wears Polka dots because they believe it increases their chances of good luck. Our tradition in the winery, you keep the windows and doors open on the front and back of your home. The idea was you welcome the new year in and in turn blow out the old year, so you have a clean slate so to speak.
What does 2024 bring for the Whistleblower Family? We will continue to work on the leads sent to us by our followers, file more PIR’s, and work to uncover the happenings behind the scenes at city hall. The one thing from 2023 that we are perplexed by is why the city chose to fight so hard to keep certain things a secret and what they were willing to release.
For example, Nepotism, yes that is right, Nepotism. Ask yourself, why would a city fight so hard to keep documents from the public related to the Nepotism Policy. The policy is published on the city website for anyone to see. Any changes to the policy must go before the council and are listed in the Agenda and Minutes. That is why we were surprised and perplexed they sent our PIR request to the Attorney General who issued a response on December 15 and the city notified us on December 29th.
We asked for communications between city officials pertaining to changes of the Nepotism policy. We wanted to understand why they were changing it, who they were changing it for, and how it would impact the city. However, the city asserted attorney-client privilege that was made for the purpose of facilitating the rendition of professional legal services to the city and the communications have remained confidential. They also submitted that the documents consist of advice, opinions and recommendations of city employees and officials regarding policymaking matters of the city. The attorney general agreed the city could withhold it.
We know from an March 8th email they had already made up their mind to hire Interim Fire Chief Lee Glover but to do so they had to change the policy in April 2023. So why then did they host a meet the candidate night in May 2023? The decision was final, they had no intention to hire any of those candidates. It was for POMP & CIRCUMSTANCE, so it appeared they were doing their due diligence.
Then we know they changed the policy again just a month or so later to hire the IT Director whose husband works in the Frisco Police Department. Our issue is that the same policy was used in the past and recently to disqualify candidates for jobs. So they want their peanut butter and jelly when it suits them, but they want to whistle and swing the policy around as an excuse when they did not want to hire someone. It is not fair practice, and it does not give everyone an equal playing field.
If the city had nothing to hide and everything they did when it comes to changing the Nepotism policy was above board, then why not release the email communications? We also can’t understand why they sent to the AG a PIR request for a street flood. What are you hiding about a street flood that affected tax paying citizens homes? We just can’t wrap our head around the fact the city would fight to keep a few emails private and claim policy making as the reason, but they will go to a city council meeting and vote to release a confidential document about a retired employee running for Mayor.
Traditions are important in this world, and like we said at the beginning we all have our New Year traditions that are the kick start of good luck for the future. The city’s tradition is to delay PIRs by sending them to the AG and covering their tracks by claiming attorney client privilege which they have done with almost every PIR in 2023 that they wanted to bury. We assume the tradition will continue in 2024. For all those saying we’re reaching or trying to make something out of nothing, the truth is we are realists and what is happening is so obvious to anyone if they just clean the lenses of their glasses. The other tradition we know the city will continue in 2024 is to waste our taxpayer dollars and operate the “Frisco Way!”
Our tradition is to continue to watch the city very closely and each person in this city. It is easier now that moles are coming out of the word work to help and join the team. The city continues to lose amazing talent to other cities which will dramatically change how Frisco operates and develops. As my dad would say one step, two step, you step, we step meaning “we are watching you.” If you have something you would like to share with us, just drop us an email at FriscoWhistleBlower@protonmail.com
Extra, Extra, Read All About It! Let the fireworks begin. If you have read our blogs some of this might seem familiar but stay with us because this explains it all. If you have never read one of our blogs then this is the one you DO NOT WANT TO MISS!
When we started down the path to uncover corruption within the city we never thought we would come across some of the things we have. The 12 Days of Malfeasance is a real page-turner and if you asked my wife she would say it is better than one of those cheap soft-back romance novels on the shelf at Walmart. It involves forgery, lies, questionable relationships, questionable tactics, and revenge. In the end, you will learn someone had $178,000+ reasons to lie and stab people in the back to protect their job! To top it off, we have the evidence to prove it!
It started back in 2014 when Fire Chief, Mark Piland updated several of the Job Descriptions for the Fire Department. When working in a city you are extended certain benefits based on the job descriptions (also called JD’s). In Frisco, Fire Fighters and Police Officers have additional benefit pay for certifications and education. If the job description says Preferred Education, Experience, and Certifications that means they receive additional pay in the following amounts: Certification pay for Intermediate, Advanced, and Master’s Certifications at $50, $80, and $120 per month. The Education Pay for Associate, Bachelor, and Master’s Degrees is at $50, $100, and $150 per month. However, if the job description says, “Required” then that means there is no additional benefit pay.
Fast forward to 2017, HR identified that there was no job parody in the job descriptions between the Fire Department and Police Department as it relates to Education Requirements. HR suggested to then Fire Chief, Mark Piland to change all the job descriptions to bring parody to the Fire Department job descriptions. The education requirements for all FD positions, Assistant Chief and below were changed to Preferred to match that of the Police Department as requested by HR.
Piland was concerned about this change as he was in the process of hiring and it could look as if some or all the candidates received special treatment which was acknowledged by Shannon Allywn in an HR email. Regardless of the concern the change was made to all of the positions to keep uniformity between departments.
July 19, 2017: An email from Shannon Allyn to Tracy Stiles (HR) talks about how when Chief Piland originally did the updates with HR to the job descriptions he had the Public Safety Certification and Education Pay descriptions listed as “required.” In 2017, HR approached Piland and asked him to change the job descriptions to “Preferred” to match the other departments. We were told by an insider at the time Piland protested and did not want to change it because it could cause issues. Shannon Allyn confirmed his frame of mind when she displayed the same concerns that Piland had in the email to Tracy. A reply from Tracy Stiles is sent the same day back to Shannon Allyn that reads, “They will all be changed to Preferred.”
Little did we know Job Descriptions would be the KEY to this story. Jeromy Porter served as Battalion Chief from June 2014 to September 2020 and during that time he received the additional Certification and Education Pay. Then in October 2020, he received a promotion to Deputy Chief and was told Education Pay was removed as an incentive. However, the position description listed a bachelor’s degree as a “Preferred” education, not “Required.” While a promotion is nice, the cut in what he thought the position paid was not. Ask yourself, would you take a promotion if it meant you were going to make less than your current salary?
January 25, 2021:Memo from Deputy Chief, Jeromy Porter to Fire Chief, Mark Piland regarding Education Pay and a request for a formal review of the Public Safety Certification and Education Pay Plan. The review got put on hold because things got hectic with an impending storm.
February 17, 2021: Circa Frisco Apartment Fire Reported, Wednesday @ 1:12 AM broke out in Apartment 158.
The Circa Fire was the largest fire 5-alarm that the Frisco FD has had to fight in recent memory and under the worst winter storm conditions in the last century. The Circa Fire happened over 48 hours in a winter storm nicknamed “Snowmageddon.” It knocked out power and caused a massive number of water breaks and fire alarm activations which led to an extraordinarily high call volume that taxed the resources and stamina of the Frisco FD.
Approximately two hours into the fire, a Mayday event occurred on the second floor of the Circa Building when Captain Christopher Beck, who was the Division Two Supervisor at the time of the Mayday event, fell through a hallway floor outside apartment 258. Captain Beck was trapped in the subfloor and had to be rescued by other firefighters. The Frisco FD Procedure Manual defines a Mayday in Procedure 303 Mayday Operations as “a message used to signal a life threat to any firefighter.” Beck went to the hospital and after being released he was back on duty.
The Circa Fire was much larger than it would have been under any other circumstance because the required automatic sprinkler system was taken out of service by the building landlord before the fire without the Frisco FD being notifiedor the building being put on Fire Watch. Fire department witnesses interviewed almost universally indicated that had the sprinklers been in service, it is believed this would have been a simple room and contents fire. Due to the high level of fire department emergency activity in the Metroplex, the mutual aid response was limited. Essentially, the Circa Fire was a five-alarm fire that was fought, for more than 24 hours, with the resources of a two-/three-alarm fire that were inadequate for the complexity/scale of this incident. The lack of resources led to an inability to designate a formal Rapid Intervention Team (“RIT”) by the incident commander.
RIT is defined in the Frisco Fire Department Procedure 303 Mayday Operations as “a dedicated crew of at least three firefighters with four firefighters preferred, one of which is an officer, fully equipped and trained who are assigned to provide assistance or rapidly deploy to rescue lost or trapped members.”
February 18, 2021: Circa Frisco Apartment Fire “Put Out”, Thursday @ 10 AM
February 2021 (End Of Month): Following the Circa Fire,Fire Chief, MarkPiland called for a Mayday Report to be put together to help the FD learn and better understand the event. Assistant Chief Kraemer assigned the job of preparing that report to the Battalion Chief in charge of Health and Safety, BC Hutt. This was the first Mayday Report done during Chief Piland’s tenure and the first such report any of the witnesses interviewed could recall ever being done in Frisco.
Important Note: While it is arguably a best practice, there is currently no specific requirement, standard, or template in any fire service to prepare a Mayday Report given the relative infrequency, and significance, of Mayday events.
March 16, 2021: Scott Vetterick, Deputy Chief sent an email to Lori Rutland (HR), Lee Glover (Assistant Fire Chief), and Mark Piland (Fire Chief) with a revised Fire Marshal job description. Lori responded to Vetterick and asked him to review the highlighted areas in yellow. She told him once he sent the changes or comments back to her she would send them to the Chief for approval (signatures).
March 17, 2021: Vetterick sent back the revised redlined edits and asked for approval for the changes. Once approved, he sent it back to HR. Evidence Note: In one of our PIR requests, we learned that the updated Fire Marshal job description had the required updated signatures from Mark Piland and was dated 3/17/2021. Why is this important? It shows that HR knew that if they changed anything, they would need to get updated signatures.
March 17, 2021: At 10:43 am and 11 am, THE JOB DESCRIPTION FOR DEPUTY FIRE CHIEF WAS MODIFIED by Lori Rutland who directly reports to Lauren Safranek.
March 18, 2021: At 11:22 am the FRISCO FD JOB DESCRIPTION FOR DEPUTY CHIEF WAS MODIFIED again by Lori Rutland for Education, Experience, and Certifications. The modification included removing the word “Preferred” from the title, but the bullet points still cite that a combination of education and experience can be used to satisfy the position.
Why is this a big deal?The document was changedwithout approvalfrom FIRE CHIEF, MARK PILAND, and HR DID NOT GET AN UPDATED SIGNATURE which is REQUIRED. After HR modified the document in 2021, they published the document with the unapproved change and more importantly with the 2017 signatures from Fire Chief, Mark Piland. Piland and others in the FD did not even know the change had been made until July 2022 when Porter submitted a second request for Education Pay.
Now many may say, who cares that HR changed it and didn’t tell anybody, but it is a VERY BIG DEAL. It affects the educational pay for several employees in those positions which creates a drastic pay cut in one’s salary.
April 9, 2021: BC Ryan Hutt delivered the original draft of the Mayday Report related to the Circa fire via email correspondence to Chief Piland, Assistant Chief Kraemer, and Assistant Chief Lee Glover. BC Hutt noted in his email “If you see any changes that need to be made or any recommendations you may have to improve the document, please let me know.”
According to the final report on 8/5/22, the original draft of the Mayday Report was incomplete, and it failed to give a full description of the Mayday event. Had such a complete description of the Mayday event been provided either in the first draft or even in any subsequent draft, the approach to the Mayday Report and the editing process moving forward for the Mayday Report would likely have been done differently.
The report also said that based on interviews performed during the investigation, BC Hutt did not obtain critical information about the Mayday event and the events leading up to the Mayday event because he did not speak with certain witnesses and because he performed incomplete interviews of other witnesses.
April 19, 2021: Valve Report Requested by Purefoy & Hill related to the damage of the valves on fire trucks due to “Snowmageddon.”
May 17, 2021: Assistant Fire Chief Lee Glover sends an email to Mack Borchardt his former boss and says “Enjoy The Read” regarding the initial Fire Apparatus Valve Damage. The email shows Lee Glover had no respect for Mark Piland and that Glover was still reporting to his old boss Borchardt.
May 27, 2021: BC Hutt submitted a third draft of the Mayday Report via email to Chief Piland, Assistant Chief Kraemer, and Deputy Chief Carpenter.
June 25, 2021: BC Hutt submitted his 4th draft of the Mayday Report via email to BC Britton DC Owen, Assistant Chief Kraemer, and DC Carpenter.
August 2021: BC Hutt left the Health and Safety Position and was replaced by Battalion Chief Charles Marts (BC Marts)
In the final report from Adams, Lynch & Loftin P.C. on 8/5/22 it was documented BC Hutt was moved to a new shift assignment because he was not successful under DC Carpenter and it was believed he would have a better chance of being successful under DC Porter. Ironically, one of the few areas where all of the Executive Staff interviewed were in agreement was on the fact that BC Hutt was moved to a new shift for his benefit and that move was designed to help him be more successful. There is a lack of trust in BC Hutt by his contemporaries as evidenced by the interviews with the Executive Staff and Command Staff during this investigation. This lack of trust has almost certainly been evident to BC Hutt. However, the fact that his contemporaries don’t trust him is not evidence of retaliation and reprisal.
October 5, 2021: Official Mayday Report released via email along with a copy of the Winter Storm 2021 AAR
It’s a new year and a lot is happening in the City of Frisco!
January 2022: The City of Frisco approved hiring Affion Public to conduct a national search for a new city manager. Ron Patterson and Fire Chief, Mark Piland applied for the position.
February 9, 2022: Matt Sapp, President of the Frisco Firefighters Association delivered a letter to George Purefoy, Frisco City Manager detailing concerns of how the department handled the reporting of the MAYDAY EVENT at the Circa Fire (Feb 2021). Sapp has repeatedly said publicly that the Association felt the Mayday Report should have been handled by a third party. The Sapp Letter contained several allegations regarding actions by Mark Piland, Frisco Fire Chief, and his “direct subordinates.” The allegations related to improper interference with the preparation of a Mayday Report that was analyzing their tactics and decisions at the Circa fire. Sapp asserted, “Fire Department Director and Executive Staff made a concentrated and concerted effort to place their professional careers over the current and future safety of the firefighters. This was done by suppressing objections, changing information, and attempting to withhold information for review vital to improve training.”
According to the final report released by Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C. on 8/5/22, there is insufficient/no evidence to support the allegation that Chief Piland or Assistant Chief Kraemer hid or altered critical information of the Mayday Report by moving the factors to another section. The information remained in the report even if it was in a separate section. Some of the information removed from the report (e.g. weather) was included in the AAR and other information removed (e.g. flow path) was subject to actual factual disputes and analysis that suggest subject matter experts could legitimately disagree about it as a factor.
March 30, 2022:Email from Matt Sapp, President of FFFA to Assistant City Manager, Henry Hill regarding their upcoming scheduled meeting for the following week. He detailed some concerns he had about how he was being treated and feeling threatened after filing the grievance back on 2/9/22.
According to the final report released by Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C. on 8/5/22, there is insufficient/no evidence to support a finding that Sapp or BC Hutt have been retaliated against because of the complaints filed related to the Mayday Report.
April 4, 2022: Henry Hill forwards Matt Sapp’s email directly to Lauren Safranek (HR Director) with no commentary. Why is this important? There was a secret plan in place to build a case to get rid of Fire Chief, Mark Piland by Lauren Safranek and her HR department who were on borrowed time before the “changing of the documents and falsifying records would come to light.”
April 4, 2022: Lauren Safranek, Director of Human Resources sends an email to Asst Chief Kraemer and cc/d Chief Piland and Asst City Manager, Henry Hill letting them know of the impending investigation by Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C. and that they would be under a “Confidentiality Warning.” They were to refrain from discussing the complaint and subsequent communications outside of the investigation process.
April 22, 2022: City of Frisco, Lauren Safranek, and City Attorney Richard Abernathy opened what is now being called the investigation into the Mayday Report. It would be conducted by an outside firm named Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C. out of Grapevine, Texas and they reported to Lauren Safranek.
We looked at the law firm’s website and we were curious, what experience do they have that would have qualified them to lead the investigation? According to the site, they list multiple areas of practice, but nothing related to firefighting. In fact, under municipal experience, it says they help with contracts, procurement, construction law, and ordinance drafting but nothing related to a fire department. So why this firm? Did I mention they do Real Estate Law.
May 23, 2022: City of Frisco announced the new City Manager, Wes Pierson who topped a candidate pool that included 55 applicants from 17 states, before being narrowed down to four finalists. His first day on the job will be Aug. 2, 2022
May 23, 2022: Matt Sapp Interview with Adams, Lynch and Loftin, P.C. for Mayday Investigation where he reasserted his allegations stated in the complaint and letter sent to Henry Hill.
Sapp went on to say During his interview, Battalion Chief Ryan Hutt (“BC Hutt”), the author of the Mayday Report, stated that he felt he was being retaliated against for his involvement with the Mayday Report and for not making certain changes to the Mayday Report. Specifically, BC Hutt asserted that (1) he was removed from a health and wellness committee that was setting up a city clinic, (2) he was moved to a different shift, and (3) he was reprimanded for insubordination. BC Hutt and Chief Piland indicate that they met in March of 2022 about BC Hutt’s retaliation concerns.
According to the final report released on 8/5/22 by Adams, Lynch & Loftin, there is insufficient/no evidence to support a finding that Sapp or BC Hutt have been retaliated against because of the complaints filed related to the Mayday Report.
May 31, 2022: Fire Chief, Mark Piland was interviewed for the first time by Adams, Lynch, and Loftin. At the beginning of the interview, Piland was asked to sign an Administrative Warning Letter.
June 3, 2022: Chief Piland contacted Mayor Jeff Cheney and asked for a meeting, and they subsequently met the same day at a local Coffee Shop. The report says Piland raised concerns he had with the investigation. Piland stated there was a lack of trust between the FFD and the City Manager, George Purefoy, and Assistant City Manager, Henry Hill. Piland stated Safranek misrepresented the investigation and she had not been honest about the investigation’s intent throughout the process. Chief Piland informed the Mayor that both he and Assistant Chief Kraemer were considering filing a complaint against the City Manager for how he handled the complaints.
June 10, 2022: Fire Chief Piland was interviewed for the second time for the investigation. He was told the previous warning letter was still in effect.
The investigation revealed that Chief Piland was unaware of the true severity of the near-miss that caused the Mayday until he was interviewed in June 2022. At that interview, Chief Piland indicated that had he known how serious the Mayday event was he “probably” would have had the Mayday Report prepared by someone independent of Frisco FD.
June 26, 2022: APPLETON TRIP: Assistant Chief Lee Glover, Battalion Chief Jeff Morrison, Captain Alan Wyatt, and Driver/Operator Philip Bur traveled to Appleton, Wisconsin for an apparatus inspection. Glover gets drunk and starts to talk about how when Piland leaves he will be the new Fire Chief. HOW DID GLOVER KNOW PILAND WAS LEAVING OR WOULD BE LEAVING?
July 8, 2022: Mark Piland sent a memo to Assistant Chief Lee Glover with a copy of the letter of complaint regarding possible actions and possible statements that may have been made by Glover during an apparatus inspection trip to Appleton, Wisconsin during the week of June 26, 2022
July 10, 2022: Fire Chief Mark Piland sent an email to Henry Hill that he had received an informal complaint from one of the Deputy Chiefs on some statements Glover may have made in front of a couple of members while in Appleton, WI. He let Hill know he was currently treating it as an informal complaint and is conducting some fact-finding from those present during the statements. He will send Hill an update.
July 12, 2022: Lauren Safranek, HR Director sends an email to the City Attorney Richard Abernathy and Mari McGowan. She says attached is notice of complaint that Lee Glover received. This is related to the item HENRY AND I DISCUSSED WITH RICHARD LAST FRIDAY. We would like to discuss it further tomorrow (Tuesday) morning if possible if one of you are available. Let me know if there is a time that works for you.
Mari McGowan from the law firm responds how about 9 A.M. Lauren Safranek responds that works for her but she is not sure about Henry. She says let’s go ahead and schedule for 9 and we will call you. Henry Hill then responds he can do 9 A.M. Mari McGowan responds to call Richard’s office.
QUESTION: What do you think Lauren Safranek, Henry Hill and the City Attorney’s office talked about a week prior? First we thought maybe it was the Glover Complaint, but that had not come up yet. Plus, it made no sense they would meet to discuss an Informal Complaint that has not even gone through the FD process. They were obviously talking about Mark Piland, and we are guessing it is about his meeting with Mayor Jeff Cheney on June 3, 2022, to discuss the initial law firm’s investigation.
July 13, 2022: Henry Hill sent an email to Mark Piland and CC’d Lauren Safranek (HR) to let Mark know that Lee had reached out and asked to talk to him and Lauren about the documents left on his desk Monday morning regarding the complaint. He asks Mark if he will be addressing this when he is back in town and if there is anything else he should know.
Later that day Piland replies he has one more person to talk to and is still considering this informal but as a point of clarification these statements if said as stated in the complaint are serious. Making possible statements about replacing the Fire Chief and asking for members to pick sides is detrimental and distributing to the good of the order of the department. While “currently” considering the process as informal I don’t want to downplay the seriousness and cause of what is being looked at. Again, just fact-gathering at this point.
July 28, 2022:2nd REQUESTMemo from Deputy Chief Porter to Fire Chief, Mark Piland regarding Education Pay. Jeromy recently opened the position description again to review the Essential Job Functions and he noticed a modification where the word “Preferred” had now been removed. When he turned his second request, Mark Piland was alerted to change that was WITHOUT HIS APPROVAL. This is the first time Piland learns HR had modified, falsified or forged the job description.
The screen shot shows thatAugust 1, 2017: Job Description was modified by Shannon Allyn at 2:44 PM, and Fire Chief Mark Piland signed this version of the job description on 7/31/2017. Then on March 17, 2021, at 10:43 am and 11 am, the job description was modified again by Lori Rutland. Then on March 18, 2021, Lori Rutland modified the job description again at 11:22 am.
THE GIG IS UP! HR (Lauren Safranek and Lori Rutland) HAVE BEEN EXPOSED! WOULD HER JOB BE ON THE LINE? COULD SHE LOOSE HER $178,291 INCOME?
August 5, 2022: Confidential Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C released a 480-page “Confidential” Investigation Report. The first 33 pages detail the investigation and offers a few key points:
A Dallas Morning News Article said Mark Piland committed malfeasance because he changed the report. However, the actual report says: There is also some evidence that the changes to the Mayday Report were suggested by individuals who had either a perceived or an actual conflict of interest when they suggested edits to the Mayday Report. It also said, there is insufficient/no evidence to support the allegation that Chief Piland or Assistant Chief Kraemer hid or altered critical information of the Mayday Report by moving the factors to another section. The information remained in the report even if it was in a separate section.
When it came to the alleged violations of the Frisco FD SOP 101.01 Standard of Conduct the report said, there is insufficient/no evidence to support that there is an issue with them conducting their official duties in a manner that serves the public interest. It goes on to state there is insufficient/no evidence that they violated the city’s five core values or the Frisco FD core values. It says there is insufficient/no evidence that Mark Piland made a false statement in any official communications or conversation with another employee, volunteer, or citizen. It says there is insufficient/no evidence that Mark Piland or Kraemer violated Frisco’s Employee Code of Conduct, or that he was dishonest. When it comes to Freedom of Reprisal there is insufficient/no evidence to support the merit of this complaint as the evidence reviewed and witnesses interviewed demonstrated that no reprisal has occurred against Sapp and any actions complained of by BC Hutt were appropriate actions not taken as reprisal for his drafting of the Mayday Report or any complaints about protected activity. There is insufficient/no evidence to support the merits of this complaint. The investigation found no actions by Chief Piland or Assistant Chief Kraemer that rose to the level of a criminal offense.
Lastly, it notes that BC Hutt shares some of the fault for why this process failed. BC Hutt viewed the Mayday Report editorial process through lenses of conflict and distrust. According to multiple witnesses, BC Hutt’s viewpoint as it relates to his interactions with command staff is not unique to the Mayday Report. Longstanding personality conflicts and lack of trust between BC Hutt and DC Carpenter, and particularly between BC Hutt and Assistant Chief Kraemer played a role in defining BC Hutt’s perception of how the review of the Mayday Report was conducted and the level of editorial input BC Hutt expected to his drafts. The trust issues between BC Hutt and members of the Executive Staff and Command Staff undermined any chance of a truly collaborative effort in connection with the Mayday Report. Even though the investigation revealed that there was no interference in the investigation by the FFFA or the PIA Requests of the FFFA and that there was no retaliation or reprisal against Sapp or BC Hutt, the lack of trust within the Frisco FD explains why Sapp and Hutt viewed certain acts as either designed to interfere with an investigation or as acts of retaliation and reprisal.
August 6, 2022: Fire Chief Piland sends an email to Lauren Safranek with Jeromy Porter’s 2nd Request for Educational Pay. Piland notes in the email he was unaware of the change in 2021. Lauren Safranek has to act fast save her ass!
August 9, 2022: Lori Rutland (HR Compensation Analyst) sends an email to Lauren Safranek asking if she received clarification from Henry regarding the Fire Departments Job Descriptions for Deputy Fire Chief and Assistant Chief? Lori notes, last time they appear to be updated was in 2017. Then she says the JD’s on the website match the JD’s we have saved.
Why is this email a red flag? Lori’s knows they accessed the system in 2021 and changed the JD’s and now she is acting like that never happened. She even notes the 2017 SIGNATURE even though she is fully away they never obtained updated signatures in 2021 when she changed it. She is trying to pass off the JD as the original when she knows they were changed which is further proof of the HR team cover up.
August 9, 2022: Memo from Fire Chief Mark Piland to Assistant Chief Lee Glover regarding the informal complaint (Appleton, WI) was not sustained and is now closed.
August 30, 2022: Mayor Cheney was interviewed by Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C., for a subsequent investigation into his meeting with Mark Piland that occurred June 3, 2022
September 1, 2022: Adams, Lynch and Loftin released a 2ndadditional investigation report into the “Break of confidentiality concerning the underlying investigation.”
The summary notes the law firm was asked to investigate Fire Chief, Mark Piland. The report claimed Piland violated his confidentiality agreement however Piland has insisted that he did not. Piland knew he was still under a “Confidentiality Warning” from 4/4/22 and 5/31/22 that he could not speak about the investigation to anyone. In the report from Adams, Lynch & Loftin P.C., it states Piland then raised concerns he had with investigation because there was a severe lack of trust between FFD and the City Manager, George Purefoy, Assistant City Manager, Henry Hill and Lauren Safranek. He also said he believes Safranek misrepresented the investigation and that she was not being honest about the process or purpose. He also told the Mayor he and Assistant Chief Kraemer were thinking about filing a complaint against the City Manager for how they handled the complaints. Mayor Cheney said in his interview Piland asked him to keep their conversation confidential. In the findings of the report it states, Chief Piland raised issues with the motivation for the Investigation, the subject of the investigation and whether the investigation should be occurring.
While the result of the investigation is that Piland supposedly violated his confidentiality agreement we see it a little differently. Mark Piland figured out that Safranek was using this investigation to COVER HER OWN ASS FOR FORGING DOCUMENTS BACK IN 2021. We are pretty sure he figured out she was using the investigation to cover her own MALFEASANCE.
If you are an employee with a company and subject to an investigation, what do you do or where do you go, if you have concerns about the HR Director leading the investigation being compromised? What do you do or where do you go, if you believe the HR Director is lying about the reason for the investigation and she has intentions to use it for malicious purposes? In most cases, you would go to your boss. What do you do or where do you go if you believe your boss (Assistant City Manager – Henry Hill) and his boss (City Manager – Wes Pierson) are also compromised and are aware of the intentions of the investigation being used to railroad people? That is what happened here, and the city had no guidelines on where an employee should go if the employee believed his higher-ups were involved in something nefarious. Piland decided to express his concerns regarding the motivation of the investigation with the person at the top of the organizational chart. That is the Mayor! Little did he realize that it would be used against him.
September 14, 2022: Mark Piland is told that due to the investigation he has two choices, he can be fired, or he can retire. Piland chooses to turn in his Retirement Letter
September 14, 2022: Wes Pierson replies to the Mark Piland Retirement Letter
Total Cost of Investigation (that we know of) $83,196.79. Lauren spent a lot of TAX PAYER DOLLARS to cover her MALFEASANCE!
December 9, 2022: Email from Lauren Safranek HR to Fire Chief Lee Glover where she tells him she met with Porter on Sept 20, 2022, and explained the JD and changes. She stated he was okay with it, which according to our sources he was not and that shows in his exit interview notes which proves again Sassy Safranek is lying. She also said Piland wanted it change which we know is not true because in an email to Lauren he states he was not aware and did not sign off on any changes in 2021 when he forwards Jeromy’s second request. Our insider at the city said according to a calendar search Piland had a meeting within a week of Jeromy Porters second request with Henry Hill. That is where he alerted him that he never authorized, or agreed to change the JD’s and he never signed it.
February 17, 2023: Former Fire Chief, Mark Piland files to run for Mayor against incumbent Jeff Cheney.
March 8, 2023: Lauren Safranek, Director of HR sends an email to Wes Pierson, City Manager with a link to the Nepotism Policy. Remember Lee Glover on the trip announced he was going to be the New Fire Chief several months before Piland was forced to leave the city. Now Lauren has to have the policy changed to accommodate their plan that we believe Glover was a party too.
At 4:21 PM Wes Pierson replies to Lauren Safranek and asks for clarification. Lee would be ineligible to apply for the open Fire Chief position because his relative is now employed by the City. Am I correct?
At 9:21 PM Lauren Safranek writes back to Wes Pierson while Lee can apply for the Fire Chief position, the policy indicates he cannot be promoted because it would create a violation of the policy since the policy states that No Identified Employees of a Department Director may be employed by the City of Frisco. She suggested they change the policy which they did at the April 4, 2023, council meeting. You can read all about it in Day 10: Dog & Pony Show
April 4, 2023 (the same night): Frisco City Council after coming out of an executive session, the council voted on one item from its executive agenda. “In connection with item No. 2A, ii on tonight’s agenda, I move to authorize the city manager to release the second investigative report, dated Sept. 1, 2022, concerning Mark Piland,” Councilmember Bill Woodard said. In a 5-0 vote to pass the motion, Mayor Cheney conveniently recused himself. It is important to note that Bill Woodard, Angelia Pelham, John Keating, and Tammy Meinershagen had already endorsed and been helping with Mayor Cheney’s re-election campaign. It was clear the release of this document was designed to be a political hit job.
May 1, 2023: Assistant Fire Chief, Cameron Kraemer was wrongfully terminated ending a 27-year career over his diagnosis of PTSD. However, we believe Kraemer was a target of Lauren Safranek because he was Piland #2 and he knew of all of her MALFEASANE and what she done to Piland. For her he was loose end that needed to be taken care of.
May 29, 2023: HR HOTLINE gets complaint against HR Director, Lauren Safranek, HR Lori Rutland, Assistant City Manager Henry Hill about forging documents, falsifying records. It was CASE 64
May 30 , 2023:Email from Lauren Safranek to Henry Hill regarding Ethics Case 64
End Result? Nothing of course
June 1, 2023: Frisco Fire Chief Meet The Candidates was held at the library. Candidates Rob Bergersen, Richard Davis, Lee Glover, Kenneth Johnson, and Marc Pate
June 19, 2023: The City of Frisco is naming the interim Chief, Lee Glover to the position permanently. Again, why did the city waste TAX PAYER DOLLARS on a search when they knew they were giving the job Glover.
September 21, 2023: Assistant Fire Chief Cameron Kraemer wins his workers compensation case
September 27, 2023: Jeromy Porter’s Exit Interview with Wes Pierson where he states job description changes and Glover’s abusive and drunk behaviors.
October 9, 2023: Wes Pierson sends an email to Lauren Safranek after his exit interview with Jeromy Porter. He asks her to write up a memo that outlines her understanding of facts and context related to the matter of the job descriptions. He would like that back by 10/31 for the file. Lauren Safranek writes back with her side of the story which is all lies to cover herself.
Lauren Safranek has worked in the city for 22+ years and she $178,291 reasons to protect herself. Had she lost her job, do you think someone else would have hired her if they found she committed MALFEASANCE? Households are struggling today and that is a big income to lose so you can imagine how far one would go to protect it. Instead, she continues to get other people fired to cover up what is happening in Human Resources.
The sad part is, she is not the only one, we believe George Purefoy, Henry Hill and others are fully aware of what is going on. Remember they all came up under Purefoy who believes LOYALTY IS NUMBER ONE, IT’S THE FRISCO WAY! That is why Mack Borchardt still has a golden parachute job at city hall for six figures. It is why Lee Glover is now in the position of Fire Chief (the boys are back in town)!
This corruption has destroyed peoples reputations and two highly respected Fire Fighters are out of a job and we are sure there is more. If you ask the FWB group what should happen next, well we would say Fire Safranek, Hill, Glover and anyone else associated with this corruption. Oh wait, ASK THEM TO RETIRE. I think the city could be facing many lawsuits in the future and they will pay for their defense with our TAX DOLLARS. Everything is documented by emails and evidence so what do you have to say now? Humble Pie Anyone?
Here it is the end of 2023. There are lots of traditions that happen leading up to the New Year. Where I am from, it is tradition to eat 12 grapes underneath a table, one with each chime of the clock. It is supposed to bring good luck, but these days, I’m lucky to get out of the recliner. Instead, I sip on a glass of wine. Close enough.
Another ritual I tend to practice is reviewing the past year, taking a look at what has been accomplished, and imagining what could be achieved in the future.
When I started this blog back on February 1, 2023, I figured it would be good therapy. A place where I could vent and discuss my concerns. Me and the old lady were getting quite frustrated with what we saw Frisco was becoming. A lot of people thought we would disappear as soon as the election was over but nope. There was and still so much more tea to spill.
Let’s do a little review before the big reveal tomorrow. We were very busy in February as we introduced you to our once sleepy little town. You read about Mayor Jeff Cheney and long time City Manager George Purefoy. There is one thing to know about Mr. Purefoy, well, actually two. First, he made Frisco what it is today and second, it is best not to speak your mind with George. If you were were smart you pretty much did what you were told. Mayor Cheney on the other hand, that’s a different story. He was and still is busy looking out for himself and how he could build his personal dynasty. If anyone doubts this, give Fields West Dynasty, Field of Dreams. and Anatomy of a Friendship a read.
One of our favorite reveals was with the two posts The Preserve Lots — VIP Program and Land Lies! This is when, we learned that Mayor Cheney and his good buddy and Councilman Keating had a hold on two lots on the 8th hole of The Preserve. What makes this really rich is, Cheney, throughout his campaign, said time and time again that he doesn’t receive any special privileges as the Mayor of Frisco.
Speaking of his campaign, this is his third term and usually an incumbent is predicted to run away with the race. As usual, Cheney had a fancy campaign video. That was not the case against Retired Fire Chief Mark Piland. Even with the hit piece by the Cheney camp, Cheney had to work for this final term. Why was it so important he win, well he likes his Mayoral Privilege of course.
Over the last 12 days, we have been counting down to Day 1. We felt it was important for you to have all the background information and documentation so that you could easily follow along with with our timeline that we will unveil. Grab a snack or some popcorn for tomorrow, because it will be a hefty one.
Sit tight, and enjoy the rest of 2023, and get ready for some fireworks for 2024.
Back in September we wrote our blog All in The Family which was about Nepotism which is the practice among those with power or influence to favor, show bias, or give preferential treatment to relatives, friends, and close associates. Most companies have rules or policies about Nepotism in the workplace, including the City of Frisco.
The Employee Code of Conduct policy regarding Nepotism in the city has been the same since 2006. That is why we were intrigued in 2023 when we noticed the city made changes to the policy two times in a matter of months. Why did they change it? The reason for the change can be found in a memo from Lauren Safranek, Director of Human Resources. After reading the reason for the change it led us start investigating recent new hires and the possible relationships they had to someone in the city which you can read about in our September blog.
Several commented that we were making something out of nothing when in fact it was exactly what we suspected. The city was changing the Nepotism Policy in order to hire Interim Fire Chief, Lee Glover. On September 14, 2023, we filed PIR that stated we wanted all communications via email between city officials (for example HR, city manager’s office, and city council) regarding the change to the Nepotism Policy from 1/1/2022 to Present. Also, any emails regarding Lee Glover and Nepotism. We received a note back from the city saying they have released a few documents but that some of them were confidential and therefore they sent it to the Attorney General for an opinion.
What could be that confidential about a Nepotism Policy that a city would need to send to the AG? If you are willing to go on record and change the policy then why not be open and share why you want to change the policy? According to the letter the city sent to the AG they claimed a portion of the info contains confidential attorney-client information which was not intended to be disclosed to 3rd parties. Furthermore, a portion of the info involves interagency or intraagency communications which were intended to remain confidential.
This is where we have a huge problem with the city’s explanation and AG request. 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. How is this is okay, but we can’t release documents about a Nepotism Policy? Why can’t the council vote to release the documents we requested? Are you telling me there is something SO CONFIDENTIAL in a discussion about policy change that it must be hidden from the public?
We went through the items the city “released” to us and the most exciting thing we found was the alert Dana Baird, Director of Communications received from our Twitter Post on September 13, 2023. However, the rest of it is just copies of the memos and policy changes. All we could do at that point was wait patiently for the AG to give their opinion to see if they would release the rest of the documents. We learned on 12/29/23 via an email from the city that the AG had ruled that the city may withhold the information they claimed to be confidential.
I am sure the city was very excited to learn they could withhold the rest of the Nepotism documents. That’s okay, because as you know we file many PIRs and early this year we filed one on Lee Glover which included an interesting email. We were sitting on a chain of emails waiting to see the AG’s response to the Nepotism PIR. The email subject line read “NEPOTISM” dated March 8,, 2023, that was from Lauren Safranek, HR Director sent to Wes Pierson, City Manager.
The initial email to Wes simply has a link to the Nepotism Policy. Wes Pierson replied to her a short time later asking her to clarify the following: 1) Interim Fire Chief Lee Glover has learned that he now has (as of when) a second cousin working in Frisco’s planning department. 2) Your understanding of our nepotism policy is that Lee would be ineligible to apply for the open Fire Chief position because of his relative who is now employed by the City (regardless of the fact that the relative works in another department and there is no reporting relationship). He ends with, am I correct?
Lauren replies that evening to Wes and said: Wes, As of October 2022, Lee Glover’s second cousin has worked for the City of Frisco as a Planner I in Development Services. Currently, as interim Chief, I would not consider this a violation of the nepotism policy. However, regarding your second question, the policy states: The hiring, transfer, and/or promotion, of Identified Employees shall not be allowed, even in different departments, if that action results in a violation of this Policy and/or creates a conflict of interest, or the appearance of a conflict of interest for the City as determined by the City Manager and/or his/her designee. When any relationship prohibited under this Policy and/or that constitutes a conflict of interest exists, the City reserves the right to take appropriate action to eliminate the violation, which may result in action being taken up to, and including termination.
Therefore, while Lee can apply for the Fire Chief position, the policy indicates he cannot be promoted because it would create a violation of the policy since the policy states that No Identified Employees of a Department Director may be employed by the City of Frisco after the effective date of this policy. We could enact Section V. Procedures which would allow 30 days for a resolution or the City terminates the employees with the least seniority. Identified employees are employees related within the prohibited level of consanguinity and/or affinity, a cohabitant or a roommate, as specified in the policy. I hope this answers your question. Please let me know if you have any questions.
After the communication on March 8, 2023, Lauren Safranek requested a change to the Nepotism Policy at the April 4, 2023 city council meeting which you can read about in this memo here. In a nutshell Lauren requested the Nepotism policy be revised to remove the Third Degree of consanguinity (blood). Her reason, “In today’s job market, by going as far as the Third Degree of consanguinity, we may lose the opportunity to consider some possible dedicated employees.” What she means is “if we don’t change it we cannot hire LEE GLOVER.” Obviously, this is probably what the city intended to hide from us went they sent it to the Attorney General!
It was clear in March and April 2023; the city had every intention to change the policy to hire Lee Glover! So, why did they spend money to hire an agency to do a search for a new fire chief? Also why did they do the dog and pony show of “MEET THE CANDIDATES” for the Frisco Fire Chief position, on June 1st? Does the city really think it is fair to these candidates to let them believe they even had an opportunity. These dedicated first responders took time out of their schedule and away from their job to interview, travel, and meet the public. The reality they were never going to get the job, the decision had already been made.
For all of those saying we are grasping at straws we have proven again that the city is
1) Breaking The Law because they did not include this email in our original PIR which clearly asked for emails regarding Nepotism & Lee Glover.
2) We said the city changed the policy to hire Lee Glover and the response from many is “oh the city would never do that” … BUT THEY DID EXACTLY THAT AND THE EMAIL BETWEEN LAUREN AND WES PROVES IT!
3) The fact the request to change the Nepotism came just 2 ½ weeks after their email communication and basically solved their problem, it only doubles down the confirmation we were correct.
4) The city changed the policy to hire someone and they have used the same policy to disqualify others in the past. It is not fair to change the policy at whim or when it suits you. That is not why polices are in place.
In closing we find it very interesting what the city deems confidential and not confidential. They will vote to release confidential information on a political opponent but they won’t vote to release the documents regarding the decision to change the NEPOTSIM POLICY? This is our plea to Mayor Cheney and the council to vote to release the documents for all the PIRS we have. Stop hiding behind the AG because it is clear every time you have something to hide and that is why something smells like SHIT in Frisco!
To see the full documents of the snap shots included, click here!
Most people wonder what is the point or purpose of the Human Resource department and who are supposed to be advocating for? In simple terms, think of HR as an Agent, think of the City as the Principal, then remember the Agent acts on behalf of the Principal. That means HR is just like the City Attorney in some ways, first and foremost they exist to protect the city from exposure and liability in its management of its workforce.
Little did we know when we published our Day 3: Case 64 & HR Malfeasance that we would get several emails from readers. Some of the emails thanked us for exposing how the Human Resources Department in the City of Frisco operates. Others from new “whistleblowers” who told us about their experience with Human Resources and specifically Lauren Safranek. It left us with one question, is this a superficial issue or how deep does the dirt in HR go?
In Wes Piersons exit interview notes with Jeromy Porter it talks about “job description issues” between Preferred or Required. Wes writes that Porter tells him there was a change to the job description without approval. We have reached out to Jeromy Porter to ask further questions and we hope he responds. When you read the notes you wonder, could this be true? Then when you see the Case 64 Hotline Complaint with very similar complaints and accusations, it starts to validate what Porter said in his exit interview. One is random but two we start to smell something fishy.
We wanted to know, what is the big deal between the two words, Preferred and Required? With a little digging we learned that when working in a city you are extended certain benefits based on the job description. In Frisco, Fire Fighters and Police Officers have additional benefit pay for Certifications & Education. If the job description says Preferred Education, Experience, and Certifications that means they receive additional pay in the following amounts: Certification pay for Intermediate, Advanced, and Master’s Certifications at $50, $80, and $120 per month. Education Pay for Associate, Bachelor, and Master’s Degrees at $50, $100, and $150 per month. However, if the job description says, “Required” then that means there is no additional benefit pay. That simple change of one word can basically affect one’s income from what we discovered. Now it makes sense why Porter and others might be upset, and we are currently looking further into this.
Then we received another email from a new whistleblower within 24 hours of publishing Case 64. It said, I cannot tell you who I am as I do not want to get fired but I suggest you pull the HR files for a few folks who recently let the department in the last few years. It gave us some names, so of course we filed our PIR requests and we are waiting for the city to process those. We are filled with anticipation of what we might find!
Then we got another email of similar complaints in another city department. The insider said reading Case 64 made them realize they are not alone. They said we should file a PIR for a copy of all the complaints called into the Ethics Hotline for the last 3 to 5 years and to be prepared as it may be a shocker! Well, of course we went right away to file a PIR for that, and we are waiting for the city to process it.
The email went on to say Human Resources is corrupt and they don’t follow through investigating the complaints received via the hotline. They are known to look away because of the personal relationships they have with the employees mentioned in the complaints. Also, they said the hotline is compromised because Lauren Safranek is crooked, and she is the one who gets all the complaints so you can easily make things go away and no one will know. Lastly, is stated that HR has falsified records and job descriptions in order to demote or fire employees. Wow, this is now the 3rd complaint of that happening and in different departments.
We also received an email about how the HR Department uses the Nepotism Policy to their advantage when they don’t want to hire someone and then they change it or ignore it for others who are “their friends.” We found this allegation interesting because we have a PIR into the city already about the reason they changed the Nepotism Policy two times already this year. Rumor has it was to hire Fire Chief Lee Glover and the new IT Director.
Then we received a tip through our website about multiple city employees having affairs with each other (and yes it named those involved). Apparently some of those having affairs with their bosses end up getting promotions. While that is a JUICY TIP, it is a bad place for the city to be down the road if a sexual harassment lawsuit were to come up. Well, before we out anyone we will do our work to confirm if these “affairs” are true.
Lastly we learned that many Directors in the city may be abusing their city credit cards with personal purchases. Well, to be honest we are not shocked by this one as you see it on the news every day. However, we will be filing PIRs for records for many of these department heads.
In closing, when you start to hear the same complaint from multiple people we have to believe that something smells like SHIT in Frisco. What we do know is that several of the emails were from current employees and they are tired of the city looking the other way. So, it makes you wonder, why won’t the news cover this? Why has our new City Manager not investigated this? How far does the bad and/or possibly illegal behavior go? How long has this been going on?
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 18th 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!
Mack Borchardt began his career in the Fire Service in 1973 as a volunteer firefighter. In 1981, after serving with the McKinney FD, Borchardt became the city administrator in Frisco and the Fire Chief of the Volunteer Frisco FD. In 1987, Mack Borchardt had input on the hiring of the new City Manager, George Purefoy. Shortly after Purefoy became city manager he named Borchardt as Frisco’s first Fire Chief since the fire department had grown from a volunteer force to a department with 150 full time employees. You can imagine the loyalty these two have to each other, as they came up together in this city and worked side by side for years.
In 2011, Borchardt received the 2011 Fire Chief of the Year award from the Texas Fire Chief’s Association. That is why it is a little shocking that in the Fall of 2011 the city did a Climate Survey in the department that came out Jan 6, 2012. The report was not good, and it said in order for the “people issues” to be resolved the department needed to change from a negative, hostile, retaliatory environment to a positive, more supportive one that encourages communication. It said the city must make changes and it started at the top by bringing in new management.
The decision was made that Borchardt had to go, and a new Chief was coming. Borchardt turned in his resignation letter Feb 23, 2012, to his good friend George Purefoy. However, Borchardt was not going anywhere! His buddy and good friend George Purefoy created a position for him at city hall right next to him in the City Managers officer. In his severance agreement it states Borchardt on or before January 1, 2013, will be REASSIGNED by George from Fire Chief to Fire Programs Consultant reporting solely to the City Manager King George or his successor. The job was guaranteed until Feb 15, 2015. It is important to note he is still there today in a six-figure job doing who knows what with a city vehicle. King George his friend and confidant took care of him.
Why is the relationship between King George and Mack Borchardt important? When the city hired Mark Piland as Borchardt’s replacement it rubbed those loyal to Mack Borchardt in the department the wrong way. Folks like Assistant Chief Lee Glover and Barry Dixon in Fire Fleet Management. See their loyalty was always going to be with Mack which Piland did not know at the time, but it really left him a sitting duck.
Why are these relationships important to the Valve Report? Well, we are about to tell you. Snowmageddon 2021 was unforgettable for many Texas residents. Record breaking below freezing temperatures for nine plus days killed more than 200 people and resulted in millions being without power or water for days. In Frisco, starting February 15, the Fire Department responded to 162 calls in 7 hours which is 3 to 4 times more than the average call volume in a 24-hour period. Then came the news that Frisco FD was fighting the Circa Apartment fire that lasted over 36 hours. Over 260 units were affected by the fire, four Frisco Firefighters were transported to local hospitals with minor injuries. The FD had never experienced a fire of this magnitude, then add in record breaking temperatures.
As life started to return to normal the Frisco Fire Department had two parallel reports working in the department. The first was the Mayday Report which was supposed to be a learning tool for the department related to the Circa Fire. The other was a report called the Valve Report and if you are anything like us, you are asking the same question we did. What is a Valve Report? Well, during Snowmageddon several of the fire trucks suffered freeze damage to the valves, piping and pumps on the apparatus vehicles.
In an April 19, 2021, email to Henry Hill, George Purefoy the City Manager writes “I’ve heard that numerous fire trucks suffered freeze damage during the severe winter storm in February. It is my understanding that in the past, lines were emptied of water to protect the valves from freezing and the resulting damage; however, during this most recent event apparently that wasn’t done on the vast majority of the fire engines. I’d like to see a report which details the damage/cost to repair and, if accurate, what procedure(s) will be put in place to help keep this type of damage from occurring again.” Henry Hill replies we will investigate what occurred and get back to you. Then King George replies “It is my understanding that it was extensive and supposedly only one truck was drained as had been the practice in the past.”
To many, this might look like a normal email, but it is not! King George starts by saying I’ve heard…heard from who? Then he says it is his understanding that in the past, lines were emptied, how did he know that? How does he know what was or was not done in the most recent event? How would he know it is extensive and that only one truck was supposedly drained? How did he know the past practice of the department? The answer is Mack Borchardt, who was getting full reports and secret emails from Assistant Chief Lee Glover. No wonder why Assistant Chief Lee Glover was put in charge of the Valve Report for the department.
On April 27, 2021, the first draft of the Valve Report was done, and several insiders told us Piland was not happy because Glover had not talked to anyone in operations before writing it up or sending it out. Piland felt the report needed to be fair and accurate which required feedback from those on the front line at the stations and those within operations, not just Fire Fleet Management, Barry Dixon (a Borchardt loyalist).
We were told from two inside sources Piland asked Assistant Chief, Cameron Kraemer to reach out to the stations and operations and get feedback on the original draft so that both sides would be represented. This report was emailed to Mark Piland on May 5, 2021. In fact, the report mentions the procedure for draining the pumps has been taught and successful for many years and is documented in an internal training bulletin in 2016. It also noted due to the high volume and the constant exposure these apparatuses had to history making extreme freezing temperatures contributed to the damage.
Then through our PIR we found two emails from Lee Glover to Mack Borchardt titled Pump Info. The first was on April 29 and simply says, “Enjoy the read!” Hmm, I wonder what Glover meant by that. Then the second email was on May 17, 2021, and has no message just an attachment titled Department Memo Fire Apparatus Valve Damage 04272021. So, two emails from Assistant Chief Lee Glover to his buddy, the man he considers the CHIEF which only undermines Piland.
Piland then asked Vetterick to take both drafts and merge them into one report so that all sides were represented in the report which created the final version that was emailed to Mark Piland from Deputy Fire Chief, Scott Vetterick on May 18, 2021. Was this report acceptable to King George and his minion Henry Hill, well of course not! That would be too easy.
Fast forward to June 25 King George sends out an email to a few different people asking them for feedback or advice on any changes. The first email was sent to Mack Borchardt and Henry Hill at 10:35 am and the second email was sent to Ron Patterson at 11:10 am. What could he possibly be asking for feedback on, well it is a letter to Chief Piland. Interesting King George goes to his buddies, confidants, and everyone else but the active current Fire Chief himself, Mark Piland.
The email King George sent makes it clear he is not happy with the final memo submitted. Our guess is because it was not written by Borchardt. What does the final draft look like, well we can only guess like the one we attached. The damage was going to cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars between parts and hours to replace. A few insiders told us Glover did a hastily report that put the blame on the fireman. We asked them why Glover would do that, and we were told to protect Barry Dixon (Borchard/Glover loyalist). According to a fleet expert it was Dixon who wanted steel and brass ball valves which were known to freeze. We were also told Glover sent his report to Borchardt and Purefoy instead of proper channels through the Fire Chief, Mark Piland . Why? Because he did not like that Piland asked him to get more perspective for the report.
Add to that we were told a complaint was filed against Barry Dixon in Fleet Management some time ago for falsifying records and for filing a false complaint on a fire captain. According to several inside sources Dixon was caught red-handed, but Glover came to the rescue to SWEEP, SWEEP, it under the Aladian flying carpet.
In closing, what did we learn from the Valve Report? It was another tool to try and undermine, discredit, and lay blame on Fire Chief, Mark Piland. Other than that, we learned nothing. One thing is clear, Mark Piland had a hard time because he was never going to be given the respect from the Frisco Insiders at city hall. He simply was not Mack Borchardt and from everything coming out it appears there was a concentrated effort to undermine him and disrespect him from HR all the way to the City Manager’s office. A city insider told us Purefoy never wanted Piland or any other Fire Chief there, he wanted Borchardt, but his hands were forced.
The question we have is WHAT DOES MACK BORCHARDT ACTUALLY DO? We know he played Fire Chief behind the scenes of the actual Fire Chief while Piland was there. My guess is he is doing the same with Glover. He was supposed to be over Exide and well that has not gone well. So, what is he making $200K+ dollars a year doing for the city? Now that Glover is Fire Chief do you think he enjoys happy hours with Borchardt? We are betting they do! The good old boy network is very alive and well at city hall. Just look at George Purefoy now, he has opened a consulting firm with Ron Patterson.
You are probably wondering why we are dropping tidbits each day. Well, that is because each of these items is leading up to our big reveal timeline of corruption. We need you to first understand the different incidents, so it all makes sense when we tie it together with a pretty bow.
Speaking of incidents, remember in Jeromy Porters exit interview notes which Wes Pierson took down he had number 3: Drinking (only while traveling). Well, he is referring to Lee Glover and his desire for the bottle which is a hidden secret that is not so hidden. Now, we had already heard of several Glover “incidents’ from whistleblowers before ever seeing Porters exit interview notes. His notes only added to the confirmation of what we had previously received and been told.
In fact, before we ever knew of Porters exit interview, we had already filed a PIR (Public Information Request) in Oct 2023. It reads “Lee Glover – Complaint regarding behavior being drunk on 2022 Wisconsin Trip. Copy of all emails between city management officials and firefighter officials. Copy of all emails regarding this incident that were sent to or from Henry Hill. Copy of formal complaint made to HR and the city. Copy of complaint or HR documents related to the complaint.” Imagine our surprise when we received a response back on 11/2/23 there were NO RESPONSIVE RECORDS. Do you believe the city, because we didn’t!
We have been playing PIR GATE with the city for a while now, so we knew the reply they provided was a clear LIE. The city was NOT COMPLYING WITH STATE LAW TO RELEASE PIR’S SO WE REFILED IT ON 11/6/23. We started by restating the previous PIR and the response NO RESPONSIVE RECORDS and it said, “The City of Frisco has reviewed its files and has determined there are no documents or emails responsive to Lee Glover regarding the behavior of being drunk on the 2022 Wisconsin Trip.”
Then we laid it out again in the new request and we wrote “To be clear and upfront we have a copy of a city email along with a video of the incident that the city claims to have no responsive records too. So, we wanted to clarify our request to make sure the city understands what we are asking for just in case. Copy of any email, document, or text message that included Henry Hill in regard to a complaint made by a firefighter regarding Lee Glover’s behavior at an event where he appears to be intoxicated in or out of the state of Texas. Copy of an email, incident report, complaint, or any other HR issue regarding or involving Lee Glover made by Jake Owen with then Fire Chief Mark Piland or any of his staff in 2022 or 2023. Copy of any email sent by the Fire Department staff/management that includes Henry Hill, the city manager’s office staff, and/or hr. staff regarding a complaint by Jake Owen that involves or includes Lee Glover in 2022 or 2023. We also learned of another FF leaving so we wanted to see a copy of any interview notes, documents, or emails in regard to or relating to the exit interview by Jeromy Porter and city manager Wes Pierson in 2023 or HR Department Staff.”
On 11/20/23 sitting here I yell out “What in tarnation” and my wife comes in the room saying what, what. For those who don’t know What in Tarnation is like your version of WTF or WTH. I said look and pointed to the screen, and she read out loud, “The City of Frisco has reviewed its files and has located records responsive to your request.” WHAT? IT IS A MIRACLE, A MIRACLE I TELL YOU!
First Response: No Responsive Records! Then only after we told you we already have the proof in a form of an email and a clip of a video that has a drunk Glover in it do we get this WAIT, WE FOUND THE RECORDS! Both requests had the same key words: Lee Glover, Wisconsin Trip, Complaint, and Henry Hill. Wow so we are to believe they just found these records the SECOND TIME AROUND.
You may wonder why is this PIR important and that is because is shows Lee Glover who at the time is the Assistant Chief talking about how he is going to be the new Chief when Piland leaves? However no one knew Piland was leaving, including Piland! So how did Glover know in June 2022 that Piland would be leaving in August 2022? How did Glover know he would become Interim Chief? What collusion was he a part of to be able to know that information?
No! No! No! We caught the city lying and breaking the open records law by not complying with the first request. The Texas Attorney should launch an investigation because we know they have had withheld other PIRs as well. In fact, currently we have a PIR in about a street flood and they have sent it to the Attorney General for review. Why, what is so secretive about a street flood?
We also filed for a copy of any complaint filed against Glover since 1991 when he started with the department, and they sent us back the same one. Do they want us to believe only one complaint has been filed against him? I can tell you we have evidence of others so why didn’t they turn it over when we asked for a copy based on his whole career span? WHAT IS THE CITY HIDING?
On the other hand, the city council on the same night can vote after an executive session to release a portion of a report to hurt a political candidate running against Mayor Jeff Cheney and they won’t fight that request by sending it to the AG. Keep in mind 4 of the 5 council members who voted for its release had already publicly endorsed the current Mayor when they held that vote. You want to tell me that was not a political hit job just like they had done to other previous candidates who ran against the inner circle.
It is clear the city of Frisco is walking a thin line…but it is clear to us the city clearly broke the law by not providing the documents. If they want to hide it they either charge an obscene amount of money like $100, they stall by sending it to the AG, or they just flat out lie they don’t have the records. Either way we proved the city is hiding public records.
We had hoped to publish our timeline but after The Exit Interview and Case 64 we were surprised to receive several emails from insiders wanting to tell us about their situations and offering us more Christmas gifts. So while you sip some egg nog with your family and watch a great holiday movie we are unwrapping some holiday gifts sent to us. After we cross our T and dot our I’s it is our hope we will be back tomorrow to start rolling out our 12 Days of Christmas Special.
The Mayday Report has been a hot topic of conversation for the last year. In fact the Mayor and his council friends used it during the election to smear the reputation of Mark Piland, his opponent. We wondered, what is in the Mayday Report? We requested it several times through PIR’s and the city dragged its feet to respond each time.
We also were curious, how much did the city spend to do this “Investigation?” Remember, this is our tax-payer dollars at work! Well, the answer is $83,196.79! That is the number from the PIR we filed however we are guessing there could be more charges that we have not been told about.
So what did $83,196.79 get us? Well, you can read it for yourself as we are publishing it here. You can find the invoice for the investigation as well as the Full Mayday Report. In fact the first 23 pages are the most important, the rest is just appendix attachments. It’s amazing how many times they say insufficient/no evidence to each of the issues. It is a good thing that it is not a drinking game or we could miss Christmas.
What do you think of when you hear the word Human Resources? Are you one of those who thinks HR is your friend, and they are there to help you manage workplace misconduct and other issues? Maybe you fall on the other end of the spectrum and think HR is the hidden devil in the workplace and they are there to protect the company…not you. If you have ever seen the movie Up in The Air then you know Ryan Bingham, played by George Clooney, lives a life of constant travel and is a corporate downsizer. What is that? His job is to look at employees face-to-face and fire them delicately. In one scene he says “Natalie, what is it you think we do here?” Natalie replies, “We prepare the newly unemployed for the emotional and physical hurdles of job hunting while minimizing legal blow-back.” Ryan looks at her and says, “That’s what we’re selling. It’s not what we are doing. We are here to make limbo tolerable, to ferry wounded souls across the river of dread until the point where hope is dimly visible. And then stop the boat, shove them in the water, and make them swim.” Does any of their conversation sound like they are there for the employees, of course not!
After talking with several whistleblowers and reading the exit interview notes we filed a few PIRs, one specifically asked for information on the Job Descriptions and any complaints made regarding them being changed without approval. Interestingly we got back a document titled Case 64 – Hotline Web and it was titled “Falsification of Contracts Reports or Records.” We immediately knew Porter was on to something in his comments to Wes Pierson in the exit interview.
What was Case 64 about to unveil? Well, in the snapshot it says the call come in on 5/29/2023. The report goes on to identify the caller as an employee, who chose to remain anonymous. Under a section called “Case Information” it lists several questions the caller had to answer.
Question One: Please identify the person(s) engaged in this behavior: The caller identified HR Director, Lauren Safranek, HR Department, Lori Rutland, and Assistant Fire Chief, Lee Glover.
Question Two: Do you suspect or know that a supervisor or management is involved? The caller identified Deputy City Manager, Henry Hill.
Question Three: What is the general nature of this matter? The caller said HR Director, Lauren Safranek and Assistant Chief, Lee Glover have repeatedly altered documents to protect their personal job performance measurements and personal initiatives. Example of this include forcing employees to secretly alter job descriptions without notifying employees, deceptively altering policies without staff involvement, requiring employees to falsify signatures, taking actions to deliberately undermine employee grievance / complaint processes, and making slanderous statements of other Supervisors to facilitate personal gain.
Question Four: What do you estimate the monetary value of this matter to be? The caller said anywhere from $250,000 to $499,999 USD.
Question Five: Where did this incident or violation occur? The caller said FD Job Descriptions, FD Reports, Workers Compensation Policies, Termination Letters, Investigation involvement with a conflict of interest.
Question Six: Please provide the specific or approximate time this incident occurred? The caller said 2020 to 2023.
Question Seven: How did you become aware of this violation? The caller states they accidentally found a document or file.
Question Eight: Please identify any persons who have attempted to conceal this problem and the steps they took to conceal it. The caller states City Manager, Wes Pierson, Deputy City Manager, Henry Hill, HR Director Lauren Safranek, Assistant or Fire Chief Lee Glover, and HR Lori Rutland worked together to hide their various actions. It asked for details to which the caller said multiple staff and previous employees have been impacted by these actions and are aware they took place.
If you are anything like us our jaws dropped wide open, we could not believe what we were reading. We had to read it a few times and each time we asked why would an employee take a risk to make these accusations with the possibility they could be identified. This gave a new light to the Porter’s exit interview.
Then we noticed the report section titled “Assignments & Access” and it listed the case assignee(s) as none. Then it reads restricted access and lists Henry Hill. Then it has the case access list which names Hector Quiroga and Jacinta Shanks. It made us wonder what restricted access means. Was Henry Hill the only person with access or the only person restricted so he had no access to the complaint? If restricted access means no access, then why are Lauren Safranek, Lori Rutland, and Lee Glover also listed as well as they are named in the complaint?
There were no case notes, no synopsis, and no outcomes listed. Do you think they even investigated the claims made by the caller? Do you think this should have been reviewed by an independent third party since it involved city management? Remember in our blog about the ethics complaints the city attorney could not investigate as they are paid for by the city, to protect the city. Most of those in upper management have been there awhile and are probably too friendly with each other to be objective. The reality is these are very serious accusations and if true could leave the city open to potential lawsuits and if it happened the city should be firing several people from the top down.
We were determined to go through all the items now in our PIRs and start putting together a timeline from 2020 to 2023 to see what we could uncover. In our next blog we plan to lay out the timeline and our theory supported by evidence of what we believe happened. Our guess, you will be shocked!
Whistleblowers come in many forms. If we had to describe ours we would say they are like Twelve drummers drumming, eleven pipers piping, ten lords a-leaping, nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, five golden rings, four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree. Recently one of our six geese-a-laying tipped us off to another high-ranking Frisco FD fire fighter who gave notice to retire.
Jeromy Porter is a 27-year fire service veteran. Most recently he served as Deputy Chief with the Frisco Fire Department. In 1996, Porter joined the Lake Cities Fire Department where he spent most of his years and climbed the rank to Deputy Chief. We asked ourselves why would a man with man years left retire now? Then we saw an announcement in Star Local Media that Jeromy Porter was now the Assistant Fire Chief for The Little Elm Fire Department. That made us ask, why would a man retire then go another city? We wanted to know if he did an exit interview so asked some insiders at city hall who told us yes, he did. We filed a PIR with the city to obtain those records and when we received them, well we were not disappointed.
We received a copy of the City Manager, Wes Pierson’s handwritten notes from the exit interview. At the very top it is dated 9/27 and has his name and initials next to it. Wes writes JP doesn’t want to leave but his relationship with Fire Chief, Lee Glover is unsustainable. Then we note 3 bullet points down the page.
The first point is titled Job Description Issue (preferred vs required). Pierson notes Porter said the job descriptions were changed without approval. On the side Pierson writes When, How and Why and we are guessing those were his internal questions or notes to himself.
We had heard rumors that some shady stuff was happening in HR but we still were perplexed by Porters comments. We went back to some of those who had reached out to us earlier from inside the city to ask more specific questions and the responses were eye opening. It started us on a new quest of digging.
The second point is titled Lee Glover. Pierson writes that for over 9 years Lee Glover has constantly insulted him, belittled him, made jokes on his height. It also goes on to say Glover yelled and cussed at staff and that he would flex. We asked an insider what “Flex” might mean she told us that Glover would Flex like he was going to shove or hit someone to intimidate them. Pierson notes that Porter was concerned about leaving because Glover may retaliate and go after his son who is a 3 Year Firefighter with the City of Frisco.
Are we surprised by Porters claims? No! In a previous blog we told you about the City of Frisco, Fire Department Employee Climate Survey done in the fall of 2011. It noted in the survey that this was the FOURTH one done over the PAST 10 YEARS. Why would a city need to do so many climate surveys? The firefighters felt that unless Chief Mack Borchardt and his entire Senior Staff, which included (drum roll) Lee Glover were replaced with someone from the outside, there was no way to correct the issues. The report said from the top down they ruled with things like a temper, iron fist, and threats. In 2023, a recent survey was done by the Fire Fighters Association and over 200 fire fighters gave Glove a vote of no confidence, so not much has changed since 2011.
The third point only confirmed what we already reported that our new Fire Chief, Lee Glover, has an alcohol problem. Pierson writes 3. Drinking (only while traveling). He writes JP claims that Vetterick, Owen and others felt peer pressure to stay and “close the bar.” Based on the notes we are only assuming that Porter may have told then Fire Chief, Mark Piland about the incident because in Pierson’s notes it reads Piland (response). Then there is a star symbol and a note it last happened at inspection of tiller and names the 3 fire fighters. It is hard to read Pierson’s writing, but it looks like Gilliam, Odum and Dixon.
Here is what we find interesting about Porters exit interview with Pierson and his personal notes. When it comes to point 3, we know of a July 2022 complaint about Lee Glover on a “travel trip” to inspect fire trucks and the names of those involved are different that those written in the exit interview notes. So, it appears when we wrote about Groggy Lee Glovers behavior in a previous blog, we weren’t wrong! It is called a pattern of behavior.
In closing, we believe Jeromy Porter and that he is telling the truth in his comments. He is leaving and has no reason to lie and he left on a professional level. We sent an email to Porter however we have had no reply to our inquiry. What we are curious about is what did the City Manager, Wes Pierson do after this interview. Did he file the notes and act as if these issues don’t possibly exist? Did he start asking questions?
Stay Tuned to learn about Sassy Lauren Safraneks acts of possible Malfeasance!
When you say the 12 days of Christmas people immediately think of the song, but did you know there really is a period called the 12 Days of Christmas? According to vox.com The 12 days of Christmas is the period in Christian theology that marks the span between the birth of Christ and the coming of the Magi, the three wise men. It begins on December 25 and runs through January 6, also known as Three Kings Day. With the holidays around the corner, we thought we would share that little bit of info for fun.
Now we need to get back to ‘The 12 Days of MALFEASANCE!’ The Oxford Dictionary defines malfeasance as wrongdoing, especially by a public official. We dug a little further to see if there was more legal definition and we found the website for Cornell University, Legal Information Institute. Malfeasance is intentional conduct that is wrongful or unlawful, especially by officials or public employees. Regardless of how you define it, the word should not be thrown around loosely as it can easily destroy one’s reputation. We decided to write a song…
On the first day of Christmas
Our “Whistleblower” gave to thee
Notes from a recent FD employee exit interview.
On the second day of Christmas
The exit interview notes gave to thee
A lead that someone in HR forged documents and did not obtain updated new signatures.
On the third day of Christmas
The exit interview notes gave to thee
More tea on Mr. Lee…. Fire Chief, Lee Glover that is.
On the fourth day of Christmas
A PIR gave to thee
Copy of an HR hotline complaint regarding falsification of contracts, reports, or records.
On the fifth day of Christmas
A PIR gave to thee
A copy of the full Mayday Report.
On the sixth day of Christmas
A PIR gave to thee
A reply of no responsive records to our inquiry into a complaint against Fire Chief, Lee Glover
but wait, hold tight …let’s see.
On the seventh day of Christmas
A second filed PIR into the complaint gave to thee
The records we requested after we gave them one more chance to come clean.
On the eighth day of Christmas
The trail of details gave to thee
Malfeasance committed by public employees and officials throughout the city!
Every day we get emails, lots of emails! Some are from Whistleblowers and others are from those who say we are pieces of shXt for exposing the truth of what is happening in Frisco. The best one to date came from a man who is good friends with one of our sitting council members. He said that no one takes us seriously, people are laughing at us, and we are a bad joke. We laughed so hard because he was working overtime to make us think we don’t matter! I guess he thought he would hurt our feelings and it would make us stop uncovering the Shady Shit happening. News Flash…sticks and stones may break our bones, but your words will never hurt us.
Here is the thing, we do matter! Want to know how we know that? Well, it is simple. You are reading our page, you are thinking about us, you took precious time out of your life to focus on us, and you spent the time writing us an email. Another thing we should point out, we alerted the public to the glaring issues of John Keatings – KeatingForFrisco.com page it magically changed!
When we realized the next day his website changed we decided to scroll through and read the new content. First the picture of him and his wife that he cheat on is NOW GONE! We know Keating is narcissistic, loves himself and has an inflated idea of how good looking he believes he is, so we were not surprised to see he takes center stage on his new page.
The “About Me” section is interesting too! He claims to have worked on several of the important projects that brought some big-name businesses to town. One of them was the PGA Headquarters. To be clear, he voted yes for it, he went to the opening and took selfies, but did he help get it here? Mayor Cheney said during the vote that a very special thank you should be made to a local resident and father of two boys, David Ovard and to then councilman Will Sowell, who worked tirelessly on the PGA project. Funny, Cheney didn’t do a special shout out to Jammed-Up John Keating.
In fact there is a whole article in the DMN about Mr. Ovard and his push to get the Frisco PGA here and another article in D Magazine that talks about 3 Men, Blake Rowling (TRT Holdings), David Ovard (Frisco Resident) and Mark Harrison (Executive Director of the Northern Texas PGA), who scrambled to win the PGA Headquarters. None of the articles mentioned Jammed-Up John! As we said, Keating was there to vote Yes for the project, but I don’t think he did the behind the scenes work that brought the PGA Frisco here.
Next we noticed a picture of him and Mayor Cheney along with two woman wearing Fire Fighters Uniforms. We would have no issue with this if it was a social media post saying he participated in Citizens Fire Academy, but instead he used it as a political picture on his website. It gives you the impression he supports the Fire Department – which he does not! Next to the picture is verbiage about his goal to balance Frisco’s high level of amenities with low tax rates, talks about public-private partnerships, and corporate incentives. but he didn’t. The picture has nothing to do with the text on the page and clearly it was a rip off of what Mayor Cheney always talks about.
How do we know Jammed-Up John does not support the Fire Fighters and how do we know he is a LIAR? Let’s look at the Fire Fighters Association Candidate Survey he did in 2021 when he was running for re-election. It reads The National Fire Protection Assoc, recommends adequate safe staffing levels of a minimum of 4 fire fighters on all fire suppression apparatuses. It says he understands that the FD is currently maintaining staffing of 3 fire fighters on all fire suppression apparatuses. It says he understands that more citizens, increasing businesses and taller buildings require safe staffing levels. Lastly and most importantly, it says IF ELECTED TO THE OFFICE I WOULD SUPPORT REQUIRING A SAFE STAFFING LEVEL OF 4 FIRE FIGHTERS ON ALL FIRE SUPPRESSION APPARATUSES.Signed by John P. Keating April 27, 2021
Jammed-Up John went on to leave comments on the survey that said, “AT THIS TIME, I SUPPORT FOUR FIREFIGHTERS FOR ALL TRUCK COMPANIES. FRISCO IS ONE OF THE FASTEST GROWING CITIES IN AMERICA, AND WE HAVE TO PLAN ACCORDINGLY. WE HAVE TO BUDGET FOR A NEW 14-DAY PAY CYCLE, BENEFITS, FIRE STATION 10 (AND PERSONNEL AND EQUIPMENT), AS WELL AS ADDITIONAL FIRE FIGHTER PERSONNEL FOR ON ALL FIRE SUPPRESSION APPARATUSES, WHILE MAINTAINING OUR ISO-1 RATING.”
Jammed-Up John lied to the Fire Fighters Association to get an endorsement! As we have said before his ACTIONS don’t match his WORDS. Keating did not support Texas House Bill 471 which relates to the entitlement to and claims for benefits for certain first responders and other employees related to illness and injury. He has not tried to get the city to reverse its decision to fire Kraemer, an almost 30 year Veteran of the Frisco FD for running out of his medical leave, who recently won his workers comp case. He supported and shared comments by former City Manager, George Purefoy where he was calling the Fire Fighters self-serving, accused the FF of misrepresenting city staff and leadership, and saying they don’t have Frisco’s best interest at heart. HEY KEATING – DID YOU JUST CALL THEM OUT ON SOCIAL MEDIA FOR THE SAME THING YOU SAID YOU SUPPORTED ON THE 2021 CANDIDATE SURVEY? Who’s self-serving? Who’s misrepresenting the facts?
Jammed-Up John is proud of his military service which he displays on his website. He talks about the 13 years he spent in the Army, and it is captioned with a picture of him in his Army Camo. We thank you sir for your Service and we will always support our Veterans, but as we have said you are still accountable for your actions, choices and decisions. What if I was running for council and I wore your Army Uniform and talked about how I support public-private partnerships, low taxes and claim to have been a part of the team who brought the PGA here. Would you be offended if a non-service person wore your Army Uniform? Would you be offended if it was for a political ad that mislead folks? I don’t think the Fire Fighters want you to discredit their profession or uniform with your lies and naked body pictures, then turn around and wear their uniform in a political website ad.
Next up his page regarding “The Mission!” He talks about how he supports Public Safety, and he will fight to ensure the men and woman in uniform have the resources they need. Maury said the lie detector shows, “THAT’S A LIE!” Then he claims to support fiscal responsibility but goes on city trips that cost taxpayers thousands of dollars to look at parks, art installations and streets. Then he says he supports creating jobs standing next to the H-E-B Red Ribbon opening. Pretty sure H-E-B created the jobs and that all you did was Vote Yes at a city council meeting. He says he supports Accountability and Transparency, since when? Just look at his own website, he has not been transparent at all. We could go on, but we have already thrown up in our mouth twice so just visit his page and look for yourself.
In closing, the haters can say we are a joke, and no one is watching or reading our site, but we know they are from our own analytics. Oh, and because Jammed-Up John changed his website. He stopped lying to people that he was happily married Christian man and just started lying about how he supports public safety. Guess what is glaringly missing from his KeatingForFrisco website. You, me, the citizens! He never once mentions how he is here to help serve the citizens he represents.He never says how he is here to do what is best for Frisco Residents and Taxpayers. He proved that during the Universal Theme Park vote when he looked at a room full of residents worried about their homes and property values and said, sorry I didn’t make it out to speak to you before the vote tonight. With his vacation red lobster peeling skin he looked at them and said, I had this Rotator Cuff thing and had to have surgery and well needed a vacation. Yes, he went to the beach instead of listening to THOSE HE SERVES. Jammed-Up John is committed to one person and that is big boy Mayor Jeff Cheney, his democrat partner in crime Angelia Pelham and well…..HIMSELF! Oh, did we mention, Keating has his Texas Real Estate License now, guess he is following his buddy down the road of Real Estate.
The time leading up to an important election can seem more like a sports or entertainment show. You have journalists and pundits dissecting each candidate as far as their speech, appearance, or analyzing what they do right or wrong. In the end, the goal is to find the most authentic candidate that will represent you or be the Stateman or woman for your community. According to Cambridge, a statesman is a skilled, experienced, and respected political leader or figure, known for being versed in the principles of government and for displaying good judgment.
Recently, we came across The Art of Manliness which had published an article about the 4 Qualities of a True Stateman. The first quality is a bedrock of principles, which means a platform or a foundation of firm, unchanging, fundamental truths. These are things they believe to be the core of their being. The second is a moral compass, which is rooted in a sense of absolute right and absolute wrong. The third is vision. Statesmen must be able to see problems on the horizon and they must be able to come up with solutions that are good for both the short-term and long-term. Lastly is the ability to build a consensus which means they must enlist those they serve within in government to support their initiatives to achieve their vision.
We have long argued that John Keating does not meet the definition of a Stateman. What are his “Bedrock of Principles,” you know the foundation of what he believes to his core? We started at KeatingForFrisco.com where the landing page is a picture of Keating with his family. The same family he stepped out on in 2021 with another woman. Caught red handed, over a holiday weekend in a public community pool with Kristen Grammer in several compromising positions. Later they returned to her home in the community where he remained for a couple of hours. It is our understanding from friends who know the Keatings, that Ms. Keating was blindsided by her husband’s behavior, and they have since separated and they are working through the process that leads to divorce. His website however shows them happily married and implies everything is A-OKAY in Shaddock Creek Estates.
Then his page has a large blue banner that says “Public Safety is Job #1. It reads, provides our first responders with the equipment, training, and leadership they need to keep Frisco families safe.” If this is true, then how could he support City Manager, Wes Pierson when he hired Fire Chief, Lee Glover? At the time Glover had a 90+% no vote of confidence from over 210 firefighters and they made it clear to the council they did not want Glover as the next Fire Chief. How could he oppose House Bill 471 which protects first responders in Texas and how could he call Firefighters selfish on George Purfoy’s Facebook page? How could he support a leader who in a 2010/11 report was said to be toxic and the city needed to clean house of management in the department (referring to Mack Borchardt and Lee Glover)? How is Public Safety #1 when the President of the Frisco Fire Fighters Association in Jan 2023 stood before him at citizens’ input begging for the council to hire more staff and provide them resources to do their job? How can he support the city and how they have treated Cameron Kraemer a nearly 30-year Frisco Fire Fighter for the city when they fired him for running out of medical leave? He later won his worker’s comp case.
Keating is a Veteran of the Army which he makes very present on his page. We along with many others have complete respect for his service to our country. We are grateful for him and all the other veterans, but it does not excuse them from things. If you visit the Army website, they list their values. One is Integrity, to do what’s right legally and morally. Stepping out on his family does not display Integrity. Another is respect and the website says,” And self-respect is a vital ingredient with the Army value of respect, which results from knowing you have put forth your best effort.” We would say posting pics implying you were naked or using half naked photos flexing in a bathroom for social media or dating apps don’t show much self-respect, nor does it show respect for others who have to see it and can’t unsee it. Lastly your actions over and over don’t show respect for the citizens who voted for you to hold the position of Councilman Place 1 Again, his LACK OF JUDGEMENT as a leader is questionable.
In 2021 before the “pool party for two,” John Keating posted a few photos for a scavenger hunt to his social media page. In the first picture, he is holding a sign that reads “Get Naked” and it appears to be covering his groin area. Now, behind the sign he had boxers on which you can’t tell, but we question his judgment and the others in the picture. He is standing next to Mayor Cheney, First Lady Dana Cheney, and Councilman Bill Woodard, who appear to either be appalled or laughing at a 60-year-old man pretending to be naked. You are the LEADER or STATEMAN of FRISCO! Do you think this is how residents, who voted for you, want to see you? At the same event, you posted a video jokingly of the Mayor, First Lady, and Councilman Woodard tying up Angelia Pelham, our new councilwoman as they chant tie her to the tracks. In our opinion – NOT THE BEST JUDGEMENT!
Now after the “BIG Universal Announcement,” Keating heads out on a date, which is fine if he is separated from his wife. However, if he is not separated well then Houston we have a problem! Why is Keating choosing to show such a public display of affection at Grandscape, a place where there are families all around for the holidays? It is called, get a Room! Again, it is his JUDGEMENT or lack of that we are questioning. Take your date to Addison, downtown Grapevine, or somewhere in this large metroplex – other than your own backyard to show some respect to your family, to your constituents, and the families around you.
Mr. Keating, what you display via your website and the truth are very different. The fact that you continually display questionable or bad judgment, then want to ask voters to again come out to the polls to re-elect you as one of our Statesmen for this city is ridiculous. One thing is clear, you think very highly of yourself because you are continually without clothes or in compromising positions. It is great that you are in good shape, fit, and healthy but that does not mean you should post text, or tweet photos of yourself that should probably be on your Only Fans page. Last we checked you are 60+ years old, so PUT SOME CLOTHES ON AND ASK YOUR DATES TO PUT SOME CLOTHES ON. You have a choice to make, be a Statesman for Frisco or be a Baller aka Player, and move out of office and into your PRIVATE LIFE. As of now you consistently show LACK OF JUDGEMENT AND BAD DECISIONS… ONE AFTER ANOTHER. Whatever you decide, if you want to remain a leader in this city then ACT LIKE IT. We deserve better!
Bond, Frisco Bond! Yes, we took a line from James Bond aka 007! Sean Connery, who played James Bond in 1962, was the first to deliver this iconic phrase that would be repeated in several of the 007 movies. One thing is certain, none of the Bonds following Connery delivered the phrase with the same magic as he did the first time around.Connery was my favorite Bond, and he starred in seven of the films from 1962 to 1983. If you are a Bond fan then you know not to mess with a Bond, even a Frisco Bond! After digging into the Battle of the Benjamins (Budgets) we decided to take a deep dive into the Frisco Bonds put before citizens. We made “A Martini. Shaken, Not Stirred” as Bond said in Goldfinger in 1964, and started researching. Now it is time for you to grab some popcorn and watch Frisco Bond unfold!
What if we told you that since 2006, residents have been asked to approve a whopping total of $1,285,225,000 in bond propositions? Would that get your attention? Many don’t understand bond elections so first we wanted to answer the simple question of what is a bond. Simply put, bonds are loans governments or government agencies use to fund day-to-day obligations and to finance capital projects such as buildings, city parks, and/or future developments. Most cities pass General Obligation Bonds which are backed by the “full faith and credit” of the issuer (aka city) which has the power to tax residents to pay bondholders.
Now ask yourself, out of general election bonds residents have been asked to vote for since 2006, how many were issued? What capital improvement projects were completed? How was the money used? When we heard about the 2023 bond we started to follow the progress. There was a big debate about having an animal shelter on the bond. To be honest, we thought the city already had one, so we were surprised to learn the city outsources it to Collin County.
We watched a YouTube video by Be The Change with Jesse Ringness where the council and city leaders discussed the animal shelter and 2023 bond. It is hard to hear everything but from what we can tell Mayor Cheney started to lament which he does often and for a long time (29:36 mark). He said, we have never put anything on the bond that was not supported by the staff or that we didn’t think would pass. Then he mentions it feels like a disingenuous proposal and that it is more of an item used for postcard election votes, which he would know about. Then he suggests that the bond committee consider putting that request or $5 million into the city facilities request instead. This way if the city determines it needs an animal shelter down the road the money is there for a “city facility” otherwise they have the money to use towards another project.
Then he proceeds to ask, what are we actually putting on the ballot? Are you putting $5 million on the ballot to somehow seek citizen approval? And if it happens, which I would expect it to, because right now, everything we have put on the ballot in Frisco has passed becausewe have a lot of public trust. Citizens know when they see a ballot for a bond election, it is only for items the city needs, we know it has been fully vetted, we know that staff fully supports it, and we know Frisco needs it.
Mayor Cheney’s statements left us with some questions. We were curious, if the city will only put items on the bond supported by staff then why have a citizen’s bond committee? If we look at past bonds would we find all the items brought to the ballot were VETTED or something we know FRISCO NEEDS? It is time to jump out of the plane and find out!
We went back to 2006 to look at the 12 Propositions approved by voters for a whopping $198 million dollars. We found two articles with conflicting information. The first was a Dallas Morning News article in January 2015 that reported that $33 million of 2006 bonds had not yet been issued. Just 4 months later, in May 2015, Community Impact reported that “$22.5 million in authorized bond funds remain.”
Confused, we went digging and searched city records where we found that at the June 2006 Frisco City Council meeting they authorized the sale of $143,560,000 million from the 2006 bond election. The ordinance states it is for road improvements, constructing, improving, and equipping public safety facilities consisting of the fire department facilities, parking for the police headquarters building, public safety training facility, acquisition and installation of warning sirens, fire trucks, and equipment, and the acquisition of land and interest in land for such projects (Public Safety Facilities), constructing and improving parks, trails and recreational facilities, and the land acquisition of “Park Projects.” Might be easier to look at this Voted Bond Authorization photo below from the June 6, 2016, council meeting agenda package. We will reference it later.
Confused, we decided to break it down by some of the big projects. Bond loves to make a grand entrance so let’s start with Grand Park. In 2006 voters approved $22.5 million dollars for Grand Park, then in 2015, they approved another $10 million dollars for Grand Park for a total of $32.5 million dollars. In the 2019 bond election, Parks, Trails, and Facilities asked for $53.5 million, and in the 2023 bond election $43 million. Neither the 2019 nor 2023 bond election state that any of the money will be used for Grand Park as they left it more generic.
In an article discussing the 2015 bond the DMN noted that the $10 million being asked in the 2015 Bond would be combined with the $10 million in bonds approved by voters in 2006 for PHASE ONE near the DNT and Cotton Gin Road. If you reference the 2006 bond photo you will see voters approved $22.5 million for the Grand Park Acquisition and Initial Development. Out of that amount, $12 million of those bonds were issued and we are curious what for? Work was delayed for years in Grand Park due to the Exide Technologies battery plant contamination. Dallas Morning News reported in June 2013 that a report listed various problems documented over the years with contamination to Stewart Creek which runs right through the future Grand Park. So, why did the city issue $12 million of the bonds, what was it used for?
In 2021 CBS News 11 ran a story that Frisco’s Grand Park is no longer an “Urban Legend” as the city can finally finish the Exide cleanup. The story notes that City officials said the cleanup process could take another five to seven years to complete but the city has funding and, for the first time, the control to do it. CBS quoted Mayor Cheney, “This park will actually be bigger than Central Park in New York.” However, while it all sounds like a grand idea, after years of talk and no development, Cheney understands why many residents have become skeptical. Mayor Cheney said he hopes the city can put a shovel in the ground to start Grand Park by the end of the year. According to Community Impact, Big Bluestem Trail was finally ready for its public debut on November 19, 2022. City officials held an inaugural trail walk and Shannon Coates, Parks Director said “This is PHASE ONE of a multiyear development.” I wonder if they mean the Phase One they talked about in 2006/2015.
Well, if the 2006 bond was for PHASE 1 and we just completed Phase 1 in 2022 as Shannon Coates implied, then why did the city sell the bonds back in June 2006? Why would you ask citizens to vote for something that the city could not put a shovel in the ground for until 15 years later? The $12 Million issued by the city is that we paid for a contaminated future park. Did they use it to clean up Exide, if they did, voters should know that the money they voted for did not go to the park but to the clean-up of another issue that ultimately affected the park. Mayor Cheney, when the city asked residents in 2006 and 2015 to Vote Yes for the Grand Park propositions – WERE THEY FULLY VETTED AND SUPPORTED BY CITY STAFF? It sure does not sound like a plan was in place, maybe a dream, but definitely no fully vetted plan.
Next up is a place for Bond to park his sexy roadsters. In the 2015 Election Bond, Frisco asked citizens for $1.5 Million for a Police Department parking garage. A DMN article from January 2015, it noted the money would be combined with $1.5 Million from a previous bond election to fund the parking structure for police vehicles. Remember above, in June 2006 the council approved the sale of $143,560,000 million from the 2006 bond election. One of the items the ordinance stated it was for was parking for the police headquarters building.
Then, according to Community Impact in 2015, the city sold $59.8 million worth of bonds, the first from the $267.825 million from the voted approved bonds in the 2015 election. It noted the bonds sold would go to several items, one being the parking structure for the police facility.
Then in 2023, Frisco asked voters again for a parking garage for the Police Department. That means 3 times voters have been asked for a parking garage. Guess what? As of today, WE HAVE NO PARKING STRUCTURE! So again, we ask Mayor Cheney was this project FULLY VETTED?Was there a plan supported by staff? If yes, then why did we not build it after issuing the bonds back in 2006 and 2015, when it probably would have cost less? We all know that after the Pandemic, costs for construction have skyrocketed. Now we will be paying more for the parking garage that they approved the bond sale for back in 2006 & 2015.
Bond 007 likes a good Rembrandt, so let’s look at the Arts! In the 2006 bond election, the city asked for $5 Million. According to a Community Impact Article from January 2015, in 2006 voters approved $5 million and about $1 million contributed to the creation of the Frisco Discovery Center, which houses the Black Box Theater and art gallery. That is confirmed in the 2006 Bond photo above.
Then in 2015, bond committee member Tammy Meinershagen (currently a councilwoman) was pushing for $20 Million for the arts. The city ended up asking voters for $10 Million after a lengthy debate. The committee began discussing the performing arts center proposal because 6 out of 17 committee members did not recommend any money for the project.
Some members said a bond proposal for an arts facility should wait until a more specific plan, such as the square footage of the facility or the number of seats, is laid out. These members said they are not against an arts facility in Frisco but rather think the project can wait for a year or two. Tammy Meinershagen, the committee member who proposed $20 million for an arts facility, said she would like to provide specifics for a project, but she doesn’t want to wait to get the project started.
Purefoy said part of the reason city staff recommended $10 million for an arts center for this bond election is that the addition of the $4 million left over from the 2006 bond election, would bring the total close to the 2006 recommendation. The plot thickens, CITY STAFF RECOMMENDED? So the city staff supported and recommended money be put in front of voters that did not have a specific plan such as size, number of seats, location, etc.? Mayor Cheney, why did you allow or support $10 million to go through when the PROJECT WAS NOT FULLY VETTED?
Well, where is the $14 million today? As far as I can see we still have NO CULTURAL ARTS THEATER! Go figure! That is probably for the best since the Dallas Museum of Art just announced in October 2023 that they have executed a set of cutbacks including layoffs and reductions in hours they are open to the public.
Bond is known to scale a wall a time or two so let’s dive in the Fire Department (aka Public Safety). In the 2006 Bond, voters approved $20 Million for Fire Stations and Equipment. Then in the following bonds, they put Police and Fire together and called it Public Safety. So, in the 2015 Bond Election voters approved $41.5 Million, in 2019 voters approved $62.5 Million, and in 2023 voters approved $131.4 Million for Public Safety. Where did all the money go?
A June 2012 DMN Frisco Roundup reported that the Frisco City Council authorized staff to start the process of issuing $5.5 million in general obligation bonds from 2006 for fire engines, an ambulance, and other fire equipment to replace aging equipment. Then in July of 2013, the Dallas Morning News reported that the City Council approved issuing $20 million in general obligation bonds from the 2006 bond election for capital projects. The first $8 Million would be spent on Fire Station 8, the remaining $12 million would be spent on road projects.
If the 2006 bond was for Fire Station 8 as reported by the DMN, then that means the 2 new stations proposed by the bond committee in 2014 for the 2015 bond election would be for Station 9 and Station 10. On the citizens bond presentation on page 543, it says, “addition of 2 Fire Stations including new fire apparatus supporting those stations.”
WHERE IS FIRE STATION 10? There is NO FIRE STATION 10 which should be located near the new PGA. So, even though we are building the PGA Frisco, The Link, and Fields with multi-million-dollar homes as of today we have no fire station to support that. Why would a city allow developers to build out an area without first providing it services?
In 2019, voters passed another bond election for a total of $345 Million. Public Safety made up $62.5 Million of that. The pretty city flyer states that it is for Fire Station #11 and vehicles /equipment, a Public Safety Training Center (Phase 2), and a Police HQ remodel as stated in the city flyer. Guess what, as of today there IS NO FIRE STATION 11! Do you see the pattern?
Now in 2023, the voters passed another bond for $473.4 Million. Out of that total $131.4 Million were for Public Safety, Facilities, and Equipment. The 2023 Bond Flyer said the money was for Fire Station #11, Remodel Fire Station #4, and Fire Fleet Services Building. WAIT – DID YOU CATCH THAT? PLOT TWIST… Why are citizens being asked to PAY for Fire Station #11 TWICE? Remember in the 2019 Bond Election that money was for Fire Station 11 and the vehicles/equipment it needed. WHY ARE CITIZENS PAYING FOR IT TWICE?
What is the point of us looking into the Bond Elections? As we stated earlier, since 2006 voters have been asked to approve a whopping total of $1,285,225,000 in bond propositions. Most of us check our home accounts weekly and balance our budgets to know where our money is going so why not watch what the city is doing with our money? As Cheney said, whatever we put out in front of voters they will approve because they trust us. Should we trust them? His excuse for not wanting an animal shelter was there was no plan but it appears there were not a lot of plans for many of the items they asked for over the years. We still have no PD parking garage, no cultural arts facility or larger theater, no new FD fire stations, and we could go on. As TAXPAYERS, you should be asking yourself WHERE IS THE MONEY? HAVE THEY SOLD THE BONDS? HAVE WE PUT TO MUCH TRUST IN OUR CITY WITH NO OVERSIGHT? HOW MANY TIMES ARE WE GOING TO BE ASKED TO PAY FOR THE SAME PROJECTS?
Every Wednesday, my wife and I sit down to eat dinner in front of the TV so she can see her Chicago Fire and Chicago PD. In one episode they have the Battle of the Badges Boxing Match, and my wife went crazy for the young studs with no shirts on. The Battle of the Badges is a tradition across the country and is considered a friendly rivalry between these two public safety departments. Frisco PD & Fire held one back on July 21& 22 of this year The two departments duked it out to raise blood donations for Carter Blood Care and the trophy was awarded to the Fire Department at an August 2023 city council meeting.
Just like the Battle of the Badges these two public safety departments also duke it out for the Battle of the Benjamins (aka money) every year during the annual city budget meetings. Just recently at the October 17, 2023 council meeting under the Regular Agenda, item #35 to put Civil Service Law and item #36 to adopt the Fire & Police Employee Relations Act on the May 2024 election ballot. What we found interesting was Mayor Cheney’s response which can be seen in the council meeting recording at the 37:59 mark where we feel he berates the Frisco Fire Association for having the audacity to seek Civil Service and Collective Bargaining.
Cheney said, “Since 2004, the City of Frisco has had Public Health and Safety listed as a strategic focus area and we invest in this focused area heavily. For example, in Frisco’s FY2023 a total of $108,000,000 of the total $229,000,000 general fund budget was committed to public safety for personnel and equipment, surpassing spending on other essential services combined. Additionally, the city has previously approved substantial funding for public safety facilities and equipment through bond programs. As your elected officials, we take great pride in making public safety our number one priority, and we stand committed to educating the public over the coming months, regarding this ballot measure.”
For once we agree with the city on one key thing which is Public Safety should be any city’s number one priority. Mayor Cheney’s reference to the budget made us curious, what is the budget for public safety? What is the breakdown of the $$Benjamin’s$$ (aka money) between PD and FD. Anyone following Frisco Chronicles knows we don’t approve of how the city is managing the two “number one priority” departments so now we wanted to look at the budgets to see if Mayor Cheney and the city really are committed. What we found is the breakdown is far from equal.
For FY23 the Police Dept. is $56.3 million compared to the Fire Department Budget at $52.4 million. Besides equipment the PD budget includes a Grants Administrator, Police Quartermaster, Training Officer, 10 Patrol Officers, 4 School Resource Officers, 1 School Resource Sergeant, and a Detective for a total of 19 new hires, 16 of which appear to be operations and 3 in the office. However, the total number of new hires for the Fire Department is just 4! That’s right 19 for PD and only 4 for FD and none of the staff positions are for actual firefighters. Instead, the FD budget includes an Open Records Coordinator, a Public Safety Equipment Tech, an Emergency Management Analyst, and an Explorer Trainee. Surely we are MISSING SOMETHING HERE, only 4? No field positions, no actual firefighters?
We decided to look ahead to the FY2024 approved budget. The Police Department has a budget of 69.4 million, an increase of 14% and it includes 32 NEW PD POSITIONS. Compare that to the Fire Department with a budget of 55.7 million, an increase of 4%, and includes 3 NEW FIRE POSITIONS which are for a K-9 Handler/Investigator and 2 Fire Inspectors. The city budget even notes under Fire, “when compared to the FY23 revised budget, remains relatively flat.”That means our new Fire Chief, Lee Glover has asked for no increase in firefighters in a city with a growing monthly population due to the urban density our council likes to approve. I am not a genius but even I know growth equals a need for more public safety services in both departments and clearly the city is NOT SUPPORTING STAFFING IMPROVEMENTS in the Fire Department.
Completely perplexed, we decided to go back to the FY2022 budget and take a look at it for shits & giggles. The police budget in 2022 was 51.3 million compared to the fire department at 44.9 million. The PD was requesting 17 NEW personnel while then Fire Chief Mark Piland asked for 10 NEW Personnel and 9 of those positions were for FIREFIGHTERS.
In the City of Frisco’s FY22 Proposed Budget video at the 2:50 mark, King George Purefoy said “We estimate that in about two to three years that Fire Station 10 will be built and go into operation. There are usually somewhere between 24 to new firefighters that are needed for a new station. As you can imagine that takes a tremendous amount of funds to do that all at once, so one thought was to start hiring some of these firefighters now, they’re needed to help the current operations, and try to do that the next two budget years to hopefully provide the staff we need to, for the new fire station ten.”
That may have been what King George thought, but it was not the original thought or request by Chief Mark Piland. Records show he had originally asked for each of the 3 truck companies that responded to high-rise and high-risk structure fires adding to the number of firefighters that would be available for these types of incidents. That request didn’t happen either!
At a city council meeting on January 17, 2023, Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Angelia Pelham asked Anita Cothran, Chief Financial Officer for the city (at the 17:43 mark), about Fire Department staffing which seemed out of the ordinary and a little random. Pelham mentioned at a previous city council meeting they talked about FD staffing and how she is aware the city was not approved for a specific grant that would have enable them to hire more staff, she was curious if something was planned in future discussions. Cothran replied yes that is something they would discuss with the city manager’s office and then with budget and audit committee. Pelham then asked if there was a specific time for that to happen and that is when City Manager, Wes Pierson spoke up.
Pierson said “The answer is yes, but there’s no specific time, that conversation can be ongoing. But currently, the budget, as approved, has enough staffing for the level of service that we’re providing currently. He then noted he believed the conversations of new staffing were in relation to opening a new fire station and were not there yet as Fire Station 10 was delayed a bit, but we’re preparing for that.” Delayed? A little bit? The city asked for Fire Station 10 in the 2015 Bond and Station 11 in the 2019 Bond, yet we don’t have either of them. Seems a little longer than “a little bit” Mr. Pierson.
The question we have, was Pelham’s question random? The answer is no! How do we know this? Well, at every council meeting if you are a citizen and want to speak you can do at citizen’s input. You must fill out a blue card stating why you want to speak and hand it to the City Secretary, Kristy Morrow. She then hands those cards to Angelia Pelham who is responsible for calling the citizens one by one down to the podium during citizens’ input. At the January 17th meeting, Angelia Pelham saw a card from Matthew Sapp, President of the Frisco Firefighters Association that stated he was there to talk about “STAFFING!” Her goal was to preempt Sapps statements and after hearing his statement below you will see her question was very target based on what Sapp was going to speak about. Talk about sneaky and underhanded!
It makes sense why FFA President Matthew Sapp took to the podium during citizen’s input at the January meeting. Sapp read a statement, “This is the third time I have asked this question since the public hearing for the FY23 budget in August 2022…I’ve asked this question to you, the City Manager, and the Interim Fire Chief Lee Glover. We’ve yet to get a clear answer from anyone. I know the Interim Fire Chief has stated he has no plans on asking for staffing. They feel we’re appropriately staffed…we applied for a safer grant for 15 firefighters this year, which we failed to get. No one can honestly say we don’t need more firefighters… The FY22 budget states we would be hiring 9 firefighters a year for the next three years…this was said to be in preparation for the future Station 10. The majority of this council approved of that budget. This has now been pushed back due to infrastructure reasons, and therefore, the staffing plan is on hold. This year’s budget for FY23, which was unanimously approved, contains 19 police officer positions and added zero firefighters… Now, there’s no plan for this fiscal year.”
After digging into the budgets and seeing the glaring lack of personnel additions to the fire department in several years you have a lightbulb moment. Now one can understand why the Fire Firefighters Association is upset and has petitioned for Civil Service and Collective Bargaining. They truly believe they “need a seat at the table” to fight for their safety and the citizen’s safety. It is clear in 2022 Interim Fire Chief Lee Glover didn’t believe we needed additional staff and therefore did not ask for it in the FY2023 budget talks. In 2023 as the New Fire Chief, Glover also didn’t ask for more staff in the FY2024 budget talks.
Fast forward to August 7, 2023, in a video posted on the City of Frisco’s Facebook page, Fire Chief Lee Glover states, “We have a five-year staffing plan and a five-year plan ahead of us. We’re looking at building Station 10 starting in the fall of this year. We have been given permission by the council to start the drawings with an architect for Station 11.” Based on what Sapp said at citizen’s input about it taking 18 months to train a firefighter, you should have started hiring a few years ago if you had a five-year plan. Why has the city not published this five-year plan since they know the issue of the FD personnel is a hot-button issue? I am not sure if anyone else has noticed besides me – FRISCO HAS BEEN AND IS CURRENTLY GROWING NOW! We need to plan for NOW! You have The Preserve @ Fields where homes will range up to 15 million by the PGA are we disclosing to all those home buyers they have no Frisco Fire Station to support their community and may not for another 5 years?
Final Thoughts, well I know some of the city champions will say then Fire Chief Mark Piland didn’t do anything for hiring, but he did. In private meetings with then and now city managers he spoke up for his department repeatedly. He also went as far as to apply for the city manager’s position and then ran for mayor and we believe Piland saw how the city was operating and recognized things had to change for the safety of the city employees and citizens. It appears to us that all this “progress in motion” was in place long before Glover engineered his way into the Fire Chief position. Station 10 & 11 were both approved in previous bonds as we stated earlier and then Fire Chief, Mark Piland. Chief Glover wants to take credit for a successful department while he deconstructs life-saving programs implemented Piland and his Leadership staff. The most important thing to ask yourself is how many more firefighters will get hurt under Lee Glover’s leadership before people take notice we are heading in the wrong direction. Lastly, ask how many have already been hurt under Glover’s leadership?
Now we are left curious about the bond programs and what we citizens have been asked to vote for. Stay tuned!
Local residents near Frisco Springs took to the city council meeting tonight to speak at citizen input regarding the new Ridgeview West Memorial Park Crematory that is currently under construction. We give them props for wanting to be heard and they probably assumed that the council gives 2 shXts about their concerns. However they quickly learned … THEY DON’T!
Texas Open Meeting Act notes that “citizen participation” period, also known as “public comment,” is a time slot set aside on the agenda for citizens to address the council on any subject not on the evenings agenda. Councils can limit the length of time any one citizen may speak based on the number of people signed up to speak. Because public comment is about items “NOT ON THE AGENDA” the governmental body MAY NOT DELIBERATE on any item that is not on the agenda. What can the governmental body do? They can (1) make a statement of fact regarding the item; (2) make a statement concerning the policy regarding the item; or (3) propose that the item be placed on a future agenda.
As usual the city council continues to break the rules and violate the law by commenting and engaging in ongoing dialogue at citizens input. Tonight they even went as far as preparing a full presentation to “school” the residents on the history of this land. Just so you know, that is there way of saying we are smarter than you! Again, this is not an agenda item so no presentation by the city should have been done, prepared or presented on a NON-AGENDA ITEM. After doing their dog and pony show for 10 minutes, they told tax paying concerned residents you only get 3 minutes to speak instead of 5 minutes. Why? Well Frisco Springs – they don’t care about you. Just like they don’t care about Cobb Hill or Rockhill Residents. Mayor Jeff Cheney has no worries because his current home overlooks the Cottonwood Creek Greenbelt and his PGA lot is a ESPN lot that overlooks the golf course.
What do Crematories do? Well according to the TCEQ they can cremate human remains, embryonic and fetal tissue remains (including umbilical cords, placentas, gestational sacs, blood or bodily fluids from the same pregnancy and appropriate containers. Crematoriums have to register so we found Ridgeview West Memorial Park on the entity search tool. You can also find out the State of Texas Health and Safety Code for Crematories here.
According to a study done by the University of Texas Health Science Center they found that close proximity to sources of mercury releases were associated with increases in learning disabilities and autism. According to the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health asked the question, Do crematories emit harmful pollutants of public health concern? Cremation is a combustion process whereby a casket and human remains (or animal remains in pet crematoria) are incinerated at a high temperature in a closed chamber. Types of emissions include:
Organic pollutants: Compounds resulting from incomplete combustion processes or formed when organic compounds react with chlorine in materials such as plastics. These pollutants can include polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) amongst others;
Heavy metals: Mercury (Hg) arising from volatilization of Hg in dental amalgam in fillings and a small quantity of various metals in tissues of the individual, or personal memorial items included in the casket.
Do residents of Frisco Springs have the right to be concerned? Yes, of course! Even though me and the old lady plan to get cremated when we pass we had never considered the affects of that. Here is our question, the city has spent millions cleaning up the shXt from Exide near downtown so why would they not want to fight this with the residents. The land is valuable and I am sure the city could buy it and put something useful there. Heck, maybe they could make the animal people happy and put a shelter or adoption center there to help out CCAS. Do a survey of Frisco Springs Residents and ask if they would prefer (A) a crematorium that burns up dead bodies and other nasty crap or (B) a dog park or animal adoption center? My guess is they don’t want to “SEE DEAD PEOPLE!”
What is the Public Information Act and what is a Public Information Request? Well, we told you all about the act in our previous blog which you can read by clicking here PIR’s. We continue to file PIR’s and we continue to wait and we are left questioning how the City of Frisco determines the cost for certain PIR’s and what qualifications must be met for a PIR to be sent to the Attorney General.
For example, I filed a PIR requesting the following: “We would like any emails regarding the flooding that took place on 7/3/23 near 2XXX 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?” The response was we have sent this to AG for a ruling.
WHY WOULD THE CITY SEND A SIMPLE REQUEST LIKE THIS TO THE TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL? Is the city going to try and say how we build streets is confidential? How a sewer system operates is considered confidential? What could they possibly claim should be confidential? We are just guessing but it is our opinion and our opinion only (we have no concrete proof since they have sent it to the AG) that the city drain was clogged causing a backup that flooded a resident’s home. Either way, we will wait it out with the city to see what the AG has to say.
Second example, I went head-to-head with Mr. Bobblehead Bill Woodard and my wife filed a PIR requesting the following information he discussed on line and presented the city with images of his exact comments. We asked for the email and documentation that supported his claims and we got back a letter that it will cost $90.00. What in the heck are they doing that costs $90.00 because Bill is quoted on Facebook as saying just email him and he will send it to you. So how does something Bill is willing to email out for free and the backup documentation to support it cost $90.00?
Then my wife did another request asking for the last 5 years of emergency call logs for Fire Squad. Guess what, they didn’t send it to the AG but they do want $100.80 for the information. That surprises us because in their CAD system or 911 system that should be easy to pull and save in a PDF. Is there something they don’t want us to know? Will the numbers match the numbers Bobblehead Bill put online recently? Maybe just maybe we catch him in one of those FIBS! WHAT COSTS $100????
Third example, I filed a PIR for the expense reports and all expenses related to the Tulsa Southern Hills PGA trip that several city members went on and I am being told some of it is confidential and only available for INSPECTION AT CITY HALL. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE CONFIDENTIAL ABOUT EXPENSES REPORTS? WE HAVE ALWAYS RECEIVED THEM NO ISSUE SO WHY NOW IS SOMETHING CONFIDENTIAL AND ONLY AVAILABLE FOR INSPECTION AT THE CITY?
Last example is we filed a PIR for information on the Nepotism Policy because we were curious why the city change it 2 times in less than 4 months. They provided us a few documents and sent the rest to the Texas Attorney General. WHAT COULD BE CONFIDENTIAL ABOUT THE NEPOTISM POLICY THAT IS IN THE CITY CHARTER AND ONLINE? What could Sassy Safranek in HR our the city claim is confidential about a policy that determines how city employees operate.
The Texas Public Information Act assures that government entities give citizens access to information about what the public servants are doing on their behalf. It is a way for citizens to hold their public officials accountable. It is our opinion that the city is trying to keep us from public information by continually sending it to the AG and by charging asinine prices for it. THEY DON’T WANT TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE!!!
I guess the BEST CITY IN THE WORLD does not have an IT department that can do a simple network search of emails and documents. Maybe it is because many of these folks use their personal email accounts to keep things away from the public. Either way we will pay for the PIR’s and we will get our information. I can assure you we have filed PIR’s with other cities and within a few days received a response and paid $10 to $15 for a whole lot of information. Just Frisco – only Frisco seems to take 10 years and PIRs cost as much as Mayor Jeff Cheney’s self driving tesla or fancy house. Ask yourself, should 2 PIR’s cost $190.00+?
Bill starts off by saying let’s get some facts straight and WE AGREE Bill – let’s get some facts straight!
Woodard claims: The blood transfusion program isn’t going away. In fact, it’s expanding with properly trained personnel. First, are you saying the personnel you have today are not properly trained? As of right now, the Squad Program is a highly technical advanced EMS critical care program and also provides additional manpower to critical incidents and structure fires and is also capable of doing blood transfusions.
Woodard claims: We use data to analyze the best use of resources. Right now, the squad sits almost all the time. We would love to see the metrics Bobblehead Bill is relying on to show its idol “almost all of the time.” We reached out to our sources, and they have in fact said that Squad is one of the busiest apparatuses in the FD. So, show us your data and metrics that you analyzed please to prove Squad sits idle. Yes as of today we filed a PIR for those metrics so we will soon have data from the city unless they again try to send it to the AG in hopes of delaying us more open records.
Woodard claims: Staffing is being divided up and assigned to the BC (Battalion Chief) 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. However, Bill, our sources have also confirmed that they will not be in service because the lieutenant on the squad is being turned into a captain / safety / FIT / drone pilot / chauffer for the BC’s. The squad vehicles will not be in service, and no personnel will be assigned to them. I wonder when the taxpayers paid for those specialized vehicles for us to not use them now. Well, we know the city doesn’t care what taxpayers are floating for things just look at all the trips they take! More importantly, according to the department policies an officer cannot be the acting paramedic on a fire apparatus. Is Bobblehead Bill trying to say that an officer or Battalion Chief is going to be better than a highly trained medic at giving blood?
Woodard claims: 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. Hold up Bobblehead…do you have a written agreement with a blood bank/hospital that they are going to guarantee enough blood for us to put on every ambo at a minute’s notice? Also, how much will the training of everyone cost on those pieces of equipment and is that best use of tax dollars versus having a highly specialized Squad? We would love for Bill, Chief Lee Glover, or the city to show us the proof that this will be rolled out in every ambo in 2024. We would also love for them to show us how they plan to fund the expansion, the additional training of personnel, etc. According to our sources every Ambo will have warmers but not blood! Mr. Woodard said there was 13 calls for blood in 2023. It seems the FD Squad units did their job then just fine, so does 13 mean we should expand it to every single ambo? HERE IS THE QUESTION FOR RESIDENTS: Do you want the medic who maybe does the procedure once or twice every 3 years doing your blood transfusion? Do you want a highly skilled team who does it up to 13 times in one year to do the procedure? As Homer Simpson would say, DUH!
Woodard claims: There is a 12-page contract that he is happy to share with anyone who emails him (so we will be doing that as well as we already placed a PIR request 15 min ago for it). He then posted the “RELEVANT SECTION OF THE AGREEMENT” that he claims stands as proof that the Hospital will supply blood for the expansion. We just filed a PIR for the contract unless he wants to email it to us for free as he said he would. Our email Mr. Woodard is FriscoWhistleBlower@protonmail.com but we won’t get our hopes up you would send it.
The image reads, “Upon request by the City. Hospital shall supply to the City the Blood Products from time to time. in such quantities and types as maybe requested by the City; provided. however that due to the unpredictable nature of the demands for the Blood Products, Hospital cannot and will not guarantee the City the availability of all or any portion of the Blood Products to be supplied hereunder. Hospital does agree. however. that it will use its best efforts to supply all Blood Products ordered by the City in an expeditious fashion to the extent the Blood Products are available to the Hospital. Hospital has no reason to believe that in the absence of special circumstances it will be unable to provide any and all Blood Products required by the City during an emergency.
Well, we have a few questions about the image and wording of Woodard’s so-called proof he published. Let’s take a moment to point out the incorrect punctuation throughout the paragraph and the incorrect written sentences. For example, Upon request by the City. Hospital shall supply to the City the Blood Products from time to time. in such quantities and types as maybe requested by the City; If that is proof who the heck wrote it? Also, what does “TIME TO TIME” mean Mr. Woodard? Is it all the time? Is time to time on every ambo? What does it mean when it says, in quantities and types, “AS MAYBE REQUESTED BY THE CITY? You can say you’re expanding it but just not request the blood to actually have it on hand? It mentions the hospital CAN NOT GUARANTEE AVAILABILITY DUE TO THE UNPREDICTABLE NATURE OF THE DEMANDS FOR THE BLOOD BUT IT WILL USE BEST EFFORTS. That does not sound like a guarantee Bobblehead Bill that you will have this on every ambo in 2024 and why pay for additional training if we may not be able to get it? Lastly, it reads the hospital has no reason to believe that in the ABSENCE OF SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES it will be unable to provide any and all Blood Products required by the city during an emergency. Was COVID special circumstances? No one expected the world to shut down the last few years, but it did, is that a special circumstance? Mr. Woodard, this so-called image you posted first looks fake, second is not a guarantee as you said in your statements that it will be available for every ambo, and it is not dated so how do we know if this is a current or previous agreement signed by the city? You really expect citizens to be stupid don’t you?
Lastly Mr. Woodard claims if additional personnel are needed for a fire, we can send more apparatuses as necessary. I am quite certain we have the personnel and equipment to do that. Fires at this point represent less than 2% of total calls. He goes on to say this is not a shortage of personnel (okay sure). Any good organization will evaluate its operations and make changes when it makes sense. QUESTION FOR THE FRISCO FIREFIGHTERS ASSOCIATION: In response to Bobblehead Bill’s statement do you agree we have enough personnel to call out for more apparatuses and still provide the same level of service? Mr. Woodard did you read the firefighters’ survey that says they have no confidence in Chief Glover? Did you still think it made sense after your evaluation of operations to make him Fire Chief? Bad leadership has bad consequences and in this case sir it can be deadly! Robert Townsend once said, “A leader is not an administrator who loves to run others, but someone who carries water for his people so they can get on with their jobs.”
Mr. Woodard likes to talk and hear himself talk, which is why he just can’t stop responding to us once he gets started. We are going to return the accusation and call Mr. Bill Woodard, Place 4 for the Frisco City Council a liar and if he is not a liar then he is misguided by facts! He asks us for proof but what proof has he published that contradicts our last blog Another One Bites The Dust? The fact is the City Manager and Council are going to double down to protect Fire Chief Lee Glover, they can’t stop now. They also are in a pissing match with the Fire Fighters Association and don’t want to give in or admit they may have been wrong so again the city will double down over and over. God forbid they just do the right thing!
The city FD is understaffed, and the Fire Fighters Association has repeatedly requested the need to hire more staff. Hell, the FFA went as far as to go to the city council meeting during citizens input and beg for them to hire more staff. The response, nothing you could hear a cricket if it chirped. While Mayor Cheney likes to break the rules of citizens input and respond to concerns when it comes to development or to defend his reputation, he can’t even crack a smile for the firefighters. Mr. Veteran John Keating won’t even fight for them! He should be ashamed of himself because if there is anyone on that council who knows what it means to serve it is Mr. Veteran Cheating Keating who sits there like a dumb puppet!
Mr. Woodard, if we are not hiring more personnel then how are we expanding the program? Can you honestly say it makes sense to consolidate Squad and the Safety Program? If you can then I hope your family never needs them and they don’t have the personnel to get to you because they have called out more apparatuses to other scenes.
Shout, Shout, let it all out. These are things I can do without
Come on, I’m talking to you …. Come on
Shout, Shout, Let it all out
If the words sound familiar but you have not yet figured it out yet, then let me help you. In 1984, Tears for Fears released their second album. Shout was a song on the album, but it did not hit the Billboard Top 100 until August of 1985. Today it remains one of their most recognizable songs. It was rumored the song was about pain, but the truth is it was a call to action, a rebellion against the established norms of the times, a call to be different.
Frisco has always prided itself on doing things better “than other cities” along with being different and being ground breakers. Being different is “The Frisco Way!” In Frisco our leaders believe we must build the best, develop the best, and offer the best services to our citizens as a standout community. With development and construction in full gear over the last 10 years you can imagine things happened along the way that helped carve out better practices and procedures for the city.
An example of that is back in February of 2018 when Francisco Palmas pant leg was caught in a trencher causing him to be dangled upside down at a local commercial construction site. The result was it nearly severed his leg and you might think he died. Frisco Firefighters reached the victim in just under five minutes, but they couldn’t free him which meant his leg would need to be amputated right there amid the dust, dirt and rocks. (Photo from Frisco Lifestyle – The Edge of Chaos)
According to a Dallas Morning News article, Frisco Deputy Fire Chief, Scott Vetterick said that the department had already started putting a plan in place for this under then Fire Chief, Mark Piland. Vetterick knew with all the development and construction, it was not about if something would happen but rather when it would happen and that made it a priority to have a plan in place. On the way to the scene, Frisco FD reached out to Dr. Gamber, an emergency room doctor at Medical City Plano. Gamber summoned trauma surgeon Al West who would arrive via a helicopter 41 minutes later with his small black medical kit and blood.
While Dr. West performed the amputation just above the right knee, Frisco Firefighters had to hold Palma’s body so he would not fall and proceeded to give him blood replacement. Along with the blood replacement they administered medications, fluids and monitored Palmas’ vital signs along with watching his airway. At the same time other teams worked to disassemble the machine. Palma survived because of the fast actions of the Frisco FD, Trauma Surgeon Al West and the replacement blood brought in that day. At the time there was a 75% chance that with a prosthetic he would walk again one day. Most importantly this man lived to see his kids grow up. In a Frisco Lifestyle article, Vetterick shares, “We had a lot of people working backchannels in order to make it happen that day. I was calling Medical City Plano’s radio room, Assistant Chief Kramer was calling Dr. Gamber, the battalion chief was coordinating the actual rescue and the disassembly of the machine, and then our medics were immediately tending to the patient.”
Deputy Chief Vetterick said at the time he believed that the response protocol put in place is the perfect example of collaborative efforts that help save lives. His hope was it would benefit more people and save more lives as Frisco continued to grow.
The official announcement of the blood replacement being carried on board with the Squad teams came in December of 2018 in a Frisco Fire Department press release. Frisco Fire Chief Mark Piland said, “Frisco Firefighters are committed to providing the highest level of care possible. This program is definitely a team effort, and I would like to thank Dr. Gamber and Medical City Plano for the hard work and assistance to get this program started.”
Dr. Mark Gamber, Frisco Fire Departments Medical Director said, “Prior to today, patients who needed blood were completely dependent on how fast we could get them to a hospital. Now, with early transfusion for severe blood loss, Frisco Fire will give critically ill patients a better chance of survival.”
The news of the new program went far and wide across the state and it was believed that it showed innovation and how Frisco was to lead the way with cutting edge services that help serve the citizens of Frisco.
What is Squad? Generally, the Squad responds to all high acuity EMS calls, and it also responds to all structure fires in a city. It is a 2-person group whose capabilities are like no other unit in the department. If you have a need for the most advanced or technical medical procedures in the field they are the team you want at your front door. For example, Squad assisted doctors with Palma’s amputation, they can give blood transfusions to trapped victims, and they perform out of the box lifesaving methods during emergency medical situations. It is the definition of the city’s motto Progress In Motion.
Safety, education, and training were a big push by Piland who lead the department at the time. It probably came from his experience serving with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a Task Force Leader with Virginia Task Force 2 a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Team whose job was to provide search and rescue for victims of disaster. Shortly after Piland became Chief in 2013 he implemented the Safety Officer Program that focused on the health and wellness of the fire fighters. The Captain of Safety oversaw all fire fighter injuries, the safety on scene at calls, structural concerns during fires, identified concerns such as pools that could affect how they fight a fire and more. In 2016, a request was made for two Fire Safety Incident Officers in the city’s annual budget. The goal was to implement two full-time shift personnel to staff the positions around the clock. The program made overall safety a top priority.
Fast forward to today, Frisco is a city of 225,000+ people and we have a New Fire Chief, Lee Glover. Programs like those mentioned above have major implications in saving lives. On October 27, 2023, the Frisco Fire Department released a video about the history of the program in a series called Frisco Fire Facts which was also share to the city Facebook page yesterday. It starts with Deputy Fire Chief Jake Owen of the Frisco Fire Department talking about how the program got started in 2018. It discusses the highlights of the Squad Program and the onboarding of blood replacement.
Ready for the WHOPPER of TEA? It was confirmed to us last week in an off-the-record conversation with a city employee at city hall, that FIRE CHIEF GROGGY LEE GLOVER announced the END OF THE SQUAD PROGRAM! Wait…What? It was also announced that the Safety Program was ending. People are being reassigned to drive Battalion Chiefs! Firefighters will be reassigned most likely depending on staff levels. What will be the result of losing the Squad Program, it will create the loss of two functioning paramedics for high priority EMS calls and a loss of two tactical level firefighters on structure fires. As for the Safety Program what does that mean for the safety of our firefighters? Should we be surprised, I mean the decision to name Groggy Glover the new Fire Chief was not supported by the ranks within the department.
Glover was not kidding when he said in June of 2023, “We’re going to continue to do what we’ve been doing since the day I WALKED INTO THIS FIRE DEPARTMENT.” He DISMANTLED a CRITICAL LIFE SAVING program that was highly regarded, and we are curious why? Is it because that is how modern-day fire departments operate which he probably does not understand since it doesn’t fit the antiquated days of his upbringing in the department. Did he not like the programs simply because they were instituted under the previous Fire Chief, Mark Piland?
According to yesforfrisco.org in the recent MAY 2023 BOND ELECTION – Proposition A, the city asked citizens to approve the following equipment & apparatus items: Vehicles to replace with proposed bond package: 2 Squads, 4 Engines, 8 Medics, 1 Truck, and 1 Hazmat. WHY DID THE CITY ASK CITIZENS TO PAY FOR 2 SQUAD REPLACEMENTS? With all the development of the PGA which will bring golf celebrities from around the world and a new theme park for kids would you end lifesaving programs that protect citizens, visitors, and firefighters? What about citizens of Frisco Lakes? Did the council who rely on their votes to get elected ask Frisco Lakes residents how they feel about getting rid of a blood replacement program that could save their lives? With the traffic getting worse and horrific car accidents happening more often, did anyone think about how the blood replacement program could save the lives of those in the accidents. I mean those are citizens or visitors who spend tax dollars in our city? No – they just want to build and build and claim to be about exceptional service.
On the front page, of the Frisco Fire Department the Mission Statement reads: Committed to your Health and Safety through Exceptional Service. Right under that it reads, “Public safety is among the highest priorities for city leaders, past and present.” Yeah we have heard that repeated over from city leaders. Now act like it!
We just keep asking why, why would Glover think these are good decisions? Based on the 2011/12 Climate Survey it said in order for the issues in the department to be resolved some SIGNIFICANT changes must occur. The culture of the department needs to change from a negative, hostile, retaliatory environment to one that is positive. Guess what, it was trending in the right direction but now Groggy Glover is dismantling the department bit by bit and they hope no one is paying attention. Well, maybe it is just his way of being retaliatory to those speaking out against him as that is how it has worked since he walked into the department all those years ago.
Slowly but surely our Fire Department turns back time and honestly it should scare the hell of citizens! We have heard it scares the hell out of those who put on the FD uniform on the front line every day. It leads us to our last question, the most important question, who is the “King Ding A Ling” of bad decisions? Well, that might be a tie between Groggy Lee Glover and City Manager, Pungent Wes Pierson.
Well we love a good boxing match and now we have one! Today we came across an announcement that John Redmond is running for City of Frisco – Place 3 against Angelia Pelham! He was once quoted as saying he wants to be a good civil steward here in the City of Frisco. We can’t wait to learn more about what issue or hot buttons he believes the city is facing. For now we at Frisco Chronicles can’t wait to learn more about this candidate!
OCTOBER 27, 2023 – John Redmond is announcing his candidacy for Frisco City Council. Service does not come without sacrifice. And service to others is what those that run for office are called to do. 6 years ago Redmond ran for City Council in the most contested field in Frisco history. Taking the lessons of that election while remaining engaged and active, Redmond brings deep commitment to the betterment of our community and a wealth of experience and passion for positive change. Redmond stated, “I am announcing my intent to run for Frisco City Council. As a vibrant, diverse and ever-evolving community, we will run a clean and dignified race to serve the people of Frisco. We will remind elected officials that they work for their constituents and should govern as they campaign. Together through teamwork, innovation and community engagement, we will address whatever challenges remain before us while we embrace the opportunities that lie ahead”. Redmond4Frisco will be grounded in fiscal responsibility and accountability, free enterprise and support for small businesses, law and order and the true support of public safety personnel. With a long list of potential platforms, Redmond said that a ‘listening campaign’ would begin immediately to understand all of the issues that Frisco citizens actually hold dear. “From traffic, to infrastructure, to apartments and density, the overall development (and/or re-development) of Frisco, public safety, city staff and its’ leadership, art venues, animal shelters and more…while some things change, many political topics here in Frisco remain the same”. Frisco residents are encouraged to get involved, ask questions and share ideas with Redmond as he embarks on this journey to serve the community. To learn more about John and the campaign, visit www.Redmond4Frisco.com
For media inquiries or interview requests, please contact: Chris Fields campaign@redmond4frisco.com About John Redmond: John Redmond is the Co-Founder and President of InspectIR Systems. A Frisco-based company, for the last 6 years, InspectIR has been focused on innovation and research, delivering breath-based devices and solutions to provide more equitable diagnostics and screening at or near the point of care. With more than 25 years of experience in Fortune 500 companies, John is a human capital expert in the technology and consulting industries with leadership positions in talent acquisition and diversity and inclusion. John has a BS in Business Administration/Marketing from the Gies School of Business at the University of Illinois. Married with two (2) adult children, John has been a Frisco resident for over 18 years.
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 7th 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!
After reading our blogs you have probably figured out that movies and music are two of my biggest passions. Little Lies by Fleetwood Mac had a catchy chorus that you could sing over and over that went tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies, oh-no-no, you can’t disguise. I often find myself singing that song in my head when the time comes to write another blog. We have talked about PIRs (Public Information Requests) in our previous blog but nothing wrong with a reminder. What is the Public Information Act and what is a Public Information Request? Well, the Texas Public Information Act assures that government entities give citizens access to information about what the public servants are doing on their behalf. It is a way for citizens to hold their public officials accountable. The Public Information Act Handbook can be found on the Texas Attorney General’s website and lays out the “how-to” to do open record requests.
Several months ago during the election a mayday report was talked about and the DMN did a long article smearing a candidate running for mayor. We were curious about the report and had a friend put in a PIR request that reads: Full copy of 500 to 600-page report for Mayday Report DMN quoted Adams Lynch and Loftin found evidence – would like a copy of the evidence. DMN quotes Adams Lynch and Loftin interviewed 42 people – would like the list of the names of those interviewed? Would like a copy of the documents, photographs, audio, and video files analyzed by Adams Lynch and Loftin Based on the DMN article it is clear that the reporter received more than the 12-page report released to the public. I would like a copy of everything provided to the reporter. We received several items back from the city except the full report mayday report.
On May 25th, we received a letter stating that one of the files contains personal health information and the city would prefer to keep it confidential. They asked if we agreed to the redaction request however we did not see the response. Then on June 5th we received another letter asking us to clarify if we agreed to the redaction and to clarify which documents we were seeking. We wrote back on June 9th we would not agree to any redactions and they could send the request to the AG and for the second questions we responded with several items on the evidence list plus the following:
1. Full Final Mayday Report 2. During the investigation of the individuals involved in the Circa / Mayday the attorneys meet and interviewed city staff. There should be audio files/recordings, notes, or video footage of the individual interviews to document the investigation. We want the audio files/recordings/notes or video recordings of the individuals interviewed by Adams, Lynch, and Loftin PC 3. Docs from Gillette listed on the evidence list 4. Hinkel Emails listed on the evidence list
On July 3, we received another email that read “After further review of the requested information to ensure the City has located all the records responsive to your request, please note that one file responsive is considered to be a proprietary record and will be available in the City Secretary’s Office for viewing only.” In the items we were provided there is NO FULL MAYDAY REPORT so is that the proprietary record they want us to come view?
Summer happened and we were waiting on the AG response in regards to the request and still to this day (4 MONTHS LATER) the request status reads sent to AG for a ruling. We were curious why it was taking the AG office so long to review a request so we called them. Imagine our surprise when they said a ruling was issued on August 30th and lead us to a link on the website where we could read the ruling. It is now September 28th almost a month later and we have no response from the city that a ruling was even made yet and we still don’t have the FULL MAYDAY REPORT.
The city argued some information was considered to be confidential by law. Section 552.101 encompasses the doctrine of common-law privacy, which protects information that is (1) highly intimate or embarrassing, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person, and (2) not of legitimate concern to the public. The finding by the AG’s office read “Accordingly, the city must withhold the public citizen’s date of birth and the information we marked under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. However, we find you have failed to demonstrate the remaining information is highly intimate or embarrassing and not of legitimate public interest. Thus, the city may not withhold the remaining information under section 552.101 in conjunction with common-law privacy.
What we find ironic is that the city council voted to release some of these documents or related documents at a city council meeting that benefited the mayor and his cronies during an election in order to smear a candidates reputation but now they are arguing something is intimate or highly embarrassing? The citizens date of birth or an insurance policy number is confidential? What would be really humorous is if the person they are referring to has their birthday on their Facebook page. If so, they can’t be to worried about their privacy.
SO WHERE IS IT? Where is the redacted file? Where is the complete MAYDAY report (500 to 600 pages)? Asking a senior citizen to come to city hall to review a document is ridiculous and it is there way of keeping us from the information that can simply be uploaded to the portal. Why is the city with holding the information after a ruling on August 30th? We are also waiting on the AG to tell us where they are on a ruling for the Universal document request which is now 8 months old.
We also had a friend submit a PIR inquiring about to to payments in the city expenditure list which is online. Two payments, to New Reunion Title for $555,706.44 and $817,956.83. What are the payments for, and what type of services would a city pay a title company that much for? It reads they sent it to the attorney. We are guessing they mean the city attorney but he may have a conflict of interest since the title company is located in his law office. My guess they will fight us on this one too.
We filed PIRs with multiple other city’s in the last month and had them all back in under 20 days, so WHAT IS FRISCO HIDING? RELEASE THE DOCUMENTS!
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave…when first we practice to deceive.”
If you are a fan of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Clark Griswold then you know the scene where Clark is holding the envelope sent by his company that he thinks is holding his “Big Bonus” check. He starts to talk about how he is going to use the check to put in an inground pool as soon as the earth thaws out. After a few more words he opens the envelope to find a big shock. It’s not money, it’s an annual membership to the Jelly Club. Clark is shocked and dismayed and in the silence Cousin Eddie bursts out “Clark, it’s the gift that keeps on giving all year.” That is how we feel about the consent agenda in the Tuesday City Council meetings. In our last blog All In The Family, we said if you want to know what is happening in the city just look at the consent agenda. For us, it is the gift that keeps on giving for those who are curious.
Watching last night’s city council meeting we noticed Keating called to remove items 25 and 32 and that was seconded by Brian Livingston. We noticed item 25 which was a Human Resources item several days ago when the agenda was posted. It reads consider and act upon adoption of an Ordinance to approve the new Public Safety Workers Compensation policy and updated Information Security Policy. Many are probably wondering what is so important about it, well we are going to tell you! If you keep up with what is going on in the city the Fire Fighters have been advocating for a better WC policy for several years. They took their fight to the state this year in Austin and with the help of local State Rep Jared Patterson they brought a bill that would give public safety workers true workers compensation coverage. This bill passed both the house and senate with overwhelming support.
We were a little shocked by the cattiness and mean spirit of the memo submitted by Ms. Sassy Lauren Safranek, Director of Human Resources to the city council. She talks about the new public safety workers compensation policy that had to be changed to align with Chapter 177A of the Texas Local Government Code that was recently amended by HB 471. Remember our council likes to tote they support our public safety workers, yet they fought and opposed HB 471 the entire time. In this memo Sassy Safranek states the city will be FORCED to develop a different WC policy – one policy for public safety personnel and the other (the current policy) for all other employees.
Sassy Safranek goes on to call out The Fire Association President, Matt Sapp and his public comments before the city council supporting the city’s policy back in April of 2021. She notes he supported the changes to the policy at the time and that he was active in the process to develop the policy. She said the goal was to develop one policy for all employees. Well, we went back and while he did support the changes he also stated several times in the last two years that it was a step in the right direction but not the total solution. A step in the right direction does not mean he agrees and is content with the 2021 policy, it simply means it is better than what they had before. The city was not happy about the FAA lobbying in Austin for a more comprehensive plan and they have made that clear many times. Does Lauren Safranek honestly think that one policy can cover all employees? Does she honestly believe the WC policy should cover the park guys who have a much less dangerous job mowing parks, and the same policy should cover a police office or fire fighter whose job inherently has more risk and danger?
Sassy Safranek is upset with the new policy. She writes in addition to at least one (1) year of paid leave for an on-the-job injury, HB 471 requires at least one (1) year of light duty while recovering from a temporary disability. One (1) year of paid leave (paid by the City 100%) and one (1) year of light duty, during which the employee will receive their regular wages, provides little incentive for the employee to return to full duty promptly. She notes the 2 significant differences between the new policy and the city’s current policy are 1) one year of paid leave and 2) one year of light duty. She notes that up to another year of paid light duty provides little incentive for the employee to get better and return to full duty promptly.
Ms. Safranek your note about “LITTLE INCENTIVE” is offensive and ridiculous and it is obvious you have no clue what kind of attributes a person has if they choose to go into the profession of being a police officer or a fire fighter. Most of these men and woman have a keen sense of duty and service. Other traits include courage, physical fitness, they like structure and routine, they work well under pressure, they are adaptable to unpredictable environments, they have a compassionate nature, and they thrive off teamwork and collaboration. Those are just a few of the natural instincts these men and woman have. Your comment implies they have no incentive to go back to work, and they are going to milk the system. These are not people who want to sit at home and eat bon bons like you, they don’t achieve a thrill by laying on the couch and binging all the seasons of Suits on Netflix.
Safranek mentions the city has benefited from modified duty work by injured police officers valued at over $300,000 and injured firefighters at over $1.3 million. She says if the city assumes that 10% of the time police officers will decline modified duty and if they assume 25% of the time firefighters will decline modified duty it would cost the city over a $120,000 a year in salary paid while someone is off work. Again, the statement is offensive and ridiculous at its core. It’s not like the City of Frisco doesn’t have the money. We sent numerous people within the city over the last 2 years to Cary, North Carolina, PGA golf events in Tulsa and just last week they galivanted off to Fort Collins, Colorado. Thousands of dollars of taxpayer money used for some to travel all over but we can’t find enough to pay officers or fire fighters hurt on the job. Really? As a taxpayer, I will happily pay for someone’s salary who is injured on the job. If you ask me, based on a conversation Keating had last night at the council meeting I think we can cut back on the unnecessary trips where a planning and zoning board member gets drunk and belligerent and Council Woman Tammy Meinershagen doesn’t need to fly to different cities to play piano and see art, then and post it on her Instagram like she is having a great vacation on the city’s dime.
Ms. Safranek, your bias is showing and how you feel about city employees is starting to show simply by how you wrote this memo. Screw the peasants who risk theirs! Your venom and disdain for public safety workers are more than clear in this memo. So are the cities. As we said at the top of the blog the item was pulled from consent and Councilman Livingston asked for it to be held for further discussion. Maybe in that time, you might want to reconsider the “oh bless your heart” southern slam slightly written into the memo.
The season 7 opener of the tv show The Office was an episode entitled Nepotism. What is that? Nepotism is the practice among those with power or influence to favor, show bias, or give preferential treatment to relatives, friends, and close associates. The episode started off with everyone returning from summer to the office to find a new office assistant named Luke. It quickly became clear to those who worked at Dunder Mifflin that Luke liked to goof off, deliberately mess up food and coffee runs, and had a poor attitude that led everyone to quickly not like him. When complaints were made to Michael Scott (the manager) he was quick to defend Luke and soon it was revealed that Luke is Michael’s nephew. He had hired him in hopes that would end the bad relationship he had with his half-sister. After the staff’s concerns were ignored they found packages in Luke’s car that he never mailed and because of it they were losing customers. They went to the CEO of the company Jo Bennett and she called Michael the manager in and quickly told him to deal with the situation. During a team meeting later that day, Luke pulled out a laser pointer and started to annoy people so a frustrated Michael ended up spanking Luke in front of the entire office and Luke quit and ran away crying. Due to his actions of assaulting a coworker, Michael was sent by HR to six hours of counseling. After watching the episode, it is clear why Nepotism has no place in a work environment for everyone’s benefit.
If you really want to know what’s going on in the City of Frisco, be sure to tune in to the Consent Agenda for each City Council meeting. Consent Agenda items are considered routine in nature and are considered non-controversial and can be acted upon in one motion. I am curious who determines what is “routine in nature” and “non-controversial” before it is approved to go on the consent agenda?
On June 20, 2023, my wife and I noticed Item 22 on the Consent Agenda for the city council meeting. It read, “Consider and act upon adoption of an Ordinance approving the revised Nepotism policy and the revised Employee Code of Conduct policy. Nepotism? We thought it was such a random and odd change that left us with questions. Why is the city wanting to revise the Nepotism policy? How often does the city’s HR department go to the council to ask them to revise the Employee Code of Conduct Policy?
As you know the city’s Code of Conduct policy has been a hot topic on FriscoChronicles and our Curious George mentality came out. This policy was originally developed in 2006 so why now in 2023 are we suddenly changing it? We started with doing a meeting search for the word Nepotism and what we discovered was the city had already set the stage and made some changes to the Nepotism Ordinance at the city council meeting in April 2023. Item 24 of the consent agenda asked to revise the Nepotism policy to remove the 3rd Degree of consanguinity (blood). They argued it could cause them to lose the opportunity to hire some dedicated employees. The revision ordinance 19-11-91 can be found in the City of Frisco Personnel Policies.
So why did they change it again two months later in June 2023? In a memo from Lauren Safranek, Director of Human Resources to the city council, she asked them to consider a revision to modify the employment relationship of a Department Director with other employees. In the past a Department Director could not have an immediate relationship with someone else in another department. Now, with the June revision, it allows for a Department Director to have someone by blood, marriage, cohabitants, or roommate to work in the city as long as they are not in the same department. They also took the step to add to the list of blood, marriage, cohabitants, and roommates. In Section 3: Definitions the city added and defined the terms Identified Employee and Director. Further down in the policy under General Provisions/Violations, Section A: Supervision, they added No City employee shall be employed in a department in which the Director is related within the prohibited level of consanguinity and/or affinity, a cohabitant, roommate (“Identified Employee”) as specified above. Why now? Why all of the sudden is the city changing the policy 2x in a year, not even 2 months apart when it comes to Nepotism?
After talking to my wife, we thought the only reason to change the policy is if you wanted to promote someone to Director, want to hire someone, or have hired someone that violates the Nepotism policy. The first question we asked ourselves, who are the most recent new hires announced by the city in the last year? The second question we asked ourselves, who has left the city and did they leave because Nepotism was an issue? Wes Pierson was named our new City Manager, and he has since hired two new Assistant City Managers Rob Millar and E.A. Hoppe. We looked at all three and could not find any issues of Nepotism in our research.
The biggest loss for the city this year was Jason Cooley who served as Frisco’s Chief Innovation Officer. He accepted a position with The City of Allen, but we don’t think he left due to Nepotism as we could not find anyone he would potentially be related to working in the city. Cooley was the primary person who taught employees about Frisco’s Core Values. Frisco has a set of core values? Yes, they are Integrity, Outstanding Customer Service, Fiscal Responsibility, Operational Excellence and Our Employees. Ironically, they lead with, “Integrity is honesty, trustworthiness, ethical behavior and always doing the right thing. Integrity matters because we are entrusted with building and maintaining our community. Integrity is the foundation of all other core values.” Hmmm….
Next, we came across an article in Government Technology from July 19, 2023, talking about how the Chief Information Officer in Dallas County was leaving to go lead IT operations in Frisco, Texas. It stated Melissa Kraft made the announcement via her own recent social media post. The article stated that the Frisco FY23 budget included funding for a server and wireless refresh, disaster recovery expenses, switch and network replacements and a Police Department firewall refresh. It also planned to add a data governance program, according to budget documents. Kraft is so new she is not even listed yet in the online city directory, but she is listed on the FY24 Annual Draft Budget. Interestingly in our research we learned that Cory Kraft works as a Sergeant in the City of Frisco Criminal Investigations Unit. Could they be related? Both Melissa and Cory live at the same address, and we believe they are husband and wife which would prevent her from being hired under the Nepotism policy. Has Sergeant Kraft stepped down? Not according to the city’s online directory. Now it is starting to make sense why they made the June 2023 change to the Nepotism policy. Hiring Melissa Kraft would have violated the policy because she would have been a director. So, the city changed the rules to hire her, the pieces are starting to come together.
Now, one would have to wonder what Susan B. Olson, who is currently the Assistant Director of Information Technology, felt about this announcement. Olson has over 20 plus years of employment with the city and sources tell us she applied for the position. Sources also told us they believe she was not considered for the new Chief IT Director because of a “relationship” as defined in the city’s Nepotism policy and Employee Code of Conduct. Did the city of Frisco use the old Nepotism policy to push Susan Olson out and then change it to allow this new hire? If the information we have is correct, and I were Susan Olson I would be furious.
While looking at the Police Department directory we noticed Animal Services was listed. My wife and I were surprised that in a city of 200k+ people it would fall under Frisco PD as we thought it would have been its own department. We noticed from the directory that the Animal Services Supervisor was Steven Lerner who has served the city for 16 years. The positions of Supervisor and Director have two very different pay scales and one would think Steve Lerner would want to be a Director for the pay increase, as long as it didn’t violate the policy. We searched the directory and found a Shelby Lerner who is a Sr. Environmental Health Inspector and the two share a home address. According to the Nepotism policy, Steve Lerner could not have been the Director of Animal Services (if it was its own department) while his wife worked for the city. That means Shelby Lerner would have to step down, or should we say, “retire” as that is the Frisco way.
We connected the dots to the change of the June 2023 Nepotism policy, and we could have stopped here. Something was nagging at me and this time it wasn’t my wife. It was the lingering question, why did they make a change to the Nepotism policy in April 2023? What was happening in April to warrant a change then to the 3rd Degree Relationship that they removed? That is when the alarms went off in my head that the city was going through the hiring process for a new Fire Chief and the acting Interim Chief was Lee Glover. We decided to look into Glover’s relationships and we learned through research that he is the nephew to Glenda Sue Hess, who is the sister of Alvin Lee Glover, Sr., his father. Glenda has two sons, Jason and James Darren Ponder. James has a son by the name Jarred “Daniel” Ponder who works in the city’s planning department. That means he is Lee Glover’s, second cousin.
We initially wondered why the city would choose Glover as the new Fire Chief after a recent association survey where he received an overwhelming vote of no confidence by the fire fighters. How was Glover promoted to Fire Chief when he has a second cousin that works for the city? Oh, that’s right, back on April 4, 2023, the city quietly eliminated the 3rd Degree relations of employees in the Nepotism policy via the Consent Agenda. The Nepotism policy should have disqualified Lee Glover and eliminated him from the “candidate pool” and in our opinion should have applied to him from the start of the search, just like it had for so many other city employees. But wait, there is more, should Glover have been named Interim Chief back in September 2022 while his relative was “pondering” in the city planner’s office? As Interim Chief he was running the department which is a clear violation of the Nepotism rules. I would even bet, with Lee Glover’s long history, we could find a few more “relatives, cohabitants, and roommates”.
Where there is smoke there is fire and in our research we found that Keith Siebert a Captain with the Frisco FD is the brother of Paul Siebert. Paul Siebert joined Frisco FD in 1991 and retired in 2017 and now works in Prosper FD. He applied in 2013 for the Frisco Fire Chief position which was later given to Mark Piland. Paul Siebert was more than qualified for the position but was eliminated from the running due to the Nepotism policy. We were told he could have given any candidate at that time a run for their money had he not been disqualified.
It really is some shady shXt if you ask me. A city insider confirmed our suspicions, telling us that there have been multiple other city employees disqualified or denied the opportunity to pursue director level positions within the city of Frisco because of this same policy. You know, the one that has been in place since 2006 and was used time and time again to control the candidate pool for years.
Remember Lauren Safranek told the city council in the original April memo that the reason they wanted to remove the 3rd Degree is they potentially could lose great candidates and future dedicated employees. Clearly the rules were changed for Melissa Kraft and Lee Glover. It also leaves us wondering did Lee Glover disclose his relationship or did city management and human resources already know this information? Either way they casually tried to sweep this nugget under the rug first in April and two months later in June, thinking no one would piece it together. How does the city determine who it will and will not bend the rules for? Is this more of the Frisco Way? The most important question we have for Ms. High Horse Safranek is don’t you think since 2006 we have lost many internal candidates who already were amazing employees due to this policy? Why didn’t you want to change it then? Why now?
In 1952, one of the most popular shows on tv was I Love Lucy and one of the best episodes was Vitameatavegamin. Lucy meets with the director of the commercial and he explains that Vitameatavegamin is a health tonic and gives her the lines to learn. What none of them knew was the health tonic was 23% alcohol. During the first practice set, Lucy reads her lines and then takes a spoon full of the health tonic and begins to make funny faces because it tasted so bad. Take after take Lucy got a little more drunk, and by the time it was over Ricky had to take her off the stage. The episode is a perfect example of truth in advertising.
Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, it’s time to spill the secrets once and for all! If you live in Frisco then you hear city leaders reflecting on how Money Magazine voted Frisco the #1 Best Place to Live in America. The truth is Frisco is a great city to live in, but it has not been ranked #1 since 2018 which is 5 years ago. In fact, in the 2021/22 Money Magazine, The City of Frisco was ranked #19 for the Best Places to Live. That means in 5 years we fell 18 spots so why do they continue to talk about a ranking from 2018? Shouldn’t we be asking ourselves; how did we drop 18 spots? Is this truthful advertising?
The City of Frisco puts together a series of video messages called Progress In Motion to talk about the change and growth happening in our town. The series is truly one the city’s greatest forms of advertising. These videos are so professional, and they cover an array of different topics. Wes Pierson recently stated in a July 2023 article in Frisco Enterprise that there is a powerful message behind the idea of “Progress In Motion.” For Frisco’s city manager, the city tagline inspires a focus on the concept of “growth” rather than “change. Sometimes when people talk about change, there can be a negative connotation related to change, but if you talk about progress, it really emphasizes, in my opinion, a focus on growth,” he said.
Even our own Mayor puts out a series of videos on his Cheney for Frisco Mayor YouTube page. When we saw his campaign video this year announcing his re-election we were impressed because it was truly a professional video with amazing footage. Then my wife said, “I could swear I have seen this footage before” and I replied, yeah probably in another video he has done running for office. She was adamant that was not it and night after night as we sat watching tv she played on her iPad until I heard, “See, I told you I have seen this footage before,” and with a big grin on her face, she played me one of the city’s Progress in Motion videos. Then she played a portion of Cheney’s campaign video and sure as shady shit it was a match. We decided to do a little research to see how much of his election video matched up with the Progress in Motion videos put out by the city. We decided to do a little research to see how much of his election video matched up to the Progress in Motion videos put out by the city.
In Cheney’s election video at the 24 second mark you see the drone footage coming into the Cowboy Star which is from the NFLs HBO’s Hard Knocks: The Dallas Cowboys at the 07-second mark. Did he get approval from HBO, NFL and Jerry Jones to use that footage? Would any of them give him authorization to use that for a political campaign ad? Should we consider this and endorsement?
Now compare Cheney’s election video to the Progress in Motion – Public Safety Training Center video. On Cheney’s election video at the 1:17 mark you see footage of the fireman from the back in a training which is an exact match to the PIM at the 1:39 video mark. Then at the 1:18 mark on Cheney’s election video you see footage of a burning car which matches the 1:09 video mark in the PIM video. Then at the 1:22 mark on the election video you see a Frisco Police Car which matches the footage at the 1:22 video mark in the PIM. Lastly, at the 1:24 mark on Cheney’s election video you see footage of the FD training center which matches the 1:28 video mark on the PIM video.
On Cheney’s election video at the 1:43 mark he talks about The Rail District and the future of outdoor entertainment. Interestingly the renderings were produced by Kimley Horn and are on the city’s site and labeled with the Frisco logo. The renderings are show in an article on Frisco Enterprise and they note the renderings which match Cheneys election video were the courtesy of The City of Frisco.
On Cheney’s election video at the 2:16 mark he shows the ground-breaking of the Dr. Pepper Keurig office complex with Jerry Jones which is an exact match to the start of the city’s PIM – Keurig Dr Pepper Groundbreaking video.
On Cheney’s election video at the 2:23 mark he shows the ribbon cutting of Texas Health which is an exact match to the PIM – Texas Health Hospital Frisco video.
Cheney was even bold enough to use ESPN or PGA footage of Tiger Woods in his election video at the 2:25 mark. We found a few city videos and it appears as if the PGA may have given the city some footage to use for advertising videos. The question is did they give Cheney permission to use footage in a political campaign video? Did he have permission to use the professional golfer and their likeness in his video? Did he have permission from ESPN or the PGA to use this footage in a political campaign video? Do ESPN or the PGA endorse Mayor Cheney? Is Tigers appearance an endorsement? At the 2:30 mark he uses Universal’s Theme Park rendering given to the city for press releases. So, did he have NBC Universal’s permission to use their rendering in a political campaign video? Does that mean NBC Universal endorsed the mayor? Lastly at the 2:50 mark in his election video he shows aerial views of the new PGA which look very similar to the PIM PGA videos.
You are probably wondering, why is this important? Well, in 2021 a local resident filed an ethics complaint against the mayor for using his city email to solicit feedback from department heads which he later used in a personal Facebook post to endorse and support Angelia Pelham for council. In the complaint she cited it was a violation per the Code of Conduct Section 7. According to Section 7: Public Property and Resources it states a city official shall not use, request, or permit the use of city facilities, personnel, equipment and supplies for private purposes (including political purposes). Now his fellow council members voted against moving forward with the ethics complaint in 2001 but in our own opinion it was clear as day he violated it then. SO, DID HE VIOLATE THE CODE OF CONDUCT WITH HIS ELECTION VIDEO?
We are estimating about 75% of the election video is made from city footage. Are political candidates allowed to use city footage paid for by taxpayers? Does the city not have any copyright rules? Is it fair for anyone to use city footage? If so, then I could make a video and use some of the footage that includes Cheney speaking? Can a realtor in Frisco make videos using city footage to advertise their business? What about small businesses, can they use city footage to make social media commercials for their business? Can a local realtor use local renderings from P&Z documents to advertise their business and talk about new things coming to Frisco? Were all the candidates aware they could use city footage to make political campaign videos? If they were allowed to use the video footage was it disclosed to them or was that something the Mayor knew as an “inside tip” that he used for his advantage. A video of this nature could and probably does cost thousands of dollars if he had to film all this footage himself. Filming is not cheap or inexpensive. So, did the mayor pay the city for the use of the footage? Is this another example of Jeff Cheney taking Mayoral Privilege for his personal use and benefit?
We are thinking that someone needs to look in the mirror and decide if he is the FAIRest of them all.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men, Couldn’t put Humpty together again.
We were curious why in 2023 the City of Frisco was trying to go back to a broken system in place back in 2011/12 after several years of positive change. Maybe because that is “The Frisco Way.” Many times, we have heard council members and city leadership refer to “The Frisco Way” and we have always been curious what is it? Well, it is a mindset that only Frisco leaders and city management know what is best for the city and the citizens living in it. It is a mindset that the City of Frisco is the only city who could possibly do things the right way and every other city is second fiddle. It is the mindset that we do things the way we have always done it and someone should not question that. It is also the institution of the good ole boy network, scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.
Let’s pretend it is 2011 and that Humpty Dumpty is Mack Borchardt, Chief of the Frisco Fire Department, sitting lofty up on that wall. Next to him perched high up is his team which includes his buddy Lee Glover, Assistant Fire Chief and Paul Siebert, Assistant Fire Chief, 3 Battalion Chiefs Shannon Britton, Shawn Eft and Paul Farrow and Division Chief Cameron Kraemer.
Then the wind blows and causes a great fall which refers to the 2011 Employee Climate Survey. What we found interesting was it basically said the culture that management created was horrific. Our first responders went to work every day risking their lives in an environment with terrible morale and worried about their job security. At the time 76.3% said they would leave the department if they could and the report noted the city can only correct it by making DRASTIC CHANGES. What would the city do?
All the king’s horses and king’s men refer to the King of Frisco, Geroge Purefoy, the City Manager and his “people” who had to find a solution since it was clear the Fire Chief could no longer be Chief. Chief Borchardt wrote a letter to Purefoy dated 2/23/2012 stating in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Retirement Severance Agreement and Release he was submitting his resignation for retirement effective February 2015. All the King’s Men, aka The Good Ole Boy Network or The Frisco Way” had to figure out how to put Borchardt together, just in a different way.
One would think after the negative survey results regarding his leadership that Borchardt would be terminated or forced into retirement. Hail Ye, Hail Ye, King George to the rescue! After Borchardt retires, he is REASSIGNEDto a newly created position as the Fire Programs Consultant which reports solely to King George himself until he is set to retire in 2015. Why would you reassign someone that you are forcing to retire? A city insider that works at city hall told us that when the decision was made to remove Borchardt as Fire Chief, King George threatened to quit and submitted his written resignation which is why the city “reassigned” Borchardt to King Purefoy.
So why the loyalty between King George Purefoy and Mack Borchardt? Well, what many don’t know is that back in day Mack Borchardt was the city administrator and he is the one that hired King George Purefoy as the first city manager. Then George Purefoy acting as the new city manager hired Mack Borchardt as the cities first paid Fire Chief. Funny thing is Mack Borchardt is still with the city in 2023, in the same consultant position making big bucks and assigned a city vehicle. A PIR was placed for Mack Borchardts employee records which we are still waiting on.
After reading Mack Borchardt Agreement & Release we had many questions. Under the “Release By Borchardt” it says that Mack releases, acquits and discharges Frisco from any and all past or present claims relating to #3. All Allegations ever made or that might have been made by Borchardt against Frisco regarding his employment – well that sounds interesting. In another section it says Borchardt does not admit to any unlawful or discriminatory conduct or any other wrongdoing – well that sounds interesting too. Then the agreement appears to turn into an employment contract for his new position and lists some very specific reasons that he maybe be terminated for such as a conviction for any felony involving moral turpitude, drunkenness, or excessive use of alcoholic beverages, being under the influence on city property or city sponsored activities and fabrication or falsification of city records. The whole thing reminds me of the questions we asked in our Survey Says blog.
The city began its search for a new fire chief and in March of 2013 after a 3-month search the city announced the hiring of Mark Piland. Todd Renshaw, the city’s director of public safety, told a local newspaper Frisco Enterprise, “Chief Piland a very affable, very personable individual. He’s highly educated and has a great deal of experience, which are obviously big pluses,” he said. “He has a strong sense of command and will be a tremendous asset for the Frisco Fire Department going forward.”
According to insiders in the FD, Piland came up with some good ideas to change the department the first being to listen to the organization. Piland implemented In Service Training programs 2x a year for the Officers and Companies. Fire fighters also tell us he had an academy for those FF hoping to move up the ladder over their career. Piland also focused on The Squad Program which responds to almost all calls so they could have enhanced ongoing training to meet state and national standards. Piland also moved the FD away from the quint model based on the FF feedback. Their department centered more on the single engine / pumper truck with a goal to add a 4th ladder truck. He said with 70% of the calls being EMS, the Quints which are rather large and bulky, were slower and more difficult to turn and get down Frisco’s narrow streets. Piland quickly met resistance from King George himself. Imagine going to work in a new city where the City Manager who is your direct boss, is sitting next to his 25+ year buddy (the former Fire Chief that you replaced) at city hall.
In fact, today as the fire fighters fight for collective bargaining so they can have a seat at the table, the city said they oppose it because they already have a seat at the table because more than 200 seats are filled by Fire Department employees on 16 different committees/groups. Examples of these committees/groups are Engine / Truck / Rescue Focus Groups, Promotional Process Review Group, Peer Support Group, Peer Fitness Trainer, Health & Safety Focus Group, and the Driver / Operator Focus Group. What we find interesting is that these groups were created during Piland’s time as Fire Chief based on feedback from the organization. Insiders say over the years tension grew as he was challenged and questioned by city leaders about every change he tried to make because it didn’t fit “The Frisco Way!” Mark Piland retired shortly after applying for the City Managers position (as did many other candidates) and after several differences of opinion with city management on how the department should be run. The question we have, did the city really want change in the department, or where they happy and want to go back to the old “The Frisco Way?”
With the search on for a new Fire Chief, Assistant Fire Chief Lee Glover was named Interim Fire Chief. City Manager Wes Pierson said in a statement. “Public safety is a top priority for me and our City Council. I intend to be deliberate in the search for Frisco’s next fire chief to make sure we find the right person to lead our department to the next level of service, building upon the city’s reputation for excellence.” The city hired a firm to do a national search but one of the requirements was they had to have Texas Certification. Why did we waste time, taxpayer dollars, and resources doing a national search when most likely someone in another state would not have Texas Certification? Five Texas finalists were announced, and Interim FC Lee Glover made the list. It was surprising because he was Borchardt’s #2 and was listed as a part of the problem in the 2011/12 Employee Climate Survey. The association immediately responded by doing a survey in which 220 out of 233 firefighters responded. It was not a surprise that 92.5% of the association did not want Glover as the next Fire Chief. The survey also said 91.4% do not believe Glover has improved morale or regained any trust during his time as Interim Chief. The association made city management and city councils aware of the survey results. It is clear the department does not trust, nor did they want to go back to Borchardt /Glover regime.
No one was shocked in June of 2023 when Wes Pierson, City Manager announced he is promoting Lee Glover to Frisco Fire Chief. Since September of last year, Chief Glover has served as Interim Fire Chief. “Lee’s combination of experience, knowledge, and leadership was the best fit for the department,” said Wes Pierson, City Manager. “I believe Lee is deeply committed to the success of Team Frisco and will work hard to serve our community and members of FFD.” Pierson probably never read the Employee Climate Survey which says, “ There is considerable animosity regarding the Chief.” It also says most believe things won’t change in this department unless the Chief and the entire Senior Staff are replaced. Glover was #2 on that Senior Staff for years.
When the announcement was made I thought to myself about what J.K. Rowling wrote in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, “Honestly, if you were any slower, you’d be going backward.” Wes Pierson is slow or just stupid and that is evident in his backward ridiculous decision which is the reason the Fire Department is now fighting for Civil Service and Collective Bargaining. Now many will say Lee Glover has changed and does not have that “mentality” anymore but he does and the proof is in the survey and an article in the Frisco Enterprise where he announced his first 100-day priorities. Glover said the department will continue to build on what the city has today and went on to say, “We’re going to continue to do what we’ve been doing since the day I walked in this fire department.” Wait, did he just admit that he wants to do what he has always done, well that makes sense because it is “The Frisco Way” which is why they hired them.
The question citizens should be asking, why hire someone that clearly the fire firefighters did not support back in 2011/2012 and still do not today?
Read Borchardts Retirement Severance Agreement and Release click here
Read the Entire FD Employee Climate Report from 2011/2012 click here
Reach The FD Climate Survey Action plan click here
Frisco Whistle Blower wants to hear from you! Our goal is simple: We are not here to have revenge against any one person or place. We are strictly here to tell the truth wherever it takes us regardless of who it is about. If there is any abuse of bribery, kickbacks, embezzlement, fraud, nepotism, and/or questionable use of tax payer dollars then we will find it!
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In closing, all truth passes through 3 stages: First, it is ridiculed Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
What is Privilege? Privilege is a right or immunity granted as a benefit, advantage, or favor. In America, many believe privilege is often associated with wealth, opportunity, and powerful connections. However, in today’s America, privilege has been skewed or bent to be associated with race and racial injustice. For a foreigner who came to America and went through the process to become a citizen, I can tell you many foreigners look at privilege very differently. Most of those who have struggled to come here will tell you applying for citizenship was not easy, not cheap, and not quick. If you ask most immigrants they will tell you if you were born here in America (regardless of race/color, religion, or sexuality) you were born with an innate privilege that most Americans cannot comprehend and see right in front of their eyes. Growing up my dad always said, “If you rascals would have been lucky enough to be born in America, then inherently you would have had more freedoms, privileges, and opportunity than any other country in the entire world. It is the reason people die trying to come here.”
If you remember in Anatomy of a Friendship we talked about how Mayor Cheney announced he was going to take Mayors Privilege to make some comments at the December 4, 2018 special meeting to authorize and execute the proposed Master Development Agreement for the PGA Frisco. I have always wondered since that meeting what other “Privilege” does Cheney take using his position as Mayor for the City of Frisco. Powerful people have powerful privileges or at least opportunities to call in “favors.”
Well one citizen who walks the Cottonwood Creek trail every morning noticed several years ago that the area belonging to the city behind the mayor’s new Shaddock custom home was getting a little “spruced up” and was curious about it. After reviewing a copy of the citizens PIR submitted to us from 2021, we noticed it started with a response from Mayor Jeff Cheney. We will come back to a little later after we talk about the timeline of emails that escalated our interest.
May 24, 2019 (11:28am): First email, Jeff Cheney from his business email (Cheney Group) sent a note to Shannon Keleher with the city parks department stating they decided to build on a Shaddock lot, but they were not in love with the proximity of the trail and all the eyeballs in their backyard and he points out his lot is one of the few that intrude on this amazing park. He asked Shannon to look and see if more screening in this area makes sense as he does not think park users want to be staring at the mayor in his backyard. He continues it’s a unique situation and won’t happen in the future with the new policy but hopes there is something that can be planned now for the benefit of all. Cheney continues he plans to put some personal money and time into this park because they love it so much but would like to meet Shannon out there and get his blessing first. Lastly he notes that Shannon had mentioned the ponds might be combined and would love an update and how he would like to see a walking trail that completed the loop around the water. He ended it with his signed business signature from the Cheney Group.
Question: How many citizens can directly email the Director of Parks and Recreation asking for consideration on an issue they believe is concerning or that affects their home?
Question: At the time Cheney picked this lot, was the walking trail in question already there? Yes. Therefore, he knew before every buying or building there that his home would back up in close proximity to the trail so why is he complaining about it? Can any Frisco resident whose homes back up to the same type of walking trails and ponds get the same post consideration for privacy screening provided by the city?
May 28, 2019 (10:09AM) Shannon Keleher responds to Hi Mayor, hope you had a great weekend. Thank you for sending this, I understand your concerns and will get with our staff to see what “options” are available. It is such an amazing park, and the new policies will help moving forward. He will ask Holly (assistant) to set up a meeting for them in the next month for them to also discuss the ponds and ways Cheney might be able to help.
October 5, 2019 (3:13PM) Mayor Cheney from his personal business email account for the Cheney Group sends an email to Shannon again and points out that he cc’d Josh Sandler owner of Gold Medal Pools who has purchased two lots on the same street down from Cheney. He notes Josh has access to landscapers and trees through his business and they have been talking about improvements to the public space behind their homes that the park can benefit from. Cheney asks who would be the best person for them to talk to about being a part of the process as well as discussing perhaps additional items at their own personal expense?
Question: Since when did the City of Frisco start considering or allowing citizens to spend their own personal money to spruce up city areas that back up to their homes? Cheney said this consideration was to benefit all, but was it really just for the benefit of Cheney and Sandler’s privacy? I am curious how the city handles and responds to regular citizens who want to be a part of the process of development directly behind their homes?
October 5, 2019 (4:34PM) Shannon responds that met with the CIP team (all landscape architects) who design all the parks and trails. They came up with some ideas of things that could be placed there. Shannon asks to set up a meeting with Cheney and one of the CIP team leaders, and of course Josh Sandler (the neighbor) is welcome to come too.
Question: Would the same opportunity, time and cost be given to any citizen who just emailed the Director of Parks and Rec about their concern of looky-loos? What if a citizen had concern about the view of a park or trail from their home, would they be told how to follow a process to go about asking the city for change? Lastly, how much did Parks and Rec spend in on the landscape architects to come up with “ideas of things” that could be placed there?
Now the Mayor wrote a response to the PIR where he notes 3 streets in the neighborhood back up to Cottonwood Creek. He wrote that the city planted trees at all 3 locations with no preferential treatment to his home. He notes the existing trail does not meet our current distance requirements for trails behind homes. When he was evaluating how to solve that issue he reached out to city staff to see if they could install screening on the city side at his expense. He said city staff told him there were already plans which Cheney shared with his neighbors. Cheney notes the owner of the 2 lots next to him (we are assuming at the time that was Mr. Sandler) asked for the city to delete the plans behind his home which the city accommodated. He notes the last home provided feedback to staff as well and made additional requests, was that Councilman Jon Keatings home? He was unsure if the staff would have met with other Shaddock residents.
Question: Cheney noted the neighbor (Sandler who ultimately sold his lots) asked for nothing be done behind his house and the city accommodated the request. So were the citizens who live on this street provided a menu board of services that could be provided to order off what each lot wanted? Maybe it is just those with privilege “the handpicked” who get to say what they want and do not want behind their houses?
Question: Cheney pointed out that the existing trail does not meet current distance requirements. As a real estate mastermind, he knows that means the existing trail is grandfathered and it does not have to be updated to new standards or policies the city may have adopted. So why then did the city accommodate these specific requests? Was it because who requested it? Does it set a precedent so that any resident in the city who has a trail that does not meet current standards can now ask the city to update it at their expense and give them the same “courtesy” that Mayor Cheney received?
Question: Did the mayor buy his specific lot because it was the best one in the development that had privacy on two sides, expansive greenbelt views of nature and waterways knowing the trail was there? Yes, he did! Cottonwood Creek Greenbelt spans 77 acres through Shaddock Creek and Heather Creek Estates and it is one of the city’s most beautiful spaces. In April of 2017, the Star Local Media published an article where Shaddock said, “envisioned an area where kids could play, explore nature in a somewhat wild setting like he experienced as a boy growing up.” Honestly it sounds fabulous to me!
Question: Why did the mayor even feel the need to write a response to what seems like such a trivial PIR at first glance? It is the fact that he took the time to respond that made my wife and I say, hmm something is a rye! It is clear he knows it looks bad, like he used his position or privilege to ask for special treatment which is why he made it sound like it was no big deal.
Of all the questions we have, we go back to what if a citizen had concern about the view of a park or trail from their home, would they know what to do or be told how to follow a process to go about asking the city for change? Well on June 20th, residents from Starwood came before the council during Citizens Input to talk about Starwood Park and how it has deteriorated and is unsafe. They note the picture of the park on the city website looks nothing like how the park actually appears. The city website notes it is a 2-acre park that was completed in 1996. They want to know why the city has not done anything to maintain the park and to keep it up. The residents noted it is listed on the city website as a city park and it connects to all the other Frisco city parks. One resident made record of the fact that originally Blue Star (Jerry Jones) owned the land, and they transferred it to SHBT, LLC in Denton, Texas. Wait if the city does not own it, then why is it listed as a city park on the city website?
Mayor Cheney was out of town so acting Mayor Keating noted they are not supposed to interact, but he was going to take mayoral liberty to respond, and Bill Woodard also noted he had a comment. Bill went first and noted he received their email, he did reach out to Henry (Hill?) but did not have a chance to go over their concerns in detail with Henry at this point. He then noted that they are not supposed to interact during citizens input (but he continues) and that he will circle back with them after he talks Henry about the legal challenges they are facing there. What? Legal Challenges?
We have community parks that have legal challenges. Apparently there is an issue of who owns the land. Then Brian Livingston steps up noted he received a text and had made some inquiries too, and then asked Ben Brezina to get back with all the council on the issue. Then one of the residents responded it is a city park, it’s on the city website and SHBT, LLC should pay to keep it up and if they don’t the city should. She then said she was told since the land belonged to Jerry Jones and good luck getting him to pay, as well as the city does not want to bother good ole Jerry since he brings so much money to the city regarding the upkeep of this little darn park. Then stand in mayor Keating made a few comments and thanked them for coming.
Again, we go back to what has been our burning question of all, if a citizen had concern about the view of a park or trail from their home, would they be told how to follow a process to go about asking the city for change? Someone should tell them to just email Shannon the Director or Parks and Rec. Not one person on the council told them to contact Shannon so that he could investigate and come up with some ideas. The red carpet is not being laid out for Starwood residents like it was for Mayor Cheney. In a city with so much money, if we are not making the owners of the land maintain it then I agree with the residents we should make the city take care of it. Legal Challenges have never stopped the City of Frisco before!
In closing, it is clear the mayor received special treatment. You have residents all over the city who back up to the trails, greenbelt and waterways that don’t meet current standards and we did not give them all the option to have the city update their areas. Did residents along Beacon Hill Dr and Midnight Moon Drive who back up to walking trails and waterways get the same opportunity? If you have ever walked there then you would know from the walking trails you can see straight into every backyard, heck if the blinds were open you could probably see them changing into the nude.
Did residents in Phillips Creek Ranch who just built million-dollar homes, then learn a Walmart was coming in get the same opportunity to have one-on-one service from Parks about the very open views behind their homes that back up to very busy walking trails and waterways?
The one reason he didn’t like his lot is probably because of the concern regarding neighbors or trail walkers seeing him hosting underage drinking parties at his home for kids. It is a clear case of abuse of power, privilege, and using his position on council AGAIN for his personal advantage.
The other day my wife said, drive me to Bath and Body, I want some of those pretty smelling hand soaps. I told her no drive yourself because I hate those soaps! Next I heard the car starting in the garage, so I ran outside and said wait a minute let me get my shoes I will drive you. My wife drives like a blind armadillo. Even if she had a self-driving Tesla she would still manage to play whac-a-mole with it. Walking into the store you are instantly overcome by the scents which in my opinion is worse than Old Spice on a hairy hooker. She starts talking to herself, “I wonder what Mimosa Spearmint or Eucalyptus Lavender smell like?” I said just buy some soap but no, we must smell every soap while I hear her utter words like aromatherapy, stress relief, and serenity. Finally, we got to the register where the young girl (couldn’t be more than 20) said that would be $89.75. Then she said would you like to pay with cash, credit or apple pay. Apple what? I pulled out my check book in my nice little red vinyl cover with my check register attached and began to write a check. Now I know we have dumbed down our youth in today’s world, but when I handed her the check, she said, “What is this and what kind of wallet is that red thing?” I said it’s a checkbook and her face turned ghost white like she had seen E.T. riding off into the dark night on a witch’s broom. She called a manager over and asked do we take these things called checks? I looked at my wife and I said I will be waiting in the car!
It is sad in today’s world kids don’t know what a check is or how to balance an account with a check register booklet. My point in telling you this is I was surprised to learn that the City of Frisco has their Check Register online for each year so you can see a list of all the payments incurred during a quarter by the city. It includes payment date, payee, amount, and type of expenditure. The city’s website reads, “in an effort to be transparent and accountable to our citizens (well that’s a first), the City of Frisco is posting check register reports showing payments made by the city.”
We downloaded each year, and I noticed under descriptions some of them said Economic Incentives and Sales Tax Grants. An example of an incentive is a government giving a major company tax breaks in exchange for them building an office or plant in their city. The goal is for incentives to stimulate the economy in that area by empowering the company to provide jobs, as well as make goods or services available for purchase.
A few caught our attention, the first being Careington Intl Corp. If our research is right then the CEO is local resident Barbara Fasola who is a donor to Cheney and main of his friends’ political campaigns. We also believe her husband does or did in in the past sit on the Frisco Economic Development Corporation. There is an economic incentive payment in March 2018 for $76800 and February 2019 for $48000.
Then you have New Reunion Title LLC which received an economic incentive in February 2020 for $9,184,546.67. Then we noticed an incentive paid to CLMG Corporation in March 2020 for $1,726,128.00 followed by one in June 2020 for New Reunion Title LLC for (1,726,128.00). We found this one odd as it is the same exact amount to the decimal point as the payout to CLMG Corporation.
Well in researching New Reunion Title LLC it shows they are headquartered in Plano and have an office in McKinney. Strangely enough the location is inside the Abernathy Law Office, which is our city attorney. We tried to do a document search and meeting search, but we could not find any incentive agreements on either company. Who is CLMG Corporation? The only thing we could really find on CLMG is a DMN article about a massive Plano development threated with foreclosure. The article states Dallas-based Beal Bank and its Plano-based commercial loan service company, CLMG Corp had quietly served notice to sell the old JCP headquarters project at a foreclosure auction. Why are we giving over $9 Million in economic incentives to a title company? What does CLMG corporation have to do with Frisco? We are trying to uncover that now so we will keep you updated.
Then there are those you just say, “things that make you go hmm?” For example, BMC Stock Holdings Inc which is based out of Georgia which has something to do with building materials which was paid over ½ million in incentives? Who is Frisco Square Developers and why were they paid economic incentive payments for $325k and $86.5K in 2018, $390k in 2019 and 2020? Another that sparked our interested was Social Finance, who received $80k in 2020 in economic incentives. A article in Community Impact states that Social Finance offers services in student loan refi’s and they will occupy 1200 square feet and employ 10 full time employees. That is a large economic incentive for 10 full time jobs.
Others make sense and we agree are positive economic incentives for companies like Costco, Drury, and T-Mobile USA and DPS Holdings (DRPepper), both have a large building just off the tollway where they have created several hundred jobs in our city. Then you have several payouts to Blue Star those all are Jerry Jones companies and they have brought a large economic boom to our community.
Grab a Manhattan cocktail and click the link above and take time to look over the city register online. You might find something that look interesting to you. If you do let us know. I am sure we will be back more as we continue to dig into the City of Frisco’s register online.
CHECK DATE
VENDOR NAME
DESCRIPTION
AMOUNT
10/17/17
DRURY SOUTHWEST INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
200,000.00
11/30/17
CORNERSTONE AUTOMATION SYSTEMS LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
79,562.50
01/02/18
INSIGHT FOR LIVING MINISTRIES
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
38,000.00
01/30/18
CODE AUTHORITY, INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
5,550.00
02/06/18
COSTCO WHOLESALE CORPORATION
SALES TAX GRANTS
99,307.44
02/13/18
COBB FENDLEY & ASSOCIATES INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
10,000.00
02/13/18
FRISCO SQUARE DEVELOPERS, LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
325,000.00
02/13/18
IFLY HOLDINGS LLC
SALES TAX GRANTS
3,760.78
02/15/18
EDEPOT LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
612,992.44
02/15/18
SALES CENTER DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTS VIII LLC
SALES TAX GRANTS
612,992.45
03/06/18
BRIXMOR OPERATING PARTNERSHIP LP
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
320,000.00
03/06/18
CAREINGTON INTL CORP
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
76,800.00
03/20/18
FRISCO SQUARE DEVELOPERS, LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
86,125.00
04/05/18
RANDSTAD NORTH AMERICA, INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
20,000.00
04/05/18
TEXAS REPUBLIC BANK NA
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
6,900.00
05/03/18
JAMBA JUICE COMPANY
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
55,200.00
05/08/18
COSTCO WHOLESALE CORPORATION
SALES TAX GRANTS
76,071.11
05/08/18
IFLY HOLDINGS LLC
SALES TAX GRANTS
4,635.14
05/14/18
EDEPOT LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
635,396.34
05/14/18
SALES CENTER DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTS VIII LLC
SALES TAX GRANTS
635,396.36
05/15/18
TRANSPLACE TEXAS LP
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
37,500.00
05/15/18
WALGREENS SPECIALTY PHARMACY HOLDINGS LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
13,000.00
05/31/18
HALL OFFICE PARK BUILDING 17, LP
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
375,000.00
06/26/18
ARGON MEDICAL DEVICES INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
26,250.00
07/24/18
MOVIE INSTITUTE
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
2,500.00
07/26/18
IFLY HOLDINGS LLC
SALES TAX GRANTS
3,869.73
07/31/18
CUSTER ROAD COMMONS LTD
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
350,000.00
08/14/18
COSTCO WHOLESALE CORPORATION
SALES TAX GRANTS
113,427.35
08/16/18
EDEPOT LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
596,255.04
08/16/18
STEWARD ENERGY II LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
1,250.00
08/16/18
SALES CENTER DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTS VIII LLC
SALES TAX GRANTS
596,255.04
09/18/18
DRURY SOUTHWEST INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
100,000.00
10/02/18
A-5 137 FRISCO RANCH LP
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
550,000.00
10/02/18
BLUE STAR LAND LP
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
333,000.00
10/09/18
4-WEB INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
5,000.00
10/30/18
CORNERSTONE AUTOMATION SYSTEMS LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
118,750.00
12/10/18
EZYVET US INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
52,000.00
01/22/19
GEARBOX SOFTWARE, LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
85,720.00
01/29/19
CIVF V-TX1M03 LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
230,000.00
01/29/19
FRISCO SQUARE DEVELOPERS, LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
389,660.00
02/07/19
WINTRUST ASSET FINANCE INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
40,000.00
02/12/19
EDEPOT LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
588,455.98
02/12/19
CAREINGTON INTL CORP
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
48,000.00
02/12/19
HALL OFFICE PARK BUILDING 17, LP
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
375,000.00
02/12/19
TEXAS SCOTTISH RITE HOSPITAL FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
750,000.00
02/12/19
VALIFY, INC.
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
9,000.00
02/12/19
SALES CENTER DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTS VIII LLC
SALES TAX GRANTS
588,456.00
02/12/19
COSTCO WHOLESALE CORPORATION
SALES TAX GRANTS
95,955.83
02/12/19
IFLY HOLDINGS LLC
SALES TAX GRANTS
4,049.42
02/19/19
BMC STOCK HOLDINGS INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
800,285.94
02/19/19
TEXAS DEVELOPERS LLC
SALES TAX GRANTS
800,285.94
02/21/19
BRIXMOR OPERATING PARTNERSHIP LP
SALES TAX GRANTS
170,514.93
03/21/19
POWERSECURE INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
200,000.00
04/02/19
RANDSTAD NORTH AMERICA, INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
20,000.00
04/09/19
MULLAPUDI VENTURES
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
87,500.00
04/16/19
CARDTRONICS USA INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
374,000.00
05/14/19
EDEPOT LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
631,272.74
05/14/19
SALES CENTER DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTS VIII LLC
SALES TAX GRANTS
631,272.74
05/16/19
COSTCO WHOLESALE CORPORATION
SALES TAX GRANTS
71,473.35
05/16/19
IFLY HOLDINGS LLC
SALES TAX GRANTS
10,908.73
05/21/19
CUSTER ROAD COMMONS LTD
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
68,140.00
05/23/19
CNMK TEXAS PROPERTIES LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
400,000.00
05/28/19
MULLAPUDI VENTURES
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
78,750.00
05/28/19
TRANSPLACE TEXAS LP
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
37,500.00
06/25/19
MENTE GROUP LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
75,000.00
07/09/19
ARGON MEDICAL DEVICES INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
17,950.00
07/09/19
BGE INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
22,250.00
07/23/19
STEWARD ENERGY II LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
1,250.00
08/01/19
A-5 137 FRISCO RANCH LP
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
350,000.00
08/01/19
BLUE STAR LAND LP
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
333,000.00
08/06/19
COSTCO WHOLESALE CORPORATION
SALES TAX GRANTS
108,572.30
08/09/19
EDEPOT LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
610,491.86
08/09/19
SALES CENTER DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTS VIII LLC
SALES TAX GRANTS
610,491.86
08/13/19
MONROE IF HOLDINGS LLC
SALES TAX GRANTS
3,614.08
10/01/19
T-MOBILE USA INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
300,000.00
12/10/19
HEALTHCARE HIGHWAYS INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
26,000.00
12/26/19
FLYERS BUILDING DEVELOPMENT LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
123,875.00
01/14/20
TEXAS SCOTTISH RITE HOSPITAL FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
375,000.00
01/14/20
CNMK TEXAS PROPERTIES LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
400,000.00
01/22/20
EZYVET US INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
1,488.00
01/23/20
FA PEINADO LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
84,000.00
01/23/20
FRISCO SQUARE DEVELOPERS, LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
389,660.00
01/28/20
COSTCO WHOLESALE CORPORATION
SALES TAX GRANTS
106,516.88
02/04/20
WINTRUST ASSET FINANCE INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
7,500.00
02/05/20
NEW REUNION TITLE LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
9,184,546.67
02/06/20
GEARBOX SOFTWARE, LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
85,720.00
02/06/20
BRIERLEY AND PARTNERS
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
190,500.00
02/06/20
MONROE IF HOLDINGS LLC
SALES TAX GRANTS
3,894.47
02/11/20
E2W LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
500,000.00
02/13/20
T-MOBILE USA INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
300,000.00
02/13/20
ALTAIR GLOBAL SERVICES LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
170,600.00
02/18/20
EDEPOT LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
582,973.30
02/18/20
SALES CENTER DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTS VIII LLC
SALES TAX GRANTS
582,973.28
02/25/20
HALL OFFICE PARK BUILDING 17, LP
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
375,000.00
02/27/20
BRIXMOR OPERATING PARTNERSHIP LP
SALES TAX GRANTS
65,580.22
03/03/20
BMC STOCK HOLDINGS INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
222,720.86
03/03/20
TEXAS DEVELOPERS LLC
SALES TAX GRANTS
222,720.84
03/12/20
LEXIPOL LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
50,000.00
03/13/20
CLMG CORPORATION
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
1,726,128.00
04/02/20
CARDTRONICS USA INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
204,000.00
05/21/20
COSTCO WHOLESALE CORPORATION
SALES TAX GRANTS
85,038.55
05/21/20
MONROE IF HOLDINGS LLC
SALES TAX GRANTS
3,278.76
05/22/20
EDEPOT LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
575,889.42
05/22/20
SALES CENTER DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTS VIII LLC
SALES TAX GRANTS
575,889.42
06/01/20
NEW REUNION TITLE LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
(1,726,128.00)
06/11/20
HEALTHCARE HIGHWAYS INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
11,000.00
06/18/20
TRANSPLACE TEXAS LP
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
37,500.00
06/18/20
LEXIPOL LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
140,000.00
07/23/20
A-5 137 FRISCO RANCH LP
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
350,000.00
07/23/20
SOLAIS LIGHTING LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
90,000.00
08/06/20
FRISCO HOLLYHOCK 380 LP
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
6,425.79
08/13/20
ARGON MEDICAL DEVICES INC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
17,950.00
08/20/20
EDEPOT LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
562,092.42
08/20/20
COSTCO WHOLESALE CORPORATION
SALES TAX GRANTS
102,773.09
08/20/20
SALES CENTER DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTS VIII LLC
SALES TAX GRANTS
562,092.42
08/27/20
FRISCO HOLLYHOCK 380 LP
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
9,747.41
08/27/20
MONROE IF HOLDINGS LLC
SALES TAX GRANTS
152.23
09/10/20
BLUE STAR LAND LP
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
800,000.00
10/26/20
NEW REUNION TITLE LLC
CAPITAL EXP – LAND
3,508,910.25
10/29/20
NACK PATIOS LLC
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
1,500,000.00
12/17/20
TEXAS SCOTTISH RITE HOSPITAL FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN
It is good to be back from our month long sabbatical otherwise known as a holiday in my country and we have been eager to check the tip line for some new Shade. While visiting my country last month, I got to take part in the Gentleman’s Club (it is not what you think). It is a monthly tradition where the village gentleman holds a club night, enjoys some bottles of vino on the terrace, and tell wild tales. Meanwhile, the women go inside to also enjoy the vino and a couple hands of cards. We began to share jolly chatter when Paulo looked at me and said, “since you live in Texas, tell me about LAJITAS?” I politely asked if that was the name of a cocktail and he said “no, it is the name of a small famous town in far west Texas that feels like it sits on the edge of the world.” Shocked, I said tell me more as laughter abound from the men on the terrace. Paulo said, “Clay Henry is a delinquent politician full of tricks who ran for mayor of Lajitas. He was known for consuming up to 40 beers a day and he had a penchant for headbutting constituents without any warning. He was Lajitas most “FAMOUS CITIZEN” and he was the only mayor in the US with hooves.” All of looked at Paulo not sure if we should laugh or think he lost his mind, when he blurted out yep, Clay Henry was a goat! We all began to google and of course there are many stories and/or legends around Lajitas and Clay Henry. So many that it is hard to know what is true or false. One story goes that Clay Henry was killed by his son Clay Henry Jr. for being a ladies’ man and his love rival. Another story said in in 1992 when the Goat Mayor died he was stuffed chugging a beer and mounted in the general store for all the visitors to see. The craziest story of all is the one where Clay Henry was castrated by a local name Bob Hargrove after he became jealous of Henry drinking the last beer in town on a Sunday. According to the ABC News report the goat was found lying in the streets with his testicles cut off. With that all the men stood up and it was time to call it a night. The fun stops when it comes a goat losing his testis’s. I said goodbye to all my local friends and their wives then stumbled just down the steps to my room where my wife was already in bed reading a book. I said, “DAMN HUN, be glad we live in Frisco, Texas and not Lajitas with a testicleless goat!” My wife looked at me with the usual disappointment and like I was an idiot and said turn off the lights.
You are probably wondering why the hell did I tell you this story. Well, because I was thinking we probably didn’t miss anything while we were gone and yet we missed everything! We quickly learned that the City of Frisco hired a new, but old, yet still unwanted Fire Chief named Lee Glover, who has a 90+ percent no confidence vote from the Frisco Fire Fighters. Then we learned the Frisco Fire Fighters have started a petition to become a civil service organization and to have collective bargaining. The cherry on top was a Frisco PD Resource Officer, Kendal Augustus was fired then arrested and charged with sexual assault of a child, indecency with a child and sexual performance of a child and yet his bond was only set at $55,000? Jackie from the TV Series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel said it best, “Life is a basically an all-you-can-eat shit show!”
Jackie is right that life is basically a shit show and sometimes it can also be the gift that keeps on giving. After unpacking I went to water my roses and my neighbor was outside, so he walked over and said I have something to show you. He pulled out his phone and said, yesterday we were on the lake, and you won’t believe the photos we captured. I quickly realized it was photos of Mayor Cheney and his wife Dana on their boat. He pointed out Zach Cheney, the mayor’s oldest son (still under 21), who was doing shots off the back of the boat with some friends while the Cheney’s watched from the head of the boat like the kings of the world!
Obviously, the Cheney’s didn’t learn anything after hosting the viral keg party at their house for Zach’s graduation in May 2021 in which their son later posted to his snap chat account. Now they will quickly deny this happened, but boat registrations do not lie! In Texas, every watercraft must be registered just like a car and that is the number you see on the side of the boat. In this case the pictures show a black Bennington 25 ft Pontoon with the registration of TX 5306 KL. To look up the current ownership of a boat is simple, and a matter of public record at the State of Texas Open Data Portal. When we ran the registration it shows the original registration date of 09/07/2022 and is due for renewal on 09/30/2024. The owner is listed as Thomas J Cheney Jr. and it is registered to his home in Frisco. We won’t give out his address, but you can look it up just clicking on the Open Data Portal link yourself.
Just because it is okay for a Mayoral Goat to get drunk does not mean the same rules apply to humans. What are the laws in Texas when it comes to minors drinking? Drinking when you’re under 21 or providing alcohol to a minor comes with consequences. If a minor attempts to buy, possesses or drink alcoholic beverages, or if a minor is intoxicated in public or misrepresents their age to buy alcohol they could be in trouble. They could face a $500 fine, attend a boring alcohol awareness class, do up to 40 hours of community service and could potentially lose their driver’s license up to 180 days.
On the other hand, adults who give minors alcohol could also face stiff penalties. Making alcoholic beverages available to a minor is a class A misdemeanor, punishable by a fine up to $4,000, confinement in jail for up to a year or both. Your driver´s license would also be automatically suspended for 180 days when they are convicted. Texas also has a “Zero Tolerance Law” which states, it is illegal for a person under 21 to operate a motor vehicle or watercraft in a public place while having any detectable amount of alcohol in their system.
Most interesting is that in Texas, a person may purchase an alcoholic beverage for or give an alcoholic beverage to a minor if he is the minor’s adult parent, guardian, or spouse and they must be visibly present when the minor possesses or consumes the alcoholic beverage. However, Texas Social Host Laws state it is illegal for a parent to provide alcohol to other minors who are not their children, and they could be responsible should that minor cause injury to themselves or cause property damage.
Rick Riordan, The Last Olympian once said, “patterns repeat themselves in history.” If that is true then one could say intentions are often hidden inside patterns of behavior and a good indicator of patterns is TIME! In this case history is repeating itself and just as publicly as it did last time. After watching the video which includes photos from the lake and Zach Cheney’s own open Instagram page it leaves us with a few questions.
How old are the young adults in the boat chugging shots like Clay Henry the Goat?
If they are under 21, then who purchased the alcohol for their consumption?
If the Mayor purchased the alcohol and provided it to his son that is fine, but if he provided it to his son’s friends (who are underage) that is ILLEGAL!
When the pontoon docked back at the marina – who drove the car or cars home?
Lastly, Mr. Cheney is not a secretary for the city he is the Mayor! The BUCK STOPS WITH HIM! He should be leading by example. How do you say this is okay, then say how important the Shattered Dreams program is at the high schools to stop underage drinking. As for Zach Cheney you would think his parents would have sat him down in 2021 and said “Son, you are an extension of us meaning what you do reflects on us and so you can not publish photos of you on social media platforms partying and drinking when you are clearly underage. Surely they told him to lock down his accounts so only his friends can see his debauchery. No, his Instagram clearly shows him drinking on bid day in 2022 when he was 19, as well as other times. It also shows him at AT&T Stadium tailgating – how did they get home after? It appears the Mayor and his wife were also attending the game and the Mayor clearly had on his City of Frisco Polo. Truthfully, old grouches like us are lucky – we did not have social media to get us in trouble. It is called common sense, if you are going to drink underage (most young adults do) and you are from a notable family then don’t post about it on an open social feed, and don’t take your kid out in the open to a cove on the Lake known for a good time!
Well fans, after a month-long holiday across the pond to see friends and family we are back, and we are ready to share some SHADE! Stay Tuned for what’s been brewing!
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…“
Imagine you live in a city where the newly elected female mayor calls a press conference to make an extraordinary announcement regarding a new recruiting policy for the police department. Shortly into her speech she says the police department must accept ALL willing recruits meaning anyone, regardless of colour, gender, height and weight as long as they can attend and pass a 14-week course in the academy. A large number of candidates immediately come forward, sign up, and next thing you know they are standing before the Captain and Lieutenant of the academy. They are greeted by their instructors who say, “My name is Captain Harris! In case you missed it, this is Sergeant Callahan! We are the meanest instructors here. We’ve got you because you are the worst people here. You are “D” Squad; “D” for “dirtbags”. When I say: “Hey, dirtbags!” that means you. You people are going to hate my guts for the rest of your lives. I am going to make you sorry that you ever came here.” The group of misfit recruits work hard and train hard in order to prove themselves capable of carrying the badge. Funny thing is they end up succeeding despite and because of their eccentricities. Well, that is the plot of the very first Police Academy movie in 1984 which grossed $149.8 million worldwide. The series of films would become one of the most popular “police movie” franchises in history grossing another $387 million for the sequels. It was simple slap-stick humor, usually based on simple characterizations and physical attributes of the “underdogs” struggling to prove themselves even though they faced constant opposition from those who ran the academy. My favorite scene of all time is when Hightower gets a driving lesson on how to drive so he can pass the police exam.
Any who, in Dragnet (Part 1) we went over the 27 recommendations from the Three-Year Strategic Staffing Plan for the Frisco PD and now we want to tell you about a few points that my wife and found interesting in the study. First, police calls are rated on a scale of Priority One to Three. Priority 1 calls are crimes in progress and incidents that put citizens at risk. Priority 2 calls are to ensure situations don’t escalate into a more serious incident. Priority 3 & 4 calls are non-critical. In 2019, the city had 595 Priority 1 calls and they expect that number to be over 900 calls in the next 3 years. The average response time in 2019 for a Priority 1 call was 5.25 minutes. Priority 2 calls had an average response time of 6.48 minutes and in 2019 they had 21, 571 calls. In regard to calls, the study said “Frisco PD patrol staffing increases are necessary to increase the capacity of the FPD Patrol Division to absorb the expected increases in calls for service to decrease response times for calls. With these changes, FPD patrol will align with contemporary patrol staffing standards and be able to accommodate modern police service demands.”
Another key point relating to patrol was “ The City of Frisco needs to make steady progress towards the goal of adding 42 patrol officers over the next 3 years. Without additional staffing, the FPD Patrol Division will not be able to absorb the expected increases in calls for service, increase self-initiated activities, or decrease response times without negatively impacting other patrol performance objectives (e.g., immediate availability and patrol visibility).”
Second, the study looked at the Traffic Division which handles hit and run accidents, traffic enforcement and accident investigation. The study said, “As the population of the City of Frisco continues to grow and more visitors come to enjoy its entertainment venues, additional traffic officers are needed.”
Third, when it comes to investigations we learned investigators assigned to the Crimes Against Children Unit was assigned an average of 13.6 new cases per month in 2018, an average of 20.5 new cases per month in 2019, and an average of 25.8 new cases per month in 2020. The number of new cases assigned to Crimes Against Children has substantially increased; almost doubling from 2018 to 2020. I will be curious to see the average number of cases per month once the Universal Kids theme park opens. It is important to point out that the study said there is not a national standard on the number of new cases that should be assigned to an investigator each month. The general standard used by the study is 12 cases per month for violent crimes (which covers crimes against children / persons).
Last, we learned that the Detention Division and the Communications Divisionat the time of the study operated with the minimum staffing level 24/7/365. More shocking was the Training Unit currently pulls their certified TCOLE instructors from their regular responsibilities as a patrol officer, investigator, or other role within the department to provide the in-service training. The study pointed out that with the size of FPD, this is an inefficient process and impacts the staffing levelswithin divisions and units from where the trainers are drawn. If the Training Unit is sufficiently staffed, it can provide all in-service training for FPD personnel.
In a city with a population of 227,426 residents, should we be concerned about staffing levels in two of the most crucial departments in this city? Absolutely we should be concerned about that! In fact, an insider told us that Purefoy didn’t care too much for Chief Piland because at internal meetings he would constantly try to address staffing issues and was quickly shot down by the then city manager. All we hear from top city officials, the mayor and some council members are the slogan “SAFEST CITY” and we that could be true right now, but what about the future? The question everyone should be asking themselves is will we be the safest city 10 years from now. More importantly, why does it seem as if city management at city hall is operating with a reactive management style meaning reacting to problems as they arise vs proactive management which is where we see ahead, anticipate problems, and take steps to prevent the problems from happening? Was the city proactive in taking steps to meet the 27 recommendations in the study over the last 3 years? If not, why?
Frisco is an amazing city and all we want is for it to stay that way. We must ask how is it we have all this money for incentives, developments, TIRZ and public/private partnership opportunities but we can’t find the money to fix staffing issues? Why is it we can find money in the budget for two more Assistant City Managers? If those questions don’t make you stop and think, then maybe this will. Imagine it is 12:30 am and one of our police officers answers the call for a disturbance in a Home Depot parking lot and upon the officer attempting to make contact with the subject, the man produced a gun and opened fire, striking our officer in the chest just outside of his vest. As he lays there he knows he is going to die so he calls out on the radio, “118, tell my family I love them.” Communications responds, “I can’t copy.” The officer responds one final time, “118, tell my family I love them.” That is what happened to Officer Dia in Toledo and there is nothing to say it can’t happen here. What if one of our fire fighters goes into the burning flames of a Frisco home to rescue a child and the next thing you hear is the PASS device sending out distress signals. Those signals mean that a fire fighter is motionless and probably trapped or deceased. The flames at this point are out of control and it is clear we have a firefighter down. Will it take losing one of our own before we before residents wake up and demand more answers? When does the city decide to step up to the plate, be transparent about our staffing levels and do the right thing? Is it too late?
Our question is, would they still both endorse Mayor Cheney today? They didn’t in the recent election so it makes you wonder, why?
Growing up in the countryside on a working vineyard was fun, but my parents had one rule which was always to be home before dark and never go into the fields at night. As a kid I remember my mom coming into my room each night to tuck me into bed and she would open the windows to let the cool air flow through the house since we didn’t have air conditioning. The winery fields at night were a desolate and eerie place. The vines, which during the day were lush with grapes, now hung like sinister fingers in the darkness. The only sound was the rustling of leaves and the occasional hoot of an owl in the distance. The moon cast an otherworldly glow over everything, illuminating twisted shadows that seemed to dance around my little feet at the end of the bed.
One day my brothers and I were playing hide and seek, and I decided to hide out in the fields because they would never find me. It felt like I was sitting there forever waiting for them and the boredom must have set it because I fell asleep. When I woke up it was dark and immediately I was terrified and my heart was pounding in my chest. I had to get home so I stumbled through rows and rows of vines, desperately searching for a way out but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched. Suddenly, a pair of yellow glowing eyes appeared in the darkness, followed by a low growl. I froze in terror as a massive black dog stepped out from the vines, baring its teeth menacingly. I turned to run but found myself face to face with a group of shadowy figures with twisted limbs. They hissed and snarled, inching closer and closer until I could feel their hot breath on my skin. I screamed for help, but no one came and I quickly realized I was alone with these terrifying creatures. As the night grew darker and colder, my fear intensified, my small frame shivering with every step. The wind howled through the barren branches of the trees that surrounded me as if they were calling out to me in a haunting voice. With every rustling sound I heard I walked a little bit faster and that’s when I tripped over a stray root and fell face-first onto the dirt. When I looked up again, I found myself staring into two glowing red eyes that seemed to be getting closer by the second. I quickly realized it was not the scary vine creatures, but my dad and I started screaming Daddy, daddy. Next thing I knew he swept me up off the ground and carried me home. The next day I told my dad I was going to save every penny of my allowance so that one day I could leave the scary creatures behind and move to a new place. His reply was simple, “once you can pay your own way, you can move out son.”
As we become adults there are so many things we must be responsible for, and one is our finances. My dad always told me 50% of my allowance should go to my needs, then 30% to my wants, and 20% should go to Mr. Piggy (that was my bank). I have practiced that my whole life because finances are one of our biggest responsibilities in our personal life as well as in our professional life. As business owners, we must be smart, responsible, and always on top of the P&L because we are the only ones responsible for the result. We must make sure our business is sustainable even during those difficult times. Real Estate is a good example of the ups and downs and how the market can change instantly from a seller to a buyer’s market or how interest rates can change buyers’ habits. Agents must be prepared for those slow times, or they could see themselves in a financial crisis because as our next-door neighbor says you only make money when you sell a house. We would think being fiscally responsible would be a requirement for most management positions, school board positions, or even city council positions because you are overseeing large budgets. That is why we were kind of shocked about The Hot Mess with Dynette Davis when we learned she had financial issues. Let’s just say there were circumstances that could explain it and we gave her a pass; does it make it okay for her to then lie to a direct question asked of her for a news article? The same questions are asked of every candidate running for the same type of position and they all have to tell the truth. Truth and financial responsibility have a direct correlation to your character. As the weeks have passed it made me curious (here we go again), how fiscally responsible the others are who sit on the ISD Board or City Council.
We started with a simple Google search of each council member’s name and the word bankruptcy. Imagine our surprise when we found an article in the Orlando Sentinel back on April 1, 1996, that says “Dono W. Pelham and Angelia E. Pelham, also known as Just for You Cosmetics and the Make Up, in Orlando filed for Chapter 7 listing Assets: $1,245 and Debts: $343,466. The Major creditors were Community First Bank, Jacksonville, $140,000; Eric Stern, Carrollton, Texas, $35,000; Schroder Center Management Inc., Dallas, $35,000. The creditors meeting was held that year on April 24.”
We then looked at her candidate interviews – was she honest about it? Well according to the Dallas Morning News Voter Guide she was asked, “Have you ever been involved in any civil lawsuits or declared personal or professional bankruptcy? If so, please explain.” Her response was “No lawsuits. One business filing almost 30 years ago in the early 90s for a small cosmetics retail business with 2 locations that I owned when I was in my mid-twenties in Florida. Did not have the financial capital to maintain inventory in both locations. Incredible learning experience as a young entrepreneur.” The answer to the question is yes she was honest that she had a business filing. Dono and Angelia filed Chapter 7 on 03/26/96 and it was discharged on 2/27/97 – related case number 6:96-bk-01808-ABB in Florida Middle Bankruptcy Court
In the DMN Voter Guide, she was asked, “What is an example of how you led a team or group toward achieving an important goal?” Pelham noted she had 30 years of experience as an executive with companies such as Walt Disney World Company, PepsiCo, Frito-Lay, Main Event Entertainment, and Cinemark. She claims to have been responsible for setting strategic plans and fully executing them, evaluating executive compensation plans, led massive downsizing and right sizing; led countless large-scale change initiatives; supported business acquisitions, and managed multi-million-dollar budgets all through effective leadership of others. At the time she filed for Chapter 7 (1996), Angelia Pelham’s resume also states she was the Director of Human Resources for Walt Disney World in Orlando from 1989-1998. That means she has a full-time demanding job while trying to operate her own business. It begs the questions did she have a good understanding of her own business and the debt she was accumulating? Why did she open a second location if the first location was not fluid? She called it a small business but $343,466 in debts for a small business is questionable and we are pretty sure her creditors left holding the bag would agree it was not “small.”
She noted at the time it was an incredible learning experience for her, so we assume as she moved forward in life she paid more attention to her money! Why did Griffin Park Residential Association file a lien against her property in November 2006 for $2,088.90, October 2011 for $956.80, June 2013 for $1335.65, then again in July of 2020 for $1233.70. Then Wells Fargo Bank filed against Dono Pelham in 2014/15 for what looks like a $10,375 civil judgement. Also in July of 2016, Carlos Avendando, owner of Dallas Green Landscape, filed an affidavit of mechanics and materialmen’s lien on the Pelhams home for $4039.00 for unpaid work. The County of Denton sent a Notice of Les Pendens on Feb 13, 2020 to the Pelham’s letting them know a lawsuit had been filed listing the cause of action for the foreclosure of the property due to unpaid tax lien (delinquent property taxes). It appears in February of 2022, The County of Denton released the Lis Pendens against the property so they must have taken care of it.
Is Angelia the only one? Well, we do know Councilman Livingston also hit some financial issues in 2018 with his food businesses but we could not find bankruptcy records. With more research we found a statement from Livingston that he has posted publicly on social media stating “while his lawyer recommended he file for bankruptcy, he had chosen not to do that and instead he worked with those he owed on a payment plan to pay out the debts and continues to make payments today to back any creditors. Mr. Livingston has a home mortgage in the amount of $294,800 and his home’s annual taxes are around $8500 that they purchased back in 2010. At the time the Livingstons drove a 2007 Chevy Silverado and now drives a used Tahoo which makes sense if you are paying off some large debts.
What did we learn? Angelia and her husband stiffed creditors out of $343,000 dollars and it appears they continue to have issues however they live in fancy neighborhood in a house with an estimated value of $971,422 and annual taxes around $12,000 and they drive a BMW or Lincoln which are some nice cars. The question is can they afford to live the way they are living? It would be easy to do if you didn’t pay bills. Mr. Livingston appears to be taking financial responsibility for his debts, we also confirmed he has paid off a huge IRS lien and his family live on a tight budget.
Back to me, I saved every dollar since I was a kid and today am proud to have no debt. It wasn’t easy and yes there were bumps in the road, but my wife and I have no outstanding debts and have never been sued by creditors let alone our HOA. We know there can be bumps in the road, those unforeseen things like medical bills which can knock a family right out of the comfort zone financially, but you get back up and wipe off your pants and move forward. If financial issues continue to plague you then the problem is you, and your bad choices and decisions. Our point – is that we should hold those who represent our city and boards to higher standards. They are representing us! Our character is defined by the choices we make, our values and our ethics. As Dave Ramsey says, “act your wage!”
Sgt. Joe Friday is a no-nonsense, by the book kind of cop. He can be calm at times and other times he is viewed as a little rigid, cold, and a fast talker. Imagine Sgt. Friday’s dismay when he is partnered with a lively, unscrupulous, irresponsible and foot loose partner named Pep Streebeck. At their first meeting Friday says his new partner “I don’t care what undercover rock you crawled out from, there’s a dress code for detectives in Robbery-Homicide under section 3-605. 10. 20. 22. 24. 26. 50. 70. 80. It specifies a clean shirt, short hair, tie, pressed trousers, sports jacket or suit, and leather shoes, preferably with a high shine on them.” Their first assignment is to investigate Jerry Caesar a criminal who traffics pornographic magazines. Strait-laced Sgt. Friday said to Streebeck, “There are two things that clearly differentiate the human species from animals. One, we use cutlery. Two, we’re capable of controlling our sexual urges. Now, you might be an exception Streebeck, but don’t drag me down into your private Hell.” Their investigation into Ceaser has a connection to a series of random crimes by a P.A.G.A.N., a criminal cult. Friday and Streebeck realize they must go undercover to rescue the Virgin Connie Swail, a woman who is about to be sacrificed. Swail agrees to testify against the leader corrupt Reverend Whirley. Shortly thereafter Friday begins a romance with Virgin Connie Swail which could hinder his police work. Want to know the rest of the story then you need to watch the 1987 hit movie Dragnet that topped the box office.
There is a general theme in most cop movies which is it is important that police departments have the staff and resources needed to protect and serve residents. During the recent 2023 mayoral election, “staffing” of our public safety departments was a topic raised over and over. In fact, Matt Sapp, President of the Frisco Fire Fighters Association stood in front of our city council in January 2023 and asked a simple question, “Will we as a city add firefighters to the budget this year?” You can read more about how our FD falls below the national staffing standard by reading Where There Is Smoke (part 1), and There is Fire (part 2). The city has repeatedly denied our Fire Department is understaffed and very own Mayor, Jeff Cheney, said he is happy with the staffing levels, and the departments have everything they need. At one of the debates Mayoral Candidate Mark Piland mentioned a “police study” the city had done sometime in 2020 / 2021 and how it stated our police department is understaffed. My wife and I looked at each other and said is it possible that both of our public safety departments are currently understaffed?
A PIR was filed for a copy of the study, but we were told it was only available for viewing at city hall because the documents are subject to copyright. That is truly the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard as an excuse. Whether or not something is copyrighted should not matter or be a reason you withhold it from the public. If you go to Barnes and Noble most, if not all, the items in the store are copyrighted by the authors. Shockingly they are on the shelves, available for viewing and for you to buy. In fact, a simple google search of the organization who did the study pulls up several other studies they have done for other nearby local agencies for example Sachse PD. Imagine our SURPRISE to discover most of those studies are available for full view online. Where is the copyright issue? We also found that Collin County Sherriff’s Office contracted a study for a 5-year plan in February 2022 and Murphy Police Department 2020 Racial Profiling Analysis online. Why does Frisco act like they are special or have the right to withhold information? Why would they tell us we have to come in to view the study – what makes it any different than any other study in other cities? What is in the study that the city does not want us to know? No worries, we have the staffing study in full because Shady Shit does not give up that easily.
Who conducted the study? In 2020, Frisco PD with the help of federal grant money contracted with Justice Research Consultants, LLC, and its principal researcher Mr. Fritsch for the development of a three-year strategic staffing study. Fritsch has done studies both nationally and internationally and is considered a leading expert on police staffing, patrol allocation and deployment strategies. He has conducted staffing assessments in several Texas cities including Allen, Prosper, and Richardson. Fritsch also developed a propriety software called Model for the Allocation of Patrol Personnel (MAPP) which is one of the only models in existence today and the only one that has been stringently validated. Lastly, he has taught graduate level research methods for over 20 years at a university and is a published author. He appears to be more than qualified to conduct the study and to produce accurate results.
The study which was done in 2020 pulled most the of the baseline from 2019 due to covid and how that affected certain indicators. It started with interviews with Frisco PD personnel and the research team conducted a comprehensive analysis of several different factors to validate and project patrol staffing needs. The report is structured into six primary sections and the summary had 27 recommendations for staffing improvements which are listed below:
Recommendation #1: Based on the results, it is recommended by the end of FY 24 that 42additional patrol officers be added above the current authorized patrol officer and corporal allocation. Implementation Timeframe of Officers: FY 22 – Add 14 patrol officers, FY 23 – Add 14 patrol officers and FY 24 – Add 14 patrol officers.
Recommendation #2: It is recommended that four new patrol Sergeants should be assigned to serve as supervisors for special shifts. Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 2 patrol sergeants and FY 23 – Add 2 patrol sergeants.
Recommendation #3: It is recommended that a deployment team of one Sergeant and three officers be added for each of the next three years. Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 1 sergeant and 3 officers, FY 23 – Add 1 sergeant and 3 officers, FY 24 – Add 1 sergeant and 3 officers.
Recommendation #4: It is recommended that one new Sergeant should be assigned to the Traffic Unit. Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 1 traffic sergeant.
Recommendation #5: It is recommended that two new traffic officers should be assigned to the Traffic Unit. Based on the needs of the unit, it is expected these additional traffic officers will be deployed in vehicles. Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 1 traffic officer, FY 24 – Add 1 traffic officer.
Recommendation #6: Add 3 school resource officers to the School Resource Officer Unit. Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 1 school resource officer and FY 24 – Add 2 school resource officers.
Recommendation #7: Add 2 criminalists to the Crime Scene Unit. Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 1 criminalist and FY 24 – Add 1 criminalist.
Recommendation #8: Add 1 property & evidence technician to the Property & Evidence Unit. Implementation Timeframe: FY 24 – Add 1 property & evidence technician.
Recommendation #9: Add 2 digital media technicians to the Investigations Division. Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 2 digital media technicians.
Recommendation #10: Add 3 civilian investigative assistants to the Investigations Division. Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 2 civilian investigative assistants and FY 24 – Add 1 civilian investigative assistant.
Recommendation #11: Add 1 Office Manager to the Investigations Division. Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 1 office manager.
Recommendation #12:Within the Crimes Against Children Unit, add 1 internet crimes against children investigator, 1 digital forensic analyst (non-sworn), and 1 crimes against children investigator. Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 1 internet crimes against children investigator and FY 23 – Add 1 digital forensic analyst (non-sworn) and 1 crimes against children investigator.
Recommendation #13: Add 2 investigators to the Crimes Against Persons Unit. Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 1 investigator and FY 24 – Add 1 investigator.
Recommendation #14: Add 1 investigator to the Property Crimes Unit to investigate economic/white collar crimes. Implementation Timeframe: FY 24 – Add 1 investigator to investigate economic/white collar crimes.
Recommendation #15: Add 2 Community Service Officers to the Community Services Division. One of the officers should have the primary responsibility of working with businesses while the other officer should primarily work with hotels/motels. Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 1 Community Service Officer and FY 24 – Add 1 Community Service Officer
Recommendation #16: Add 4 Detention Officers to the Detention Division. One Detention Officer should be assigned to each of the four shifts. Implementation Timeframe: FY 24 – Add 4 Detention Officers
Recommendation #17: Add 2 Records Clerks to the Records Division. One Records Clerk should focus on open record requests while the other Records Clerk should focus on digital media requests. Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 1 Records Clerk and FY 24 – Add 1 Records Clerk
Recommendation #18: Add 3 Communications Officers to the Communications Division. These officers can be utilized to provide coverage of the new second Frisco PD radio channel which is expected to be operational in FY 22. Implementation Timeframe: FY 23– Add 3 Communications Officers.
Recommendation #19: Add 1 Communications Supervisor to the Communications Division and develop a fourth shift in communications. Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 1 Communications Supervisor.
Recommendation #20: Add 2 Radio Technicians to the Radio System Division. Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 2 Radio Technicians.
Recommendation #21: Add 1 Public Service Officer to the Radio System Division to assist with fleet maintenance. Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 1 Public Service Officer.
Recommendation #22: Add 1 Office Manager to the Radio System Division. Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 1 Office Manager.
Recommendation #23: Add 1 Deputy Chief of Police to supervise the Services Bureau. Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 1 Deputy Chief of Police.
Recommendation #24: Add 2 background investigators to the Professional Standards Unit. One of the background investigators can be a non-sworn employee who handles the background investigations for non-sworn applicants. Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 2 background investigators (one sworn and one non-sworn).
Recommendation #25: Add 3 training officers to the Training Unit. Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 2 training officers and FY 24 – Add 1 training officer.
Recommendation #26: Add 1 administrative assistant to the Training Unit. Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 1 administrative assistant.
Recommendation #27: Add 2 intelligence analysts to the Crime Analysis Unit. Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 1 intelligence analyst and FY 24 – Add 1 intelligence analyst.
Iris Murdoch once said, “We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality.” Every day that I live in Frisco I feel like we live in a fantasy world. The illusion is whatever the city wants to buy or has shoved down our throats. Based on the way the city tried to deny us the staffing report it is clear they did not want us to learn the study had a total of 27…yes 27 recommendations for more staff. Ask yourself, why does the city want to withhold a study that several other cities have published online? The studies recommendations were to be completed by 2023 or 24 so how many of the 27 recommendations has the city followed through on? During the Universal council meetings, it was Chief Shilson who said he has no concerns about what potential crime Universal could or would bring. The city loves to tout here and there Frisco is the SAFEST CITY, but I am wondering if those that determined that would have the same opinion if they read the staffing study and how “UNDERSTAFFED” we are. Why are we understaffed with life-saving personnel? In my opinion our growth rate is out of control. We have a current population of 227,446 residents and we are growing rapidly with more residents moving here every day. We are growing so fast the city can’t keep up with its own infrastructure. As residents we see it every day with traffic, our roadways, parks and more. However, we don’t see behind the red curtains of city hall every day to realize that our growth is happening faster than we can hire and train more police officers and fire fighters. That means we are now being reactive instead of being proactive years ago, which could have helped us avoid the current situation. Secondly, we have city leaders and management who don’t want to slow growth. They refuse to say no to anything development related so as we continue to bring in big events like PGA golf tournaments, the ACM Awards, and don’t forget a theme park all while we are putting at risk our understaffed departments and residents. It begs the question, why is Frisco and our City Manager Wes Pierson hiring two more Assistant City Managers (and what are their salaries) but we are not working towards hiring more life-saving personnel in the Fire Department or Police Department? Instead, we have a new city manager with a GOD complex and a clear disdain for First Responders.
In our next blog we will dive into some interesting points in the study but for now we leave you to ponder a simple question. Now that we are in 2023 how many of the 27 recommendations can the city mark off the list as completed?
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