No Business Like Show Business

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! 

PIR Gate

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.”

― Walter Scott, Marmion

Sassy Safranek

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. 

Read The Full Memo Click Here

Redline of City Workers Comp Policy Click Here

All In The Family At The Office

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 2023Item 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?

Mirror, Mirror (Truth in Advertising)

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?

At the 25 second mark you see Hall Park and the Future Kaleidoscope Park which matches up to several shots in the Progress In Motion – Hall Park New Development.

At the 48 second mark he uses footage from a Fox4 newscast of the UNT Campus announcement followed by footage at the 52 second mark that is an exact match to the Progress In Motion – Collin College I.T. Ribbon Cutting

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.