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!
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