Stillwater Nepotism-
It has been alleged that Arlene Fisher, the zoning officer and wife of Tim Fisher, committeeman, is taking attendance at the town council meetings. Of course there is nothing illegal about taking attendance...but why would you do that unless you were going to use that information for some other purpose? Perhaps retaliation, perhaps not, but the fact that she is married to a councilman could suggest something insidious.
Nepotism is never good.
see article on Nepotism in the Small Business Encyclopedia: Nepotism in Small Business "In the business world, nepotism is the practice of showing favoritism
toward one's family members or friends in economic or employment terms.
For example, granting favors or jobs to friends and relatives, without
regard to merit, might be considered nepotism." ***See email below from Mrs. Fisher; she remarks, "I never see you there." Attendance is used to mark who IS and who ISN'T in attendance. Obviously, attendance is being taken.
Arlene Fisher makes $25,000 per year for a 10 hour work week as the township zoning officer. Perhaps, there isn't a tremendous amount of work associated with this job. However, while perhaps the job should be eliminated or the salary or hours decreased for the service, this would be less likely to happen because, of course Tim Fisher, committeeman, is involved.
Nepotism is never good. It affects the council's ability to make fair and necessary decisions. Township employees interconnected with each other confounds issues unnecessarily. ie: You are a committee person not related to these folks and you want to vote to eliminate a job, but Tim Fisher is your friend. How likely would you be to vote against Tim's family? Not only is Tim Fisher on the council, but it gets to feeling like so is the zoning officer and so is the clerk. Nepotism carries negative connotations for a reason.
"In the business world, nepotism is the practice of showing favoritism
toward one's family members or friends in economic or employment terms.
For example, granting favors or jobs to friends and relatives, without
regard to merit, might be considered nepotism." "People" are suspect of the relationships within the township municipal government. The reason that I cannot divulge the specifics is for fear of further retaliation. The fact that these township employees are all related makes the townspeople speculate about retaliation and abuse.
That's why nepotism is never good! If they weren't related, suppositions would have less gravity. However, in this case, the familial connections are so prevalent in our town government, that it's unhealthy for our community. One or more of these individuals should relinquish their position.
"One of the most common arguments against nepotism is that the emotional
ties between people who are related may negatively affect their
decision making abilities and professional growth. In the past, many
businesses sought to avoid even the appearance of nepotism by forbidding relatives from working closely together".
Update: Below is a message that I just received from Arlene Fisher. My response is that I don't have to attend meetings to have an opinion on nepotism and the impact that nepotism can and does have on a local government. More importantly, everyone who lives in Stillwater has the right to an opinion regarding this issue. Nepotism is "favoritism shown on the basis of family relationships" or "favoritism shown to relatives". Nepotism even extends in the business world to friends and favors for friends in the workplace.
Arlene Fisher could be showing favoritism towards her husband by taking notes about who opposes him and why. She could be plotting and planning to threaten those people for the position that they take. In fact, she could be threatening lawsuits upon them if they verbalize or spread their discontent to the community. (see email dated 12/2/09 below)
Mr. Fisher being a member of the committee and married to Mrs. Fisher, could sway the committee vote, as she is his wife and they may be friends. Being related puts you in a familial relationship. Being friends makes you cronies. Either of these relationships COULD turn into a nepotistic or cronyistic relationship, should one party show favoritism to another. That is the danger we face.
E-mail: ar1tim2fisher@yahoo.comMessage: 12/2/09
Tina,
Your buddies lost the election get over it! The oppositon [sic] won by an overwhelming majority! My family and I have had enough of your attacks and lies get ready to meet my attorney as I am unwilling to deal with these libelous attacks any longer. I sure hope you can prove your accusations because you will need proof in court. You know nothing about what I do, and neither do your informants. I can't remember the last time I saw you in Town Hall so it amazes me that you know everyting [sic]
about my job. If ignorance is bliss you must be the happiest person on earth! Small minded, evil, lying, gossipers like you have done nothing positive for Stillwater Township, [sic] by the way moron "nepotism" means favoritism as in an appointment to a job. I have worked for Stillwater since January 1, 1993, Tim didn't get elected until 2009, duh! It would behoove you to use your energy in a positve [sic] way instead of reporting the jaded misinformation of other ignornant [sic] individuals, especially when you don't come to meetings. Obviously your cohorts reported to you that I go to the meetings, since I never see you there. I am proud of that fact, at least I KNOW what is going on, not taking someones [sic] word for it and reporting negative information like it was a proven fact! You and you [sic] ilk need a taste of your own medicine. You think it is ok [sic] to lie about people and try to ruin their reputations, well bring it on!!! As previously stated you better have proof of your outrageous accusations for court. You should change your self proclamation [sic] you are only dedicated to spreading gossip, not making your township a healthy and safe place to live. [sic] Merry Christmas
Arlene Fisher
Update: Here is a message that I got from Bill Morrison in support of Arlene Fisher.
From: William Morrison
E-mail:
wmorrison.stillwatertwp@yahoo.comMessage: 12/2/09
Tina,
Several weeks ago, I found your website and saw an individual expressing their views on an important issue. No need for me to comment or respond. I must however chime in, as once again, the residents can't have an honest debate on facts and must resort to nothing short of what I can only describe as personal attacks. The candidates you supported, have rifled through almost every employee of this Township in an attempt to make points in the arena of public opinion towards the police. Why? They were unable to debate the facts. I had informed them to go an [sic] investigate and compare Stillwater Township to our neighboring Townships when it comes to our operation. Sadly, I do not suspect they have done so and are unwilling to truly educate themselves. If they have [sic], they would not continue to make the same allegations as Stillwater employees are not living high on the hog. We actually have a frugal operation.
Mrs. Fisher has worked for the Township for 17 long years before her husband became a committee member. Your candidates have tried to make this an issue and made a point of it every chance they could, to include [sic] all their campaign literature. We'll [sic] it seems that the people have spoken and are overwhelmingly less concerned about "nepotism" as they are with the cost of maintaining a police department. I would even go out on a limb and state that the personal attacks which started with the despicable blog early this year in which the "torch" was apparently passed to you, did far more damage to the public support of the police than any actions of the Committee. So continue down the path, and I suspect even more people will be turned off.
As far as the "investigations" quo...
My reply to Bill Morrison:
Hi Bill. Your email got cut off. It only allows a certain amount of characters. I posted your email to me and Arlene's email to me but yours is incomplete.
I want a police department in Stillwater. You know that. Nepotism is an aside. It isn't good and I don't like it. I think it's embarrassing that we have so many people related to each other on the town council and in municipal jobs. It just stinks. If it wasn't Arlene and it was someone else, I wouldn't like it either. It doesn't have to do with Arlene. I like Arlene. But liking someone and having an opinion about nepotism are two different issues. If I kept myself from having an opinion about nepotism because I like Arlene, that would put me in the same position as, for instance, you. You wouldn't be able to say it either without perhaps being called names, as she did to me just a few minutes ago.
Keep in mind that people do not have to attend council meetings to be entitled to an opinion about what goes on in town. We all earn that by paying taxes and being registered voters. I can, and will, have an opinion on issues and I don't expect to be threatened in the process. I don't have to know what she does with her job. Maybe it's a lot for the money and maybe it's a little. I can say that I don't think that she does enough in 10 hours per week to earn $25,000 per year because, of course, she's paid by taxpayers. If you work for the township, you might expect to have people questioning what you do or whether what you do is adequate for whatever compensation you receive.
My accusation is this. Nepotism is never good. If you are related to other people that work for the township, it spells trouble with a capitol T. Without outlining why nepotism is never good, you can't make a point about it. The points I made should be worrisome to everyone because IF she is taking attendance, or is even making mental notes, while not illegal, it certainly is a reason for speculation. That speculation about relationships between people is exactly WHY nepotism is so harmful to our township. IF there is any kind of retaliation going on vis a vis people's opinions regarding the relationships between these folks, then that's shameful. I have heard it's so. I see with Arlene's email to me, that she isn't afraid to threaten people into submission.