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Mounds View City Council July 22, 2002 <br />Regular Meeting Page 2 <br />. Mr. Werner said he hoped the Staff would make these things clear in their quarterly reports so <br />that residents know what is going on. <br />John Hammerschmidt of 716 Highway 10, Blaine addressed Council and said that about two <br />weeks ago an administrative law judge ruled he was discharged from the golf course for reasons <br />other than misconduct. He then said the only reason he could be discharged per the policy <br />manual is if he had committed misconduct. <br />Mr. Hammerschmidt read excerpts from the Judge's ruling and noted that the evidence was not <br />discovered until after his discharge and was clearly never contemplated by Council until after he <br />was fired making it abundantly clear that personal and political factors were involved. <br />Mr. Hammerschmidt read an excerpt from the Judge's ruling concerning Mayor Sonterre's <br />claims of excessive incentive pay in two of five years of over $250,000 and indicated they found <br />no misconduct in that area. He then said he would like to remind people of the hours of staff <br />time and tens of thousands of dollars spent on this matter. He further commented that he feels it <br />is fortunate that the administrations lies have shown and he asked what attorney in his right mind <br />would recommend this action when there was no evidence. <br />Mr. Hammerschmidt said he was asking Council to suspend and investigate Ms. Miller for <br />misconduct because not only has she spent money on attorney's fees for these actions with no <br />evidence and she told Council that the actions were well founded. He also asked that Mayor <br />Sonterre and his business partner Dan Coughlin be investigated for not reporting the conflict of <br />selling things to teams and being part of City Commissions. <br />Mr. Hammerschmidt indicated that Mayor Sonterre had called a special meeting of his business <br />partners to look at taking over the golf course club house which should be investigated. He also <br />indicated that Mr. Coughlin had found time to make false accusations of harassment and claims <br />as to why he was fired such as the suggestion that he had made calls to an adult telephone line <br />while working. <br />Mr. Hammerschmidt indicated that Ms. Miller was quoted in Sunday's paper for realizing that <br />the state is reducing local government aid money and she said something about reducing <br />spending but at same time she has no problem spending money on lawsuits at the golf course and <br />setting up the golf course to be run in a way that is costing the City more money. <br />Mr. Hammerschmidt said he did not want to spend the next two years in lawsuits and suggested <br />someone look into these charges and appoint someone to mediate the matter because it is not fair <br />to allow residents to spend large amounts of money on attorneys and settlement fees. <br />Mayor Sonterre commented that this is an issue with regard to the decision of the administrative <br />judge and something this Council needs to consider its options on. <br />David Jahnke of 8428 Eastwood Road asked how the court had ruled in the other unemployment <br />matter. <br />