Corrao: More than a personality conflict

Robert Monteith

June 25, 2009.

One councilor has decided to break the silence surrounding City Manager Rich Underkofler’s dismissal. Lee Corrao said that while he couldn’t discuss “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” he wanted to share his point of view with the public. He was one of four councilors that voted to end Underkofler’s tenure with the city last Monday, despite ample testimony from the public imploring him to reconsider. Since then, he has become the subject of one of two recall bids that would unseat the two junior members of the council, himself and Sara Stoner, both of whom have only served on the council for nine months. That would effectively break up a perceived council majority that often votes together in order to enact their own policies, despite dissent from fellow councilors and city staff.

The dichotomy is a welcome thing for Corrao, who said he was eager to consider differing opinions. According to him, the real controversies came when Underkofler attempted to oppose the majority will of the council.

“This is not about something as silly as a personality conflict. This is really about Rich’s determination to take the city into a particular direction that is not in cooperation with what the majority sees. He has used unacceptable methods to try and achieve that, in my opinion. That’s what brought things to a head in February,” he said.

The same majority that fired Underkofler on Monday seemed ready to do so in a February meeting. That meeting also brought an outpour of public support for the city manager. It was enough for the four councilors to reconsider their plan of action. They instead decided to hire a mediator to resolve their differences, a plan that was nixed in a subsequent meeting. In hindsight, Corrao said he could see how people were critical of their decision not to do so. Instead, the majority of the council came to a gentleman’s agreement with Rich that he would stop using certain methods of persuasion.

An example that stood prominent in Corrao’s own opinion was what he called “sowing seeds of discord about the council majority’s attitude toward city workers.”

“To my knowledge, nothing has ever been said from the council floor that would indicate we want to sack a bunch of department heads,” explained Corrao. “He has been brought into an image that he is the great protector of the city workers. Frankly, I’m flabbergasted because I don’t have an agenda against any of them. And yet I get that all the time. People ask me why I want to get rid of these guys. All I can say is that I don’t.”

During Monday’s meeting, the public was critical of the majority council for several clashes they’ve had with city staff. Besides butting heads with Underkofler on a variety of issues, one councilor, Bob Nilsen, is currently suing Harbormaster Jim Stromdahl over allegations that he orchestrated an effort to spy on Nilsen’s home. Stromdahl has since announced his retirement. The council also made the decision not to renew Parks and Rec Director Ryan McFarland’s contract pending an executive session with the department head of 10 years.

Corrao maintains that it was unprofessional of Underkofler to allow conversations about what was going on at the Nilsens’ home during department head meetings. Underkofler has since denied that claim, saying that it was brought to him by Stromdahl in one meeting only because a city employee on leave was concerned that councilors could be breaking the law by constantly visiting Nilsen’s home.

Corrao said the incident with McFarland was a good example of Underkofler’s alleged use of deception. According to Corrao, he met with Underkofler to discuss different projects that had gone overbudget in the Parks and Rec department. The new shelters out at Sandy Beach were used as an example. Corrao felt money could have been saved by jacking up the structures and replacing the rotting bottoms, rather than building entirely new shelters.

Projects of that nature were what Corrao said he wanted to discuss with McFarland in an executive session.

“I said that I wanted to see that Ryan was getting the kind of guidance he needs so that we’re not seeing cost overruns. I don’t want to sack Ryan, but you’ve got to demonstrate through the contract process that there is some intention of doing this,” explained Corrao.

Following his call to speak with McFarland privately, Corrao alleges that Underkofler changed his story.

“So it was at this time that it was revealed to me that he had actually advised Ryan on the shelter. He told him to go ahead and tear down the shelter. This after having said nothing about it when closely questioned. Again, this is a deception. This is not a misunderstanding. Why? I don’t know. I don’t get it, but these are examples of how he manages things. It is almost as if he wants an antagonistic relationship with the majority to marginalize us, or force us out, or maybe even to create an environment where people get fed up and want to recall us,” said Corrao.

In the end, Corrao said it came down to a philosophical difference between Underkofler and the city council. Corrao explained that Underkofler’s strengths were in finding the money from grant sources to make building projects happen. That is something the current majority isn’t interested in, according to Corrao, because they’re worried about a shrinking tax base having to fund more and more maintenance projects. He said that he was supportive of certain projects like a new fire hall, but was discouraged when the state handed them money for a large improvement to the dock used for tour ships, something which Corrao said they had never spent any time lobbying for.

“When we were in Juneau lobbying the legislature, there was an arrangement that only the top five projects would be lobbied for,” explained Corrao. “Instead, there was a concerted effort to get additional funding for the cruise ship dock. So here we have a cruise ship company that only wants us to install some dolphins, but we have influence from somewhere coming in and pressing for this giant project.”

These minor battles culminated suddenly in what was apparently an inappropriate comment made by Underkofler about one of the councilors. Exactly what was said, or what the situation was, remains a mystery. That’s something Corrao is calling on Underkofler to resolve.

“Initially, I believed that it was better for Rich and the city for his misconduct to remain a private manner. I don’t want to humiliate Rich in anyway. On the other hand, as the pressure mounts and the appearance of being arbitrary in my actions increases, the awareness that not being able to take what I would call the high road in this situation is giving way to another avenue of expression,” said Corrao.

It is now Corrao who finds himself facing rebuke, having had a few angry encounters with people around town. Corrao reported that some of the fallout was landing on his church congregation as well, which led him to the decision of taking a leave of absence from his duties as minister. Corrao maintains that despite the public heat 95% of Petersburg has been wonderful toward him even when disagreeing, which he was very thankful for.

When asked if the impact to his life was enough to make him consider resigning his seat, Corrao said he didn’t think so.

“Not at this point and there’s a reason for that,” he said. “I made a principled decision, not an arbitrary or capricious decision. I made a principled decision. If I resign from the council at this time, then what was the point of making that decision?”

As for the recall effort, Corrao said he hoped it wasn’t successful as he felt he was doing a good job on the council. He feels that many in the community would have made the same decision about Underkofler’s dismissal, given all the facts.

Time will tell whether or not Corrao gets recalled. The petition for a recall is currently in the application stages. Should the reason be deemed acceptable under state law, a petition will be issued.

Underkofler was contacted about the claims made in this story, but decided not to comment on them.

“It would be unethical for me to say bad things about members of the council over this affair. It has been obvious since this council has been elected that they want to go a different direction. I think it is appropriate for the community. They have an absolute right to take me out and hire a manager who will march to the beat of their drum. I’m not going to point fingers at them. I’m not going to get down to the level of mudslinging with them. I’m just going to go quietly and hope they will honor the terms of my contract, which was designed to accommodate these circumstances,” Underkofler said.

The monetary figure attached to Underkofler’s dismissal is $79,252.61.