SLT allocates $100,000 to fight Conner in court
By Kathryn Reed
South Lake Tahoe is committing $100,000 of taxpayer money to fight the lawsuit filed by Councilwoman JoAnn Conner. Conner is asking the court and her attorney for a payment plan because of her income level.
The City Council and City Manager Nancy Kerry – the five defendants – met in a special closed session on Dec. 21 to discuss how to proceed. The two reportable actions include the money coming out of the general fund to pay for the outside counsel and that up to $10,000 of that dollar figure will go to Kerry’s own attorney. Both votes were 4-0.
“There won’t be duplicative work. Mine will be working in consult in cooperation with them,” Kerry told Lake Tahoe News of her attorney Stacy Sheston of Best, Best and Krieger out of Sacramento.
Conner named Kerry separately in the filings.
It is normal for the individual parties in a lawsuit to have separate counsel who work together.
Conner is seeking to have the censure by the council overturned, as well the ban on her talking to staff be ruled invalid.
The city has insurance to handle most lawsuits. It doesn’t apply in this instance.
“Insurance does not defend in cases such as this, where there are no damages – financial – and the plaintiff is a member of the governing body. We did submit the cases, as we are required to do, but were advised there was no coverage available,” City Attorney Tom Watson told Lake Tahoe News.
That is why the council had to adjust the budget to take $100,000 out of the general fund. What services might be hurt from that expenditure remain to be seen. There is also no guarantee the litigation won’t cost more than the allotted $100,000.
Per city policy Conner’s attorney has the right to be reimbursed for the costs associated with the actual censure hearing. Attorney Jacqueline Mittelstadt, who is the former city attorney for South Lake Tahoe, submitted a bill for $4,802.01. She charged $400 per hour.
In contrast, the firm the city hired — Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann & Girard – at most is charging $300 per hour.
On Friday, Conner was at the El Dorado County Courthouse in South Lake Tahoe asking to be allowed to pay court fees on a payment plan. She is also on a payment plan with Mittelstadt. Mittelstadt would not say what hourly rate she is charging Conner, only that she is paying “my normal hourly rate.”
“She is not receiving free legal advice. She is obligated to pay me for all of my service,” Mittelstadt told Lake Tahoe News. “Having a payment plan is very different than not having to pay for services provided.”
If Conner were to be charged a different rate than what Mittelstadt has charged the city, it could be construed as a gift, according to the Fair Political Practices Commission. The FPPC oversees campaign donations for candidates and gifts for politicians.
“Generally, a discount or rebate not made in the regular course of business is a gift,” Jay Wierenga with the FPPC told Lake Tahoe News.
The gift limit is $460 from a single source in a calendar year.
FPPC documents say, “A gift is any payment or other benefit provided to you that confers a personal benefit for which you do not provide payment or services of equal or greater value. A gift includes a rebate or discount in the price of anything of value unless the rebate or discount is made in the regular course of business to members of the public.”
Mittelstadt told Lake Tahoe News if she prevails, she would ask the court to have the city pay her legal fees.
Kerry said the city is not allowed to ask for its fees to be reimbursed. The City Attorney’s Office bills at $200 per hour.
Mittelstadt believes the two sides could work things out without the court being involved. Limited talks occurred before the lawsuit was filed. However, Conner doesn’t believe she has done anything wrong and the city believes it has taken the appropriate actions.
“There is nothing planned to meet outside of the legal process right now,” Mayor Wendy David told Lake Tahoe News.
The next court date is Jan. 4.
This is really a sad state of affairs for the City TAXPAYERS to flush $100K down the toilet to pay for this nightmare. Joann – you should learn how to act in the professional manner expected of we the employer (just like any job expectation), and the City leaders & Manager should learn how to deal with difficult employee situations in a more efficiet and professional way. Where is HR in all of this? Sounds like a professional facilitator could have been called in to work out this problem – probably would have cost about $1K. to do this! Maybe they should still try this as a means to navigate to a solution.
This is the kind of crap that really makes taxpayers mad! Waste our money and resources on a self-servng issue and to hell with what the community NEEDS are! Both parties should have to pay $500 to Christmas cheer, and get back to work on our REAL problems.
How are we to convince our youth to vote in 2016 with another example of bureaucratic BS here locally?
Would you children please work this out and save the city money for yet another lawyer fee.
Trump/Conner 2016
The American voter continually gets frustrated and dissatisfied with all levels of government including this current unfortunate waste of taxpayers money in our own community.
Yet we the voter keeps on voting for the same people time after time and we wonder why things never get any better. It seems we the voter are the ones at fault and we deserve the government we have. Hopefully we will think about that the next time we vote.
Ms Kerry’s PUBLIC and PUBLISHED ‘letter’ with the ‘C-U-*-*-‘ word hyphenated was soo extremely clever!
I that hope the judge and the $100,000 worth of taxpayer’s money get to see it again. I saw it and that CLOSED the case on Kerry as far this taxpayer is concerned.
Talk about writing it down and SIGNING IT!!
You have got to be kidding me!
Irish…….”and get back to work on our REAL problems.”
THEY are the real problem and you want them to go back to work?
It’s really hard to ‘fight city hall’ because they have unlimited resources; YOUR money.
The little guy doesn’t stand much of a chance, right or wrong because he eventually goes broke. Your government never does. They can always confiscate more from the taxpayers.
Ms Kerry’s unfortunate words to the press took this city’s squabble within the city council to this unfortunate place. Thus creating a firestorm in our community including this unfortunate lawsuit that will cost our community dearly.
this hissy fit is a lesson for the electorate, and may be a necessary part of the process to raise awareness and participation
What Irish said….
$ 100,000 could have been used to pave a street or two, enough of this B.S. Let’s use the money to give the locals what they deserve, better streets, better representation from the Council, and above all a better understanding of what the public wants and needs. We don’t need all this B.S. with the petty Council in fighting, GROW UP.
Nancy Kerry’s use of the C word was during the censure hearing at which time she was answering a questioning posed by Jacqueline Mittelstadt about the type of language Kerry considered abusive that was used by JoAnn Conner. Kerry spelled out the C word; saying this is the word Conner uses on a regular basis. Kerry is not the one using the word, per se.
LTN staff
Unbelievable….throw the bums out
The City Council did not have to take a censure action. They could have directed employees to just ignore Conner. This era of sensitivity and political correctness has totally gone off the deep end. These affected employees do not report to any City Council Member. Another good argument to disband the City.
John,
Apparently South Lake Tahoe has no viable qualified candidates that are willing to throw themselves “in front of the train” so to speak.
Plainly put the voters have no choices available to them.
Yes, end this.
Conner filed the lawsuit, Conner can end it by just rescinding her filing. No more money needs be spent by this simple action. The judge already telegraphed that the censure is a political action and not a legal one so what does she hope to gain but her own friggin ego and need to be the center of attention.
I’m not mad at council, I am mad at Conner. As most everyone knows she is unstable, unprofessional, and inept. Its pathetic that she is so unsuccessful at her own life that she is seeking financial relief from the court. Did we really elect her to watch our money when she cant even manage her own?
“Conner is seeking to have the censure by the council overturned, as well the ban on her talking to staff be ruled invalid.”
That’s it? That’s her goal?
The city should keep the $100k in their pocket and let the chips fall where they may.
Whip…Yep…and the City Council goes behind closed doors and hires $100,000.00 worth of Big Gun law firm out of Sacramento??
Either much more going on here or ‘they’ are hunting rabbit with an elephant gun….hmmm.
With taxpayer money of course. ‘They’ should have to use their own personal money.
The city taxpayers deserve what they get. The voters keep electing these same old cronies who are only out to pad their own wallets and could care less what the citizens want. The $100,000 should come out ot the raises they voted themselves.
When one backs a raccoon into a corner, one should anticipate the risk of getting bit. Fire them all.
What reza said….
So the city doesn’t fight it and the judge overturns the city’s actions against Conner (not bloody likely), what’s the worst that can happen? She can talk again? Who’s going to listen to her? Put that $100k away. We’ll vote her out when the time comes.
I wonder what people would be saying about the City Manager and the City Council if one or more City employees had filed a lawsuit against the City for not protecting them from harassment or abuse by City Council Member JoAnn Conner?
JoAnn Conner is a loose cannon with the maturation and professionalism level of an adolescent. It was she who caused this entire situation by her rude, bullying, and disrespectful behavior of anyone with whom she disagrees or dislikes, and anyone wanting to see her antagonistic and filibustering manner in action only needs to watch a City Council meeting online when she’s determined to get her way at the expense of anyone and everyone else. This woman behaves like everyone just needs to accept the manner in which she conducts herself—newsflash—while it’s certainly her choice to conduct herself in any way she wants, people do not have to accept her or respect her.
Though Ms. Conner may have her followers, people will not soon forget this drama. Every time you hit that pothole on your street just remember that the champion of pretending to be the City’s watchdog in preventing un-needed expenditures of taxpayer money has shown her true colors of egocentric narcissism.
Perhaps the JoAnn Conner supporters should establish a GoFundMe page to accept donations to her legal defense fund and put their money where their mouth is.
Joann has the right to defend herself. Ms Kerry who attacked her in the press and the council who took this misguided action is where this suit came from. I find it interesting that some are so upset with Joann’s abrasive ways in dealing with people.
This at a time when support continues to grow for someone like Donald Trump who chooses to publicly insults everyone that seems to comes in his path. There is enough blame to go around starting with the local voters who keep re electing these people to office time after time.
Conner has brought all of this on herself. Save the city’s money and resign JoAnn.
4- mer! Long time no hear from. Thank you for weighing in here, well said.
JoAnn continues the circus that all could have been ended by acting like a professional and an adult and actually doing what she claims to do all the time, “be the voice of the little guy”. JoAnn – you are the voice of yourself and that voice is immature, unprofessional, petty, and sickening for an elected official. Step-up to your mistakes and move along, you are hurting the city and its citizens that you swear you are here to protect. Stop hurting us with this nonsense and grow up, please.
Gee, so I guess we get nothing for already having a City Attorney on the payroll? With a salary I’m sure in excess of $100k.
Everytime the city has to spend money everyone cries “Fix the potholes” In all the times the city has had a chance to fix the potholes they say there is no money or the budget won’t allow, or unfunded pensions and liabilities and the list is endless. The city should be thanking themselves for getting into this situation and putting all the potholes that never get fixed directly on Joanne. This could have been solved a long time ago but the city chose to go the route of paid parking. I had a council member drag me out of a council meeting and call me an *****. I have gotten letters and been admonished in front of council meetings. I get admonished most times I post by anonymous posters. So what. Mr. McAfee please do not respond to this as neither one of us respects what we each write. Thanks.
If you changed just a few things in this story, one could think these things had taken place between 4th graders.
Hope everyone involved is proud of themselves.
Kenny, The city will eventually hit us with some new tax to pay to fix the roads.They will wait until the roads are a total mess then say no money and we need tax revenue to fix them. Even though the original incorporation of the city in 1965 the goal was to improve fire and police protection as well as the streets and snow removal. They have certainly failed in this area. It seems to me that the county has made better improvements to streets in the unincorporated area than the city has.
it will be interesting when the Truth comes out.
the State Attorney General’s investigation what do you think that will say?
The cleverly crafted “leak” of what went on behind closed doors in executive session, presumably from where the $100,000 number was provided, was clearly designed to turn public opinion against Joanne Conner. What goes on in these closed session meetings is supposed to be confidential.
And yes street maintenance and snow removal have been better in the county than in the city for several years now, so to suddenly blame the city’s unrepaired potholes and cracks, and poor snow removal, on Joanne Conner is without cause.
Steve,
Nothing was leaked. Any reportable action taken in closed must be disclosed to the public. This is true for all meetings involving elected officials. The story says, “The two reportable actions include the money coming out of the general fund to pay for the outside counsel and that up to $10,000 of that dollar figure will go to Kerry’s own attorney.” This information came from the mayor.
LTN staff
Tip of the iceberg on a extremely mismanaged City. Stand by tax payers, lots more poor decision in the works. At least the City now has an excuse not to fix our roadways or provide basic public services. Let’s build a new BMX track, that will help.
Man, what is going on here? Can we just clean house and get fresh business savvy blood breathed into this little war torn of words city! Speaking of pot holes beware of a big thumper at Sierra and Barbra, also just as big thumper at Keys Blvd & hwy50.
Come on city your reading this, fix them and stop wasting our tax $ on frivolous law suits! We should sue you for the suspension damage to our vehicles!
Lest we forget how this all transpired, take a look back at how Conner’s conduct escalated to cost the city all this money, time and resources.
Shortly after Conner was elected, she was called out by this publication as a bully. I believe Lake Tahoe News was the first to call Conner a bully. That was 3 years ago.
City’s response was to ask her to be nice and play nice. Conner’s response was to continue as usual..
Then the City has some kind of workshop and apparently this comes up at and they ask her once again to knock it off. Conner’s response? Again, Ignore the pleas and continue to bully others. See video tapes.
Apparently, the conduct is just as bad with employees and they start speaking up. Some Employees, current and former Councilmembers and others speak up and complain enough that city people are aware of the problem escalating and people not wanting to work with Conner.
Conner’s response? Attack those who say anything. City finally has had enough, Following some action by the CM, they censure Conner.
Conner’s response? Hire a lawyer and sue the city, attack all those who have spoken up, including EDC Supervisor Novasel; Conner files papers to recall Novasel.
City response ? Hire lawyers to defend lawsuit Conner filed. Conner response? Blame the city.
All of these actions were the result of one person who simply refused to get along with others. The City has been forced to react to Conners conduct; react to protect itself from employee lawsuit; and react to defend itself against Conners lawsuit.
Conner response ? She should. But unlikely given her history, she should apologize for wasting everyone’s time and money and resign.
Her ENTIRE time on the council has been frought with conduct issues.
all of them b……. whoops…… witches !!
KathyJ….there is a big difference between “getting along” and “going along” with others.
Silence implies consent.
This City and it’s management is a pack of liars, thieves and just plain incompetents. They have absolutely NO business pushing MILLIONS of $DOLLARS$ around.
Would it not be “Cheaper” for the City to hold a special election and ask Conner to just exit. Truly not a fan. Ask the American Legion.
Kathy J, Conner did not file papers to recall Novasel, she merely signed the intent to recall along with 19 other residents and yes I was one of them. The supervisor recall has been in the works by folks from the west slope since last year and should come as no surprise. They started the paperwork last year. Also before anyone else starts an incorrect rumor the recall has Nothing to do with the state of jefferson movement and the reasons for district V recall are vastly different than the others. Personally I don’t think the recall on the other four stand a chance. You are correct in that this started several years ago but the past and current council chose to not nip it in the bud and take a hard stance when first confronted and allowed it to escalate to this just like paid parking. Thanks
This woman is a devastating cancer upon the taxpayers. Resign and save what little reputation you might have idiot. This is the reason nobody lives in tahoe for long.
URGENT MESSAGE TO SLT CITY COUNCIL: Don’t waste $100,000 in court! Instead, bring everyone over to my place. First we’ll do some Bong Rips and then a few Dabs of Concentrates. After that we’ll all join together for a weedy round of “Kumbaya”.
Steve I’m on my way, don’t start without me. But something tells me you already are on the juice
This just keeps screaming, we do not need a City. If it does not work after 50 years it is never going to work. We are duplicating many efforts and people and getting nothing accomplished. We could accomplish nothing just as easily with no incorporation and save a lot of money in the process.
If the city spends this amount of money on this issue I cannot place words on the poor care of money and disregard for this community.
We need this money and was hard earned by many,many taxpayers in this city.
Steve…your address please……
4 of 5 City Council members and the City manager(hired by the city council are spending CITY money $100,000.00 to defend themselves against an ELECTED council person? Her attorney an ex city attorney!
Tom Watson now City Attorney says the costs could go HIGHER.
Definetley something more than JoAnn Conner’s nasty mouth going on here.
STOP…MORATORIUM ON CITY SPENDING.
In order for the loop road to continue eminent domain will have to be used. You are looking at the 4/5th’s voting block that is needed by the council to overturn the moratorium against eminent domain that was voted in awhile back. They are showing solidarity for the upcoming loop road battle and are using this as a diversion. My opinion only.
Some of us purposefully bought our homes in the county so as to avoid having anything to do with any city. The county has always done a better job of snow removal and fixing the roads. With google-maps, Pioneer Trail is now alternate HWY 50, making it easy to avoid the back-breaking streets in the city.
Kenny, you are free to run for city council as soon as you live in the city. In the mean time, I for one, am not interested in getting in ‘bed’ with the city of SLT. I’ll take rural county life and it’s issues- any day.
Pioneer Trail as an alternate to HWY50 is already on GOOGLE maps?
Starting to see Kenny’s take on this ‘Connor’ mess.
If we ran our household budgets like government does we’d all be on welfare and homeless. Agree with ski bum 100%.