Hey Everybody-
Guess what? Our coaches positions have been eliminated by the City of Walnut Creek. This is not a joke. Of the Aquatics programs in the city, ours is the only one that operates in the black, and yet they are going to cut it.
If you could, would you shoot a brief e-mail, to the city council and let them know what a successful program this is across the country and in the world. All few hundred of us are doing what we can, but I think it's time to bring in the big guns- you.
Kerry has spent 30 years of his life building this program into what it is today, and helping many of you in the process, please help him and the program that he lives for.
The address is: mayor@walnut-creek.org
and ask them to respond to your e-mail.
Thanks,
Karen Duggan
Mrs. Duggan,
Yes an ethics investigation is possible, depending on how pissed off you make the Mayor. I hope that WCM's books and Kerry's records are in order. I saw this as a problem when you first mentioned it. Politics can get ugly and vindivctive.
An ethics charge would only be valid should Kerry have charged his WCM coaching time to his city time sheet. The city is his employer and his timesheets are kept by them and they have to maintain those records according to state and local laws, and should be auditing them. If they use revenue generated by the fees that WCM pays to pay him and the city allow him to participate as their coach there is most likely no ethical breach on Kerry's part - he is only doing what his job description and his supervisor allow. If the city is paying him as a part time employee with the acceptance that WCM will pay the other 50% then, again he is not violating anything. If the mayor wants to open an ethics investigation - he/she may certainly do so, but this would most likely expose the city and look like a witch hunt should the investigation be determined to have been undertaken as a retaliatory act. The precedent may have been set as this seems to have been a long-term relationship, one that has benefited all parties.
Mrs. Duggan,
Yes an ethics investigation is possible, depending on how pissed off you make the Mayor. I hope that WCM's books and Kerry's records are in order. I saw this as a problem when you first mentioned it. Politics can get ugly and vindivctive.
An ethics charge would only be valid should Kerry have charged his WCM coaching time to his city time sheet. The city is his employer and his timesheets are kept by them and they have to maintain those records according to state and local laws, and should be auditing them. If they use revenue generated by the fees that WCM pays to pay him and the city allow him to participate as their coach there is most likely no ethical breach on Kerry's part - he is only doing what his job description and his supervisor allow. If the city is paying him as a part time employee with the acceptance that WCM will pay the other 50% then, again he is not violating anything. If the mayor wants to open an ethics investigation - he/she may certainly do so, but this would most likely expose the city and look like a witch hunt should the investigation be determined to have been undertaken as a retaliatory act. The precedent may have been set as this seems to have been a long-term relationship, one that has benefited all parties.
