I sat through last night’s city council meeting. I heard Ben Reeves the city manager in a prepared statement, announce that Rita Bice had found another “exciting job opportunity.” I heard several council members thank her for her efforts and I even watched the mayor give her a round of applause for her service to the city. Rita is the fourth appointed employee to quit in the last eight months. We all sometimes pretend that everything is nice but I don’t think that in this case that is the best thing for the city. Rita loved the city job more than any she has ever had before. She didn’t quit because of an “exciting job opportunity” even though Ben is a really nice guy and willing to put the best face on the situation. She quit because Mayor Tom Stocks decided to drive her from office. The mayor, after he discovered that Rita wouldn’t put his political agenda above the good of the city undertook a deliberate campaign to force Rita to quit. He did the same with the previous City Manager and Treasurer. Among dozens of other incidents Mayor Stocks entered Rita’s locked office after the city offices were closed and everyone was gone and rifled her desk for checks that he knew were there because she discussed them with him earlier in the day. Then he attempted to use them as leverage to threaten her with. He asked her which areas she was behind in so he could “help” her and when she listed them for him he sent a letter (the very next morning) to the council listing those areas as reasons that she should be fired. He belligerently ordered her to “not say a word” in a meeting where she knew more about the things discussed than most in attendance and was attempting to prevent error. His sole motivation was to harass her. He ordered other employees to change the format of information that they gave to her causing her to have errors and inaccuracy in her work. Finally, he slandered her. If the mayor and his friends have told you that her work was of less than superior quality, I beg you to check with LaVerkin’s auditor, or the accountant that provided temporary assistance to the city. You will find that oft repeated charge to be so incredibly false. If you were told that she was a poor manager, please ask any city staff member. Again you will find the polar opposite. If you continue to hear the slander pass his lips I would ask you to please let me know so that it can be stopped. I can’t blame Rita for leaving. After her resignation the mayor “Bragged” to an associate in her presence that she “was too emotionally sensitive” for the job. Again nothing could be farther from the truth, but no one should be expected to continually endure this sort of abuse from someone in a position of power over them.

It is with no pleasure that I write this, and I do it in my own name. Further, these things and so much more are true and documented. Please feel free to no longer speculate upon why Rita quit.

Allen Bice