Star Tribune 5/02/2009

Ex-Centerville official's moonlighting hits questionable phase While not illegal, Centerville's finance chief also worked for other cities and a private firm.
By JEAN HOPFENSPERGER
Star Tribune

The curious work habits of John Meyer have residents of tiny Centerville wondering: How many jobs can he hold at once?

Meyer was the town's finance director, with a salary of $83,000, until he resigned from the suburban community of 3,800 earlier this year.

And he had a full-time job at an architectural and engineering firm based in Fargo, N.D.

There's more: Meyer was on the payroll one day a week in Maple Lake, earning about $42,000 last year, city officials said. Plus he had a consulting business, assisting small towns such as Frazee and Canby, according to his website.

A citizen watchdog group was left to wonder:

"How in the world did he do all this plus work 40 hours a week in Centerville?'' asked Julie Rieman, a Centerville resident and member of the watchdog group that monitors city spending.

It's a question on the minds of many residents of this north-metro community, which last year petitioned the state to conduct an audit of city finances. The audit request was unrelated to Meyer's employment history, but some residents argue it shows the need for closer scrutiny of city spending.

The State Auditor's Office is expected to release the results of the audit soon. Meanwhile, some residents now are urging the city to make the finance director position a part-time job.

Meyer did not return repeated phone calls from the Star Tribune. But Centerville officials defended their former finance director, who quit in January, citing health reasons.

"We were aware that he was doing outside work, and we would only be concerned if it interfered with his work here," said Dallas Larson, Centerville city administrator. "John was on top of the finances for the city."

Larson credited Meyer with bringing in $3 million in grants since the fall of 2004, when he became finance director. He said the controversy over his employment is a "nonstory" prompted by a group of disgruntled citizens.

Before working in Centerville, Meyer, 56, had been the city administrator for Canby for more than a decade. Colleagues describe him as a bright, likeable man who knew the tricks to getting government grants, a skill particularly useful as Minnesota cuts back on local government aid.

But his marathon moonlighting is very unusual, said Robin Roland, immediate past president of the Minnesota Government Finance Officers Association. Roland, who has been active in the 600-member organization for 15 years, said she didn't know any other finance director with two jobs, much less three.

A big reason is that the finance director is such a critical city job, she said, and often very time-consuming.

"We have a code of ethics that basically says if we work for a city, we work for the city," said Roland, Farmington's finance director. "We don't do three or four different things."

Still, there is nothing in the professional ethics codes or bylaws that prohibits finance directors from holding other jobs, Roland said. Nor do Centerville's personnel policies prevent workers from holding other jobs, city officials have said.

Even so, wouldn't a finance expert juggling several jobs be too exhausted to do justice to them? asked Bob Wright, a former member of Centerville's planning commission. Said Wright: "There's simply a fatigue factor."

Conflict of interest?

Meyer also has worked full time at Lightowler Johnson Associates, based in Fargo, since July 2005, the company confirmed.

Maple Lake Mayor Mike O'Loughlin said his city, which has employed Meyer since 1993, didn't know he worked full time for Centerville until January. In response, the city terminated Meyer's contract. City Council members also expressed concerns that Meyer recently wasn't doing enough to promote economic development in their city.

And O'Loughlin wondered about a possible conflict of interest. While Meyer served as Maple Lake's economic development consultant in January 2006, a contract was awarded to Lightowler Johnson Associates to prepare plans and specifications for a new city hall, he said. The city hall was never built, because a vote on a referendum defeated the plan, he said.

"How did it come to be that Lightowler got the contract?" asked O'Loughlin. "If he's working for us and them, that's kind of funny."

Another "funny" thing was that after the watchdog group began investigating Meyer's moonlighting, content on the website for his business began shifting. The name of the business changed, documents show, then the entire site went dark.

The watchdog group, however, provided copies of the site from late 2008 that showed that the city of Centerville was among his clients. There was no mention that Meyer was a city employee.

Centerville currently is advertising for a new finance director and residents on both sides of the issue are awaiting the results of the audit.

"My hope is that the city will hold off hiring a new finance director until the audit is done, which is supposed to be happening soon," Rieman said.

Jean Hopfensperger • 651-298-1553

The Quad Press 4/21/2009

Centerville officials refute blog claims against city's former finance director

Mayor says Meyer brought in more than $3 million in grant funding

by Nicholas Backus
Staff Writer

Published:

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 10:16 AM CDT

CENTERVILLE — As the city searches for a new finance director, a group of Centerville residents is asking if another full-time director is needed.

With downtown development work on the back burner, some believe the town of about 4,000 should contract out the work formerly done by John Meyer, who retired as Centerville’s finance director in January. Several who declined to be quoted by the Press say they question whether Meyer had been working full-time on projects for Centerville.

Meyer could not be reached for comment by press time.

City Administrator Dallas Larson and Mayor Mary Capra confirmed that Meyer concurrently completed work for other cities, but Larson said none of the work Meyer did outside of Centerville presented a conflict.

“He had some outside work, but there is nothing to suggest there was anything inappropriate with that,” Larson said. “From everything we were able to determine, (outside work) was on his own time. We are not going to paint this as something it was not. We are not going to restrict our employees as long as it is not a conflict and they are not on the clock.”

Larson said Centerville does not restrict its employees from outside work, and Capra said Meyer would not compromise the interests of Centerville.

“Mr. Meyer is a professional and he would never compromise any of our grants,” she said. “It’s unfortunate that a small group out there is trying to find problems that are not problems.”

Capra referred to a local blog compiled by anonymous Centerville residents, www.Centervillemn.blogspot.com. The blog claimed Meyer violated Centerville’s employment policy through his work with other cities. Some who commented on the blog said they were afraid of the city retaliating if they were to go on record about their issues with Meyer’s departure and past work.

Capra said Meyer was a good employee who brought in more than $3 million in grant funds for the city, and that resident inquiries into Meyer’s personal file are costing the city tax dollars because of attorney fees.

Larson said the blog has “nothing good to say about Centerville, ever.”

The Citizen 4/15/2009

Does Centerville Need A Full-Time Finance Director?

By Deb Barnes

CENTERVILLE - The Centerville City Council is actively engaged in a search to replace former city finance director John Meyer, who retired last January for health reasons.

But some Centerville citizens question whether the city really needs a full-time finance director.

Since Meyer’s departure, the city has relied on intermittent assistance from Abdo, Eick & Meyers, the city’s auditors, to keep its financial wheels turning. Centerville is counting on cost savings realized by Meyer’s departure to help whittle its budget in 2009; even aft er accounting for the costs of temporary help until a new finance director is hired, it appears the city will be $22,000 ahead.

But although the city may have been paying for a full-time finance director, Centerville resident Stephanie Blomseth wonders if it had one.

Records show that while Meyer was employed by the city of Centerville he actively pursued other work, both as a consultant to Minnesota municipalities and as a part-time employee of an engineering consulting firm in North Dakota.

According to a story published on January 23, 2009 in the Maple Lake Messenger, Maple Lake City Clerk Linda Hruby told city council members that she had recently learned that Meyer, who currently serves as Maple Lake City Economic Developer, was employed full-time by the city of Centerville.

“He still found time to bill us $42,000 [in 2008] and still have a full-time job.

That’s pretty good,” Mayor Mike O’Loughlin was quoted as saying.

Meyer helped the city attract industrial prospects, site a community library, and advised the community of 2,000 on city project assessments and other financial matters—the type of work he has performed for Maple Lake since 1993.

During the same time period, Meyer served as a financial and marketing consultant for the cities of Canby and Garfield, Minn.

Lightowler Johnson Associates in Fargo, N.D. lists Meyer as an employee on the company’s Web site. Meyer has worked up to 35 hours per week as Project Developer/ Finance Advisor for the architectural/engineering firm since July 1, 2005, sources say.

“I feel like we’ve been paying for a full-time finance director that works parttime,” Blomseth said.

But Centerville’s Personnel Policies, which are applicable to all city employees not otherwise engaged under a specific employment contract, do not prohibit employees from holding second jobs.

It states that employees “must devote all work time to city business [emphasis added],” and that “No work relating to outside employment or other non-city business may be performed during work time.”

And City Administrator Dallas Larson, Meyer’s direct supervisor, says that Centerville has enjoyed a high level of expertise in its top accounting position. Larson believes that “extra horsepower” has paid off. The city has been unusually successful at attracting money, taking in over $3 million in grants since Meyer was hired in 2004.

“I’m not aware of anything [concerning Meyer’s job performance] that would raise any huge red flags,” Larson told The Citizen. “If he was resourceful enough to generate a few dollars on the side in a consulting business, that’s fine, as long as it didn’t affect his job here.”

Several council members, including Tom Lee and Mayor Mary Capra, say they were aware that Meyer had a consulting business, a fact that Lee says was disclosed at the time of Meyer’s interview in 2004. But how much outside consulting he did, or whether Meyer arrived at City Hall “refreshed and ready for work” as the Personnel Policy requires, has apparently never been discussed.

Council Member Linda Broussard Vickers told The Citizen that she could not comment on the extent of Meyer’s work for others. “If I’m provided different documentation, I’d be able to look at it differently,” she said. The councilwoman expressed her frustration, however, that city officials have not yet received the results of the ongoing audit by the State Auditor’s Office, an effort that commenced last December and which has been “in review” for two months now.

“If there are some serious situations, we’re being handicapped by them not releasing their report,” Broussard Vickers said.

In view of the economic downturn and the current stagnation of the city’s downtown redevelopment project, however, the question arises— are the cities of Maple Lake, Canby and Garfield on to something?

Resident Julie Rieman thinks so: Centerville, which is just over 4,000 in population, could save some money by delaying the hiring of Meyer’s replacement, she believes.

“Why the rush? Let’s wait until the audit results come out—what’s wrong with saving $22,000—or $44,000?” she asked.

Council Member Ben Fehrenbacher, for one, appears prepared to discuss the matter. “Is it a 40-houra- week job? Maybe not,” he said, adding that he didn’t have a problem with employees doing work outside of regular city work hours.

“I’m moonlighting as a council member,” Fehrenbacher said.

Meyer did not return a phone call in time for this story.