OPINION – Next week’s Town Council agenda contains a proposal that should alarm every Fountain Hills resident. They are considering pausing both councilmember reports and the call to the public for six months.
The justification offered, that this relates to a pending Notice of Claim, doesn’t hold up. Rather, it appears to be a strategy to insulate Mayor Gerry Friedel and his allies from public oversight at a moment when their conduct is under substantial scrutiny.
I'm getting that “déja vu all over again” feeling here. After an ethics complaint was filed against Mayor Friedel for making false statements about his meeting with Sheriff Sheridan, the council majority dismantled the portion of the ethics code that allowed residents to file ethics complaints. Problem solved!
