MOUNT VERNON – Weeks after Safety Service Director Rick Dzik was suspended for "poor judgment," some city council members are still pursuing the matter, prompting one council member to call it a "vendetta."
At Monday's Council meeting, Mayor Matt Starr confirmed that he did not sign a no-confidence resolution against Safety Service Director Rick Dzik, leading Mount Vernon Council member Mike Hillier to say it passed because the mayor neither signed nor vetoed the document in the required 10 days after City Council's vote.
Hillier said during council’s July 26 meeting that he plans to discuss what comes next with Law Director Rob Broeren.
Dzik had been suspended without pay for two weeks after changing council’s voting order for a meeting in which two controversial issues passed on 4-3 votes.
Council member Amber Keener wants to put the issue to rest. Hearing that people in city government planned to pursue additional actions against Dzik over what she called a "personal vendetta" related to the situation disturbed her, Keener said.
“First, I'd ask you to consider what would a potential candidate think in the future when they heard that city council has continued to fight against an individual who has received his punishment simply because a few individuals did not see the outcome they had hoped for,” she said.
She asked how much time has been lost and taxpayer money wasted on an employee issue that city ordinances put in the administration’s hands.
“The people deserve better than this,” Keener said.
