After Mayor’s reprimand, Concord city councilor stays the course

Concord City Councilor Stacey Brown stood by her claims of financial mismanagement by city staff in a letter to the mayor this week.

Brown’s message came three weeks after Mayor Byron Champlin issued her a letter of admonishment, stating she could face disciplinary action from the council if she did not cease “improper and unprofessional” conduct.

In her response, Brown said that she has operated a proper and diligent oversight role over city staff on behalf of the public. Her accusations of wrongdoing, she said, came only after city administration consistently failed to respond to her inquiries.

She took issue with Champlin’s public characterization of her as an “agent of chaos.”

“An agent of chaos is used to describe someone who challenges order and predictability,” she wrote. “While my actions may appear disruptive to you, they have led to greater accountability and transparency of taxpayer funds.

Brown denied that she overstepped in past interactions with city staff and contractors and that she had appeared before public bodies without clarifying that she spoke as an individual and not on behalf of the council.

She also reiterated her belief that money previously taken out of the recreation reserve and put towards the golf course clubhouse and parks and recreation budget had violated the purpose of that account. The city’s legal department has disputed this, but council did, in response to Brown’s questions, broaden the terms of many of its reserves.

In an interview, Brown said she saw Champlin’s letter as a “publicity stunt.”

Brown defended her harshly skeptical interactions with city administration, saying her frustrations continue to grow when she feels city administration isn’t being transparent or is pushing her off.

She cited an issue with a golf clubhouse donation. Brown said she asked the city manager’s office to confirm that the donation had been received six times before getting verification.

In January, City Manager Tom Aspell required that Brown direct questions directly through him rather than through department heads, as other councilors do. This was in response to what his office has described as overly burdensome and wasteful informational requests from Brown.

“It’s become a bottleneck,” Brown said. “Where the city manager only wants me to speak to him, and then he does not respond to me.”

A Monitor records request filed in February for Brown’s communication with city staff over the last year has not yet been fulfilled.

In an interview, Champlain maintained that Brown’s conduct is burdensome.

“Councilor Brown bombards the city manager and staff with requests for information, much of which is information that could be found on her own,” Champlin said Thursday. “The city manager and staff do have responsibilities outside of responding to requests for information from city councilors. They have real, full-time jobs.”

Champlin declined to elaborate on whether Brown’s reiteration of her claims about city finances crossed the line in the sand that he’d drawn in his own letter.

Broadly, Brown made clear she intends to stay her course.

“I have a lot of concerns with the way the city has been handling finances,” she said. “Most people tell me, I wish everyone else was questioning the way you are.”

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