A Burlington city councilor raised ethical concerns Wednesday over City Council President Jane Knodell’s (P-Central District) direct communications with a former Burlington Telecom bidder.
Councilor Joan Shannon (D-South District) criticized Knodell for phone calls to ZRF Partners over the past weeks, which, she said, “wreak havoc on the process.”
“Councilors should not be negotiating with anybody,” she said. The council had hired the head of Dorman and Fawcett, Terry Dorman, as negotiator for a reason, Shannon said.
The criticism came as the two finalist bidders, Tucows and the co-op Keep BT Local, met Wednesday to try to hammer out a compromise proposal to buy Burlington Telecom. Monday, the council deadlocked in a 6-6 vote, and asked the two bidders to partner up. The two entities have until the end of the day Friday to put forward a joint proposal.
If they can’t come to an agreement — or if the council doesn’t support their agreement — two previously eliminated bidders, Schurz Communications and ZRF Partners, would be readmitted to the process.
Shannon also said Knodell’s conversations with other bidders were part of a political charade by councilors who voted for Keep BT Local but now are backing off that support.
“President Knodell isn’t exactly rooting for @KeepBTLocal & @TingBurlington to successfully negotiate,” Shannon tweeted on Wednesday. “I hope KBTL supporters like Schurz because it looks like that’s where we’re headed.”
Councilor Dave Hartnett (D-North District) agreed; he guessed that Schurz would win if given a second chance before the council.
Knodell acknowledged that she had several phone conversations with ZRF Partners over the last few weeks, but said she did not negotiate anything. “To characterize my conversations with anyone as negotiations is absolutely wrong and baseless,” she said. “The council has been very divided. I felt it was prudent to keep our options open.”
Hartnett said he supported Knodell’s communications, saying that it was the only way to ensure that the process the council voted on Monday was followed. “I think the council’s lost trust in the format of Terry Dorman and the administration” as negotiators, he said.
Councilor Kurt Wright (R-Ward 4) also reached out to Schurz, he said, and on Wednesday, he defended those calls. “Obviously we should not be negotiating, but it’s important to be prepared, because we know there’s a timeline,” Wright said. “If we sprung it on them, then we’d be getting criticism of, how are we going to do this on the tight timeline?”
“I think we should stay on the high road here,” Wright added, urging councilors to focus on the negotiations at hand.
While communications with bidders without council approval do not explicitly violate council rules, they obscure a process meant to take place in the public eye, Shannon said. Knodell had not told the council about her communications, Shannon added.
In an interview last Friday, Mayor Miro Weinberger also said that he had discouraged councilors from reaching out to bidders. “That’s not something I support,” he said.
On Wednesday, councilors all around were quick to fling barbs. Knodell said she was “disappointed in Councilor Shannon’s remarks.”
Hartnett, too, was quick to lambast Weinberger’s lack of transparency throughout the process.
“If people want to know why we’re at where we’re at, it’s because of the mayor and what’s he been doing,” Hartnett said. “Quite honestly, it’s been a wreck.”
None of the councilors who spoke to Seven Days said they had heard updates on the negotiations between Tucows and KBTL. That’s the way it should stay, Knodell said. “I’m hoping that councilors and the mayor will let the parties negotiate freely without interference,” she said.
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Nate- I was referring to Joan, not you…
I’m a south end constituent who strongly supports Joan Shannon and is very grateful to her for standing up for fiscal responsibility. Ting is by far the best choice, they’re a great cable company and I’d love to subscribe right now. It’s not easy to stand up for what’s right, it would’ve been easier to knuckle under to Jane Knodell’s ridiculous hypothetical theorizing.
There are many of us who support Ting because we want to protect BT as a valuable asset for Burlington. A vote for KBTL is a vote to kill BT and deny many taxpayers access to their service. The six councilors who voted for KBTL need to be replaced by better and more thoughtful people with simple common sense. Especially Knodell and Bushor. Otherwise we taxpayers will pay the price for their foolish disregard for responsible governance.
“The Council agreed last Monday to open the process back up to ALL 4 bidders if KBTL and Ting could not come to an agreement by Friday. Jane was simply preparing for the very probable outcome that Ting and KBTL would not come to an agreement, and alerted the public and council immediately after ZRF said they would be willing to return.”
Check that timeline, Josh. Per the article:
“…Councilor Joan Shannon (D-South District) criticized Knodell for phone calls to ZRF Partners over the past weeks…”
Did you catch that? Past weeks. Not since Monday. Weeks.
“And, i’m sorry, but I don’t trust the opinion of someone who is clearly trying to deflect the push back from a clearly unpopular decision by blaming the people who have worked to open up this process.”
Where exactly did I blame the people who have worked to open up this process (i.e., Jane)? I started out expressing a sort of sympathy for the apparent ambivalence on the part of some KBTL-suppporting Councilors (because I feel it personally), then I demonstrated some patent misinformation in your own, prior post. (I’ll cop to being snarky with critikboy.)
But solid reasoning doesn’t hinge on whether or not you trust someone. It stands on its own.
Nate- It was the Mayor who went behind the Councils back to encourage ZRF to remove themselves from the process. The Council agreed last Monday to open the process back up to ALL 4 bidders if KBTL and Ting could not come to an agreement by Friday. Jane was simply preparing for the very probable outcome that Ting and KBTL would not come to an agreement, and alerted the public and council immediately after ZRF said they would be willing to return. She has acted in complete transparency through this process, and we should be tankful that Jane was able to undue the harm caused by the Mayor going behind the Councils back in the first place to encourage ZRF to remove themselves. I would also remind you that if the Mayor had his way, the process would have remained behind close doors right up until the final vote, and we would have never known about the damage he did – and continues to do – to this process.
And, i’m sorry, but I don’t trust the opinion of someone who is clearly trying to deflect the push back from a clearly unpopular decision by blaming the people who have worked to open up this process. Even Dave Hartnett, an endorsed Democrat, said that the fault lies squarely in the Mayor’s office.
So, let me get this straight…
The mayor – who secretly contacted one of the bidders and persuaded them to quit – suddenly has found religion?
Apparently, since hizzoner is now scolding councilors individually for contacting bidders.
Time for a new mayor – someone who can lead this city.
“This is simply Joan Shannon peddling a conspiracy theory…”
No, Josh, that was simply Joan responding to the fact that the City Council president was conducting secret phone calls to a would-be eliminated bidder for BT.
“…to deflect from the fact that she has consistently voted against the interests of Burlington and against the will of her constituents by supporting a Canadian company over local community ownership of BT…”
So…you DO know the will of all of Joan’s South District constituents? A lot of people would be interested in paying you for your expertise.
“We should be thankful that Jane has worked to successfully open up the process around the sale so we could have some level of public input before a decision was made.”
That’s unfortunatly contradicted by the information shared by Joan (see article above), who says that Jane has been in direct communications with ex-bidder ZRF Partners. My understanding is that this was not done with any knowledge of the City Council, i.e., it was done secretly. Whatever else Jane has done to open up the process around the sale, this behind-the-scenes scheming is its antithesis.
And I’m a Jane Knodell fan. I’ve delivered campaign literature for her around the ONE in freezing December weather. And I’d do it again, I think, but this working-in-secrecy stuff is a head-scratcher.
This is simply Joan Shannon peddling a conspiracy theory to deflect from the fact that she has consistently voted against the interests of Burlington and against the will of her constituents by supporting a Canadian company over local community ownership of BT. The delay was due to the fact that Karen Paul had a conflict of interest and some Councilors wanted time to figure out what it was about, and if it had unduly influenced the process leading up to that vote. And, Karen has still not come clean to the public about the nature of that conflict of interest. If there had been a vote, and KBTL had won, Ting supporters would have cried foul over over the recusal. Taking time to bring back some level of transparency in a process that has been shrouded in secrecy, controversy, and undue influence from the Mayor’s office is not a bad thing. To the point that somehow KBTL supporters on the council wanted to delay so they could get a tie – KBTL supporters on the Council had no way of knowing that Karen Paul would quit her job so she could vote. In all likelihood, KBTL was expected to win this past Monday had Karen not taken the extraordinary step of leaving her job so she could vote. We should be thankful that Jane has worked to successfully open up the process around the sale so we could have some level of public input before a decision was made. If the Mayor had gotten his way, the public would have had virtually no time to examine the bidders and form an opinion about the sale before the Council voted.
“The comments from some of the other supporters of the mayor’s preference… your comments I take with a large amount of salt…”
kk, courageous anonymous critik.
I won’t speculate about the motives here of delaying the vote or the desire for any particular outcome (though it just seems like a difficult choice for the Council, understandably), but @BTVKG don’t you have a close relationship to Joan Shannon? Your first post was initially under a name (which equates to the initials KG), but with the same picture/avatar. If that’s the case, not a great practice to engage in, in order to advocate for her position – as if a member of the general public.
critikboy…..The article states “Knodell acknowledged that she had several phone conversations with ZRF Partners over the last few weeks”. No mention that the discussions occurred after the vote. She was a strong critic of Miro having discussions with ZRF even though he had informed them in advance of those discussions. According to this article her discussions were made without the council’s knowledge.