More Burlington city councilors are asking Mayor Bob Kiss to put Chief Administrative Officer Jonathan Leopold on leave while an audit is conducted of Burlington Telecom’s finances.
As of today, six of the council’s 14 members are calling on Kiss to place Leopold on some form of leave — either paid or unpaid — due to his role in loaning $17 million from the city’s “cash pool” (i.e. checkbook) to Burlington Telecom.
That loan has accumulated over a period of almost two years, and is in violation of BT’s license to do business — its certificate of public good (CPG) — issued by the Public Service Board. Any borrowed money had to be repaid within 60 days.
Leopold has claimed responsibility for making the loan happen, though he remains steadfast in his claim that state and city officials were briefed about BT finances and the use of the “cash pool” financing. However, he admits in hindsight that he should have been more forthright with the council and the board of finance about the violation.
Ed Adrian (D-Ward 1) was the first councilor to call for Leopold’s removal. He sent a letter to Kiss on Tuesday before a special city council meeting called by the mayor. At that meeting, the mayor laid out a multi-step plan to clear the air around Burlington Telecom. Councilors also grilled the administration for more than two hours, trying to find out why the administration had failed to tell them, or the city’s board of finance, about the violation for more than six months.
Now, five other councilors have joined Adrian’s cause: Ward 7 Republicans Vince Dober and Paul Decelles, along with Democrats Nancy Kaplan (Ward 4), Mary Kehoe (Ward 6) and David Berezniak (Ward 2).
This article appears in Oct 21-27, 2009.
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“I think part of the reason I was elected was based on the fact that I’ve always said to tell the truth and put people first.”He should have taken his own advice. As it is, he’s entered lame duck status at an earlier point in his term than any mayor in Burlington history.
Glad to see my two W7 councilors supporting Leopold’s suspension.It would be silly to suspend Leopold with pay. That amounts to a paid vacation for someone who already has enough money not to work at all if didn’t want to. Hardly a “progressive” thing to do. That would be a grotesque use of our tax dollars and add insult to injury here.
<<"I don't think he needs to step aside. I think he has worked effectively as CAO, but I do think we should bring in someone to conduct an annual audit — like we do with Burlington Electric Department — and that it would help to allay concerns," said Kiss. >>Kiss doesn’t get it!!! AND it’s only making people angrier. BT needs to be out from under the obnoxious and arrogant power that CAO Leopold wields. Annual Audit? WTF? How about criminal charges? Kiss is lost!! And we are all in his boat. The Council must set the course straight now! If you truly want to save BT, ACT to remove CAO Leopold and get some real help and stewardship. There are plenty of qualified people ready to help BT, but not until CAO is removed from his authority over it. As long as CAO is involved with telecom, the ship will not right. Kiss is acting like a simpleton. His statements are shockingly disconnected and not helpful. His administration has made a great and grave error and he wants to paint a rainbow over it. Note to Council: HELP. Take control, show some leadership.
“I don’t think we set out to deceive anyone,” he said.WWWhaaaat?! Hello? That is precisely contrary to all the statements and evidence to date. Seldom are deceivers caught so red-handed. What happened here, Mayor Kiss, was that you CAO got backed into a corner with his financial hi-jinks. This mayor needs a reality check. How dare he say that – it’s insulting.
This problem can never — ever — be solved in any way, shape, or form from within City Hall, b/c how can milquetoast Kiss possibly fire Mayor Leopold? Answer: he can’t. He can’t, he can’t, he can’t. B/c then he’d have to run things himself, and he’s incapabale of doing that and he knows it. In addition, he can’t fire Leopold because he’s just as guilty in this scandal as Leopold is and both of them know that, too. This problem will HAVE to be fixed from the outside.
Let’s face it. Jonathan Leopold is Burlington’s version of Dick Cheney. He breaks the law because he sees himself as above it. He’s impervious to criticism. It is time for him to go. Every counselor should speak out for his resignation – especially the Progressives, if they want to keep any credibility with the citizens of this city.
Nice work and I hope you will keep it up with your efforts.
The city council can take a few steps this evening to solve many issues and the first step is to ask for the resignations of the Mayor and the CAO. We as citizens can not be expected to support any thoughts coming from this administration, All respect and trust as been lost. The pension fund, the moran plant, water treatment bond due shortly, all isssues as well as telecom that lay in the hand of this administration, and these are just a few of the issues. Teflon Bob and Jerk us around Jonathan must go.I urge the council to make this happen as we cannot trust the administration to have a hand in any more activities in this city. Oh yea Sam Champlains bill is probably in the mail soon.