If citizens of the City of Colusa take the time to reflect on 2021, they might realize they paid a very high price this year…and I’m not talking about COVID-19.
Colusa’s Economic Development, Tourism, and Communications Director Kristy Levings resigned this week, just one day short of the first anniversary of her controversial employment.
Colusa officials won’t officially say that Ms. Levings was asked to leave her position, or if she just decided to drive out of Colusa with her middle finger raised at a town not too keen on sudden change. Although the former is likely, it really doesn’t matter because either scenario works here.
Colusa citizens pay a heavy price for government silence, which is unnecessary since they elect five people to the City Council for a reason. Elected representatives not only stand as guard dogs over government staff, they stand guard over each other to ensure their fiduciary duties to the public are carried out with good faith and trust.
Being a fiduciary requires being bound both legally and ethically to act in the public’s best interests – not their own, not for the interest of a few, and in full view of the people they represent.
What happened in Colusa this past year, the secrecy, excessive spending, policy violations, cronyism, quid pro quos, evasiveness, and utter contempt shown by city staff toward a questioning public took a divisive toll on the citizens of Colusa. That is not something people will soon forget, and someone had to pay the piper for the city’s indulgences.
However, Levings didn’t create the problem on her own …she walked into a problem that already existed. Perhaps she embraced the practice of secrecy just a bit too much, and used it to her advantage, but much of the decision-making processes that went on behind closed doors this past year have been going on for some time.
I know Colusa officials find no real harm in being well versed on – or secretly in on – the activities of their staff, but they often forget their statutory duty to bring the public along in the process. It’s the public’s money, after all, whether it comes from local taxes, state or federal grants, or even from private donations. We saw this year exactly what happens when city officials skirt around that requirement. It gets ugly.
Levings was initially hired as an economic development consultant for a specific purpose: to help the city turn a sow’s ear – the old Pirelli Cable facility – into a silk purse. It’s a lofty goal and a big risk, but should the city pull it off, it would probably be as big or bigger in terms of stimulating the local economy as Colusa Industrial Properties. We wish the endeavor well.
Levings was also charged, as a consultant, to create an economic development strategy in the middle of a COVID-19 pandemic, which somehow blossomed into a full-time job for her when the whole Pirelli plan took on unexpected delays.
But her strategy, in large part, was built on promises that Colusa could change practically overnight into some grand attraction that could draw thousands of people to the city like tourists dressed in Hawaiian shirts and long shorts to Knotts Berry Farm.
There’s nothing like an outsider waltzing into Colusa in the middle of a mandatory lockdown and declaring nothing ever happens in this sleepy little town – at least nothing that the government, and a pocket full of other people’s money, couldn’t fix.
A few Zoom meetings later, and Levings had a small circle of Colusa’s elite licking her boots at the idea of the taxpayers footing the bill for exciting new events and projects that would meet their specific desires, along with promises that the government would assume the role of marketing and advertising agency, educator, and trainer for private businesses to prosper. In reality, most folks just want the city to provide public safety, fill potholes, and take care of the parks and trees. Nobody asked the city to invest in “The Lemonade Stand: What every entrepreneur should know to succeed in starting and running any business.”
Who got those books, anyway?
I’m pretty confident in my belief that government staff time and taxpayer funds were intended to flow fairly freely to benefit those in Levings’ loyal circle. After all, that grappling hook was tossed our way at the very beginning as well. The Pioneer Review respectfully declined for ethical reasons.
There’s really no point now in rehashing just what went wrong over the course of the summer. We know CARES Act funds the council authorized to be spent to help struggling businesses, and to purchase sanitation and safety infrastructure during the COVID-19 pandemic, somehow ended up in Levings’ department budget for fun stuff and event amenities. We also know a lot of money that should have stayed in town, flowed out of Colusa County, and into God knows who else’s pockets, with no input from the public or City Council.
What we also learned this summer is that for the city to host a major festival (monthly), while spending lavishly on the unbudgeted whims of a staff member’s fancy, and recouping only a portion of the costs from beer sales, private donations, and street food, that a government takeover of community events is unquestionably unsustainable. It would likely result in the permanent destruction of local non-profit organizations, typically reliant on similar activities for their philanthropic endeavors, and would also become heavy competition for the city’s own established bars and restaurants.
That sort of ill-planned extravagance was a fatal mistake for anyone wanting to keep a government job…and someone (Levings) obviously had to walk the plank for those decisions, or the entire crew could go down with the ship.
But Levings shouldn’t leave town without some recognition for what she did accomplish. She proved that Colusa’s big businesses with deep pockets should contribute more toward community events than they have in the past, whether they expect something in return or not. She also proved that people want the city to contribute more toward community endeavors, and even tackle an occasional big event, such as a Fourth of July celebration or Taco Festival. They just want the city to do it without breaking the bank or putting others out of business.
There’s also nothing like a stranger waltzing into town and immediately stepping on a lot of people’s toes to get them to sit up, take notice, and recognize their shortcomings. That is what Levings did best.
Suddenly, everyone remembered that it takes an entire village to pull together to provide a better quality of life for everyone, and that we have no right to expect the government (taxpayers) to provide for our every happiness.
When the City Council, city staff, volunteers, businesses, and the public work together, amazing things can happen. We saw that this summer with new recreation programs, which the public can thank Levings for. The City Council, at her and the city manager’s urging, agreed to pony up just a little more dough for kids programs to be better. Concerts in the Park were, in fact, better.
I think the residents of Colusa, thanks to Levings, got a taste for something new, something more, and something better – and now have a feel for what can be reasonably accomplished. I also think we are going to see the City of Colusa become better in a supporting role to make sure its citizens have the quality of life they deserve, even if the city doesn’t become the next Disneyland.
More importantly, I think we all learned that we need to do a better job at supporting each other and our local businesses without praying for bus loads of tourists to drive in to save the day. Perhaps, in time, that will change.
Colusa might not be ripe for sudden and high-risk changes, but I think we are up to taking on new projects openly, honestly, and one step at a time. ■