Its been no secret to regular City hall meeting attendees and some City Staff about Mayor Bodker's Job Abandonment. The issue has compounded recently with Altered City Documents to hide his poor performance and a potential illegal City Meeting from the public record.
4 of 7 Planning Commission Members term expired on February 28, 2019. Mayor Bodker FAILED to perform his Required duties and Appoint NEW Members Before the term expired¹. In fact, according to the Municipal Code, he should have appointed the Committee & Board Members back in January. --> Powers and duties of the Mayor: job description notes
At March 5, 2019, Tuesday Night's Planning Commission meeting went on with 3 of 6 Members, not appointed, or re-appointed before their term expired.
Was this an "Illegal Planning Commission Meeting"? They heard 2 cases.
Are those cases invalid because those "Members" that heard the cases were neither presented by the Mayor to the Council for Appointment. Therefore, they were never approved to be sitting members on this board for this meeting? They are on the agenda for tonight.
There was no quorum for this March 5, 2109 meeting. Planning Commission also held an illegal meeting without a quorum in December 2018, and the meeting video disappeared from the City Website recently.
On tonight's Monday's agenda, Mayor Bodker has finally gotten around to appointing boards and commissions. The Date is Altered of when the Planning Commission term "expire as of March 17, 2019" in the new resolution.
Although, the agenda report is 'from' the City Clerk, as most agenda's item are. Why would Mayor Bodker ALLOW this ALTERED Date on the Agenda? He Authored and Signed the Resolution with the Original, Correct Date.
In the Charter, two of the Duties of the Mayor is to set the Agenda & See that all laws and ordinances of the city are faithfully executed.
Is this Date change an attempt, to cover a potential illegal Planning Commission meeting that was held on March 5, 2019?
In addition, for not fulfilling his Mayoral Duties specifically in the City Charter and appointing board members in a timely manner, and in accordance with the laws and Municipal Code of the City?
The only new person and isn't really new. Kamini Anand was on the Arts & Culture Board and Bodker moved her over.
The others are re-appointees. We reviewed the 29 video meetings available (included the 1 that disappeared) on the City website from April 2015- Dec 2018. Lea Taylor has been on Planning Commission that entire time and has only missed 3 meetings.
The other 2, Emmett Shaffer & Chip Floyd, have been on Planning Commission for a very long time and are well connected to the real estate and development industry.
Shaffer has served on the Planning Commission since (at least) 2013. He was also appointed to the Charter Commission in 2012.
Consultant for: Liquid Studios -
“Local Innovations for Quality Urban Implementation & Development”.
Emmett Shaffer was absent for 12 of 29 Meetings.
Floyd has served on the Planning Commission since (at least) 2013. He has also been appointed to Citizen Advisory Committee for CLUP & North Fulton Transportation Plan.
VP Sales for Innerface Signage.
Building Trade Supplier.
Chip Floyd was absent for 7 of the 29 meetings.
Yes! Johns Creek has over 80,000 residents.
Surely, there are a handful of fresh faces and names to serve the community on the Planning Commission. The City's Communication Department put out a call for volunteers to serve on Boards in October 2018. They knew the Boards and Commissions needed to be filled in January.
On just the Bitly link alone, 293 residents clicked. Surely, hundreds more clicked the other links that were on the website, Facebook, emails sent out etc.
Why aren't other residents considered for Planning Commission?
Bodker also neglected to replace members of the CAC, who did not consistently attend or moved out of the area. Former Councilman Bob Gray resigned to run for Congress, and Bodker did not replace his critical seat, even though others appealed him to do so.
Why keep important boards and commissions vacant?
Mayor Bodker missed 2 of 3 Town Halls that HE scheduled. Yet, just a few hours before the most recent Town Hall began, he attended the ribbon cutting at Ocee Park and skipped the Town Hall.
It was obvious, he was avoiding the resident's questions and concerns, again.
Mayor Mike Bodker has missed 3 of the past 7 recent City Council meetings. Bodker had gotten up and walked out 1 of those meetings, and missed votes. It also appears he has left several City Council meetings early, before the closing.
He has also had outbursts and unprofessional behavior from the dais.
There's been a backlog with the agenda and it is released to the public at very latest possible. The agenda is his responsibility and has always been struggling with that task. Some residents theorize, that it is strategic for Mayor Bodker to release the agenda at the last possible minute. It gives Residents less time to research and ask questions on his agenda items and policies. Even his latest budget was late, and literally "Hot off the Press" and in his exact words was "still not complete" when he presented it.
Mayor Bodker was caught misrepresenting the facts TWICE recently during City Meetings. One about Peachtree Corners pursuing a Thru-U, and another about the TSPLOST.
We recently highlighted a Zoning case that is now under scrutiny for possible preferential treatment for Permitting.
Lastly, with all the job abandonment issues occurring, someone has to fill the void. Mayor Pro-Tem Lenny Zaprowski has gone above and beyond exceeding expectations as Mayor Pro-Tem. He has conducted the most respectful, open dialogue, and well-run meetings, since the Johns Creek Post started covering City Hall meetings.
Sec. 3.22. - Powers and duties of the mayor.
(a) The mayor shall be the chief executive officer of the city government, a member of and the presiding officer of the city council, and responsible for the efficient and orderly administration of the city's affairs. The mayor shall be responsible for the enforcement of laws, rules, regulations, ordinances, and franchises in the city.
The mayor shall:
(1) Preside at all meetings of the city council;
(4) See that all laws and ordinances of the city are faithfully executed;
(5) Vote on any motion, resolution, ordinance, or other question before the council and vote on any matter before a committee on which he or she serves;
(9) Name qualified residents of the city to boards and commissions with approval of the city council;
(11) Prepare or have prepared an agenda for each meeting of the city council which shall include all business submitted by the mayor, any councilmember, the city manager, and the city attorney;
(a) If any public officer or other person shall steal, embezzle, alter, corrupt, withdraw, falsify, or avoid any record, process, charter, gift, grant, conveyance, or contract; or shall knowingly and willfully take off, discharge, or conceal any issue, forfeited recognizance, or other forfeiture; or shall forge, deface, or falsify any document or instrument recorded or any registry, acknowledgment, or certificate; or shall alter, deface, or falsify any minutes, document, book, or any proceeding whatever of or belonging to any public office within this state; or if any person shall cause or procure any of these offenses to be committed, or to be in any manner concerned therein, he shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment and labor in the penitentiary for not less than two years nor more than ten years. O.C.G.A. 45-11-1.
Sources: City of Johns Creek, State of Georgia, Facebook, Nextdoor, Bitly, Liquid Studios, & Innerface Signage.
Once again the JCP uncovers suspicious and seemingly illegal activity by what a large number of people are calling the crooked mayor of Johns Creek.
What kind of justification is there for the lackadaisical way in which Bodker goes about doing, or should I say not doing, his job? Seems like the only things he treats has priority agenda items are those which look to have the most potential to enrich him personally.
This latest revelation, on top of the illegal zoning changes just lays bear what appears to be an administration rotting with corruption. I shared the zoning post with a very good friend of mine who lives in the Denver area and she was appalled.
They should all be arrested !!!! Mr. Mayor and his cohorts should’ve been ousted years ago !!!!
The Mayor abolished the Farmers Market to hopefully generate more money from usage of building.
Bodker helped create the City Charter. If anyone in the City knows it, he should. And if he doesn’t at this point that, is another issue.
Time to go, Bodker.
These are:
SHALL BE REMOVED FROM OFFICE - OFFENSES
Pack your bags, hit the road Jack!
Why is the mayor going to such great length to keep these men on planning commission year after year after year?
Terrible attendance! You’d be fired at Burger King.
What is wrong with regular homeowners on planning commission?
I was assuming the COJC was using the Gregorian Calendar, am I wrong about that?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_calendars
Who is holding the Mayor accountable for his actions? Whatever field you work in or position you hold, we are all accountable. There are consequences based on your actions. It is time for the honorable representatives on our City Council to hold the Mayor accountable and for the residents to take back our City!
Broadbent, Lin and Zaprowski will NEVER hold this Mayor accountable. They are very good at saying "that's just Mike" and moving on.
It's up to the residents of Johns Creek to make it clear this is not the type of government we want.
Thanks JCP for continuing to show us repeated proof regarding our Mayor's lousy performance, his self-serving agendas, and his back-room deals that are deliberately designed to enrich himself off of the backs of JC's taxpayers. We need to vote out Bodker's nod squad this year and get some authentic checks and balances on our City Council...