Editor’s note: This letter is in response to a story that ran in the July 23 edition of Current in Carmel about the city council refusing to reimburse the city’s clerk-treasurer for a gift for the mayor’s grandson. The clerk-treasurer did not respond to multiple requests for comments before the story ran.
Editor,
The Carmel clerk-treasurer’s staff requested the office send a goodwill gift to the first grandchild of the mayor. The staff signed a baby card, which was presented to the mayor as a group gift and not a personal gift. The reimbursement check was received on July 17 and not July 2 as reported.
City Council President Jeff Worrell approached me of the claim rejection based on “a sense of fair play” one hour before the (July 2) city council meeting during a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The city council’s basis for public action is shamefully hypocritical at best – as the mayor sent flowers to a female citizen following her surgery. Where is President Worrell’s “sense of fair play?” Will the city council ask the mayor to reimburse the Carmel taxpayers as well?
Upon further review of city code and authorized use of various promotional fund accounts, I have requested an opinion by corporation counsel as to whether proper procedural process was followed as well as appropriate use of funds from the common council promotional fund for expenditures such as employee picnics.
Regarding the last paragraph of the Current story, I stand behind my statement that Jim Brainard made unwanted sexual, and not romantic as reported, advancements towards me.
Christine Pauley, City of Carmel clerk-treasurer
