The Place Where Ludington Talks
When City Managers Break, They Break Bad
The stress of being a City Manager of a northern Michigan city can really get to you. The city council and influential folks can get you doing irresponsible things that they would never want to take the blame for. The majority of citizens think you're nothing more than a stooge and whipping boy for the city council and other influential folks of the city, being a figurehead that has no accountability to the regular people. Here's the story of one that went bad, really bad.
TRAVERSE CITY, MI -- Traverse City Manager Jered Ottenwess could barely stand from apparent drunkenness when authorities came to his home, and in the minutes afterward, he threatened to kill two officers amid erratic and violent behavior, a police report shows.
Jered Ottenwess, 36, was arraigned Friday, Feb. 27, in Grand Traverse County District court on four misdemeanors that included two counts of domestic assault and two counts of attempted assault/resisting and obstructing an officer.
The police report, released by the Grand Traverse County prosecutor's office through a Freedom of Information Act request, details several minutes of erratic behavior by Ottenwess after police came to his house Feb. 16 because of a 911 call.
Ottenwess, after cutting his hand on a laundry basket and running through his yard with bare feet and no coat, was taken to the hospital to be checked. Tests showed a blood-alcohol of 0.39, nearly five times over the legal driving limit.
Police went to Ottenwess' house after his mother called 911 to say he was tearing up part of the house.
When they arrived, one officer noted: "It was my observation that Jered was extremely intoxicated and could barely stand up. I asked Jered to sit on the bed so he did not fall over and he was looking at me with a 1000-mile stare."
What followed was a serious of profanities lobbed at the two officers, moments of crying and loud laughing and the jaunt through the yard.
"Jered was laughing extremely loud and making gestures as if it was a game," an officer wrote. "Jered turned and faced us with clenched fists."
The officers managed to get handcuffs on Ottenwess and into an ambulance, where he made statements that he was going to "(expletive) kill" one of the officers.
At the hospital, Ottenwess continued to struggle with hospital staff and needed to be placed in restraints.
Ottenwess' wife told investigators that he had been drinking heavily since April.
"She said every weekend Jered starts drinking on Friday, does not eat, but continues drinking until he passes out sometime Sunday," an investigator wrote. "Mrs. Ottenwess said Jered rarely drinks during the week but every weekend he drinks until he passes out."
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2015/02/traverse_c...
Upnorth Live reports that Mr. Ottenwess has resigned, and have gained access to the full police report.
GRAND TRAVERSE CO. -- The city has received a letter of resignation from Traverse City Manager Jered Ottenwess on Friday.
According to the Traverse City Commission Meeting agenda for Monday, commissioners are planning to discuss the consideration of appointing an acting City Manager.
Late Friday afternoon, consideration of accepting resignation of the city manager was added as a possible modification to the agenda.
"I hereby resign from my position as City of Traverse City, City Manager, effective immediately with the condition that I receive severance compensation pursuant to paragraph 5(b) in my Employment Agreement," stated in Ottenwess' resignation letter. "The City will provide the equivalent of 90 calendar days of pay and 90 calendar days of health and dental premiums for policies in effect at the time of this resignation. These severance terms commence upon my resignation being accepted."
CLICK HERE for full letter.
Ottenwess appeared in court on two counts of domestic violence and two counts of attempted assault against a police officer.
The police report has been released after an incident that happened with Ottenwess on Feb. 16. Police were called to Ottenwess’ home after his mom called 911 saying Ottenwess had been drinking for days and acting aggressively. This then launched an investigation by the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Willy on
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I just heard that on the radio. Must be this long cold snap froze his brain. I can't wait to see how Traverse City handles this one. At least he wasn't driving drunk as officials from the Ludington area are so famous for.
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Permalink Reply by XLFD on
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Back in the day, they might have just given him some time at the Traverse City State Hospital (Northern Michigan Asylum) to recover from his aberrant behavior. Since it closed, they renovated the whole place at the turn of the century into the village at Grand Traverse Commons. This quaint place of interest still has some of its history hidden from the tourists, as seen below.
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Permalink Reply by stump on
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That is to bad to see a person that must have had something going for him to have that position lose his job over booze, probably stress related,could be a lot of things. He should have just placed himself into a treatment center and retained his job at least till he got out. Then make a sound decision on what would be his future.
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It's hard for an insane person to make sane decisions.
Maybe he was made so crazy when he tried to think about the logic behind that rail system from Ann Arbor to Traverse City.
But here is another example of someone who was appointed by the city council of the municipality who turned out to be a poor choice, someone who was given the power to run the city, yet wasn't accountable to the citizenry at all, and only otherwise accountable to the council when he does something outrageous like this that makes him a liability. This is why you shouldn't rationally consider giving seven councilors the ability to choose elected positions, like the city officials are trying to push in Ludington, for the city clerk and treasurer positions.
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Permalink Reply by AQUAMAN on
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stump said it right, Jered should have taken a sick leave of absence, re-evaluated, and made this final decision in a sober and objective state of mind at a later date. I'm sure he is entitled to it per contract. As for appointing officials, this just happens to be a prime example of how a city council can choose badly for it's constituency. In Ludville, the city council wants to play God, in much more than one way too. Their decision making history, based on the infrastructure, priority spending and projects, appointments of officials and cohorts, all show they have poor decision making skills and abilities.
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I think the council just passes everything that is put in front of them . There scared of Shay. The council doesn't run the manager ,the manager runs the council. Shay puts the agenda together, the council figures if it was put in the packet it must be good for the city or it wouldn't be in there to vote on. I would like to see one time the members of the council say, hey I don't think this is good for the city. example : the new grass ordinance, dream on
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Good observations stump. I might add though that I don't think the council membership is really scared of Shay, as much as they are just plain LAZY! It's much easier to just sit and take someone elses advice and recommendations, than it is to do the legwork and make the informed and educated decisions that need to be made. That bespeaks of duties not being taken seriously, and that too includes that lazy Mayor of recent. These people routinely run unopposed for office, or get a special appointment. Therefore, their hearts aren't really in the job, as would be someone that wins the job with the majority of voters, and is serious about doing the homework, and seeing the duties for what they truly are. If we were to see some council members oppose anything Shay proposes, it would give some glimmer of hope that they were thinking on their own. As it stands now, the votes are cast unanimously most every time. That alone should send a warning flag up to the public that it's too cut and dried there, and most aren't using any thinking caps. What would and should follow is a recall of those councilors. But, the silent majority of voters remain mute, to their own discredit, and disenfranchisement.
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I would like to see a mandatory time during the Council meeting where each Counselor tells the public why they support or do not support each ordinance they vote on. As it stands, there rarely is any discussion about what they vote for and why. They owe the public at least that. I agree with Aquaman, the councilors are lazy and prefer to let Shay do their work for them. Why else are there so many unanimous approvals that come out of the Council meeting. It's because Shay tells them what they are voting on, and how they should vote. It stands to reason that this is going on. I've never heard of such cooperation and agreement in any legislative body. Each ward must know what their elected Councilor is thinking and why.
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Just as a reminder, it is now March, and so be sure to keep watch in the COLDNews for the city's posted notice that will later allow them to come onto your property and cut tall grass and charge you and arm and leg for it. It will still be applicable if you don't see it.
As for who runs the show, Shay is the obvious first choice, and most things seem to be traceable back to him and/or his immediate clique of unelected appointees (Chief Barnett, CDD Venzke-Tykoski, CA Wilson). Through persuasion, twisted facts, and intimidation, these people exert a lot of influence which has never really been countered by any of the councilors or mayors. I would not be surprised if there are others that are part of that clique.
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One of Traverse City's high police officers, Captain Mike Ayling, received some grief for effectively looking the other way when CM Ottenwess went off the deep end. It rose to the point where they had him charged with willful neglect of duty, a charge he was found not guilty of in August. However, since being put on paid administrative leave since March, Ayling has effectively had a seven month full paid vacation courtesy of the taxpayers of Traverse City while the city leaders try to decide what to do with him. According to this article from Upnorth Live, it once again shows how the city manager system is flawed:
"It's the longest time I'm aware of that anyone's been paid to not do anything for the city," said Mayor of Traverse City Michael Estes.
"Well the city is still in the fog in terms of what's going on with the Captain Ayling issue," said Estes. "We have no more information than any of the public has at this point, the issue is totally in the hands of the city manager."
Estes says Colburn is the only one who can re-hire or fire Ayling.
(Upnorth Live) has repeatedly asked Traverse City Manager Marty Colburn for an update on the internal Ayling investigation but many of their calls and emails have gone unanswered.
When they asked him today for an on camera interview about this subject, he refused.
Two weeks ago Colburn told commissioners they'd have a conclusion on the Ayling internal review at Monday night's meeting. It didn't happen.
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