Liaison role of city administrator questioned

It started with a reminder at the end of Tuesday's Brainerd City Council meeting and could grow to a greater discussion on how council members relate to city staff members.

Council member Frank Asplund said he thought it was time to remind the council to rely on the city administrator to work as an administrator.

"If we feel he is not doing the job, that is between us and him," Asplund said.

Council President Lucy Nesheim agreed. She said if council members have concerns regarding city business they should direct them to the city administrator and he would then work directly with city employees.

City Administrator Dan Vogt was absent and did not attend the Tuesday council meeting. No council member names were specified, but one elected official felt the comment was directed at him.

"Oh, there was no question," council member Bob Olson said in an interview Wednesday.

Olson said he talks with department heads and sent a letter to Brainerd's building official Tim Caughey regarding Sherrie Mauk's difficulties with her home and a contractor who received a city permit to reroof her home. That issue became an extended discussion point at the Tuesday meeting.

Olson said he plans to get the city administrator issue on the agenda so it can be debated on the council chamber floor. "I wasn't elected to be a puppet to a city administrator," he said.