Lisa Hammon Resigns
— by Jeffrey Wisniewski — 15 December 2010 — 29 comments below »
Assistant City Manager Lisa Hammon abruptly resigned last night amidst an address to the City Council describing her perspective of the issues facing the city, including the mismanagement of numerous projects (Hercules Bayfront, Intermodal Station, etc.), accounting irregularities, and a general sense of lawlessness at City Hall…
Hammon received a resounding ovation — it was a “great moment in civic duty,” as I reported last night — and following speakers implored the Council to not accept her resignation.
In an email, Hammon said the speech was the “hardest thing” she had ever done in her life. “Sometimes you just have to do the right thing,” she wrote.
Godspeed.
I’m getting an error message that says “This is a private video. If you have been sent this video, please make sure you accept the senders friend request.” Any idea how we go about watching the video?
I watched it fine about an hour ago. It looks like the host (the city of Hercules?) locked it.
@ Watching — Haha. That is an interesting yet ridiculous conspiracy theory. YouTube hosts the video, and I uploaded it. I messed up while tinkering with the settings. It should work fine now.
Glad to hear! I’m not a conspiracy fanatic but after these past few weeks around here. . . .
@ Watching — Understood. It was quite humorous actually.
Not at all unreasonable to assume the city had a way to mess with the video considering that sometime back they edited the tasing comments by the city attorney in the June city council meeting during the video of Dan R.
I think Lisa was very courageous. She spoke with clarity and dignity. I am concerned about her “retaliation” remark. I don’t think she would have said it if she didn’t believe it. That concerns me.
Bravo Lisa.
@ Susan Keeffe – Retaliation is a valid concern in this town. After living 31 years here, I have seen it happen many times and have also been a victim of it once myself. That is the sole reason that I do not post using my name. The City has lost a valuable employee!
I think there is urgency in removing the C.M. I also think C. Long should be brought back to finish his reports and an independent audit is complete and the search for a new city manager has been completed. It is clear there are real concerns, serious concerns for Lisa to resign. It is also clear, the new mayor Balico is involved in a cover up as his rambling speech last night indicated.
Not that she wants one, but Lisa Hammon should be awarded a key to the city for her honesty, integrity, reason and professionalism as a model for all present and future city employees. She is the caliber of employee that the council must demand if we are to turn this city around and realize our potential. And by the way, who on earth wants to come and be the city manager here after the circus we’ve treated the world to in the last few weeks and months? We can only hope that Myrna and John quickly communicate and create a stable environment with clear priorities that won’t be impacted by a recall.
I think the FBI can be trusted to conduct a very thorough financial audit and more… Are there any federal funds involved?
I join the comments expressing respect for the courage and professionalism of Lisa Harmon. Someone needed to say what she said and I can imagine how hard it was for her to do so. We are in her debt. Now it is up to the citizens of Hercules to keep the momentum moving in the right direction.
I have the utmost respect for you, Lisa. I applaud your courage, honesty, bravery and dignity. It is my wish we all could challenge just a little bit of everything you showed us last night. Truly an inspiration.
I wish you nothing but the best of luck and happiness to your family.
CHANNEL not challenge. That’s what I get for typing on the iPhone.
Just another black eye for City.
If you aren’t in the Oliva, Balico, Kuheune, Ward camp you have to be careful.
City employees have taken sides and that’s why Lisa is afraid.
Really scary stuff happening here.
Does any one know if the California Attorney General’s Office has been contacted and asked to do an investigation? They are charged with the duty to oversee public entities and officials. Their offices are currenty looking in the city of Bell. What is going on in Hercules is just as bad as what officials did in the city of Bell.
$3 million in non-bid contacts…something is definately wrong. Kamala Harris, are you listening and reading the newspaper lately? Someone needs to go to jail.
31 year resident-
OUCH! That is very scary! Do you feel comfortable telling about it? Should Lisa go to the police?
Not to mention Lisa Hammon saying she felt she and her family could be in danger as a result of her resignation and comments. I don’t know exactly what she meant, but this is frightening.
I applaud Lisa Hammon! Integrity is a valued personal quality! She made some very serious allegations that sound illegal and morally wrong. If fraud, tampering with legal documents, and physical threats are being made, shouldn’t the appropriate law enforcers be looking in the city’s situation. I’m outraged that more isn’t being done to reveal the truth!!
How can the citizens of Hercules support an investigation so the truth can be revealed?
Let me clear up something that I said… when I talked about harm to my physical health, I meant my personal health such as not sleeping,migraine headaches, stomach aches… those types of things. I was not talking about fear of outside physical danger. Sincerely, Lisa Hammon
@ Susan Keeffe – What happened to me is over and done. It makes no difference what happened to me except I will say that the PD is part of the problem. What they do under the color of authority is illegal. In my humble opinion, Lisa should go to the AG’s Office and sing like a bird. She has the credibility to advance this mess right onto the AG’s lap.
To Hercules Business Owner…do not think that city employees have “taken sides” . You are very incorrect in thinking so. Don’t you think that the employees are worried as residents (which many of them are) AND as employees as they are worried for what is happening to their place of business as well?? Please again know that you are WRONG for saying they have taken sides.
Lisa,
Thanks so much for checking in and clarifying. I was worried! I admire you tremendously. Thank you so much for all your hard work regarding the Waterfront. I know you were literally “between a rock and a hard place” at times. If you can’t be convinced to change your mind, then please enjoy the holidays with your family, get some sleep and get rid of the headaches and stress!!! Time to enjoy life a little! I wish you all the best.
Thank you Lisa for your honesty, it is refreshing. It is pretty clear to me that businesses and organizations that are financed by the City of Hercules are supportive of Balico and Oliva. I am shocked to see high ranking officials from the Hercules Chamber of Commerce making public comments in favor of Balico and Oliva on a very regular basis, when at the very same time internally, city employees are jumping ship due to the hostile & poor work environment, could they (Chamber Officials) just be part of a distraction tactic? How can disgruntled employees deliver what we Herculeans expect and deserve, after all we pay our taxes that in turn pay the city employees’ salaries. No time records are being enforced and or kept, well this could explain why one never gets to speak with a live person at City Hall anymore, they are off talking on the city issued cell phones. I have driven to City Hall on several occasions to deliver emails to the building department (because they kept bouncing back) only to find the city employee that I was calling on, sitting on a park bench on her cell phone talking to her child, dressed in sweats and bandanna. I waited 43 minutes for her to get off the phone, it never happened. Our city hall is out of control; department managers (i.e. Dennis) are having a difficult time managing insubordinate team players, documenting such activities, and enforcing HR Policy. Who is the HR Director? We as a city have a great deal of improvement to make, leadership starts at the top and, works its way downward.
Perhaps it is time that residents, who are seeking change and contemplating a recall effort, meet to discuss next steps. Starbucks on Willow Avenue on Wednesday, December 22 at 7:00 pm? Someone can draft a letter to the city council and city manager demanding accountability, and we can sign.
One more clarification: The ITC can be salvaged – IF there is a regime change and the discussions with the developer are reinstated; the secured grant funding is moved out one fiscal year with the granting agencies; the EIR/EIS for the ITC is certified in January; the negotiations lead to the City’s acquisition of the property in order to start construction. Additional outreach to the state and federal legislators will be needed, along with the funding partners, to ensure that they understand where the City is headed and that the ITC/Waterfront is the top priority project. The ITC team is working feverishly to accomplish everything above except the developer discussions which are with the City Manager. Happy Holidays! Lisa Hammon
Check out the Red Barn website. The only project they have, according to the site, is Hercules New Town Center. No wonder they are billing us for east coast car rental and pitched a fit when Mr. Long canceled their only apparent source of revenue.
http://www.theredbarnco.com/project.html