Your right, It has been, It is, And will be.

Great - an incompetent City Council and a Manager who's just an ass.

This oughta be fun.............

bigskigor - you be careful of what you say in print. You could be held liable for defamation and slander. I really doubt your truthfulness in what you just said you overheard Sheiffer say at the mall.

You are not completely anonymous on this blog.

Zoom...I will just assume here that your information is correct. I don't want to google at this late of an hour. That said, Phoenix is one of the fastest growing communities in the country, so I can only hope that the Phoenixians will soon catch up to the danger and stupidity of unelected local governing bodies managing things, and eventually capitalizing on their scurrilous "Scheifferesque" advantages. And the other example you gave was Las Vegas. Vegas?????????? Really? Your example of a perfectly functioning "Council-Manager" dynamic is LAS VEGAS???? Meyer Lansky's kids must be contributing big bucks to your pro-"Council-Manager" advertising campaign, Zoom.

Phoenix and Las Vegas, among others, operate under the Council-Manager form of goverment. Their Mayors are the equivalent of our Council President, and sit on the Council.

This story is further evidence of why we need a MAYOR in this weird town. If you are elected, you are held accountable by the voters. If you are "appointed", you are simply held accountable to the councilpersons who don't do homework, or worse. In my opinion, to be honest, as scurrilous as Scheiffer has been here, he just did what he was enabled to do by the governmental conundrum of this fine City of Parks, and he can now skate into civic obscurity with a bunch of cash he probably should not have. God Bless Him. It is simply our government in action, people. Cities with 60,000+ inhabitants should have an elected official representing them. Let Brodhead appoint a city manager. Or Mayberry.....

Wow ... if your description of the bimbo at the mall is 100 percent the truth, then he really is a jerk. Makes me want to puke. What goes around comes around, Stevie.

Now am i corect in asuemeing that Mr Sheiffer retired On Sept 5.Then what the hell are we payig him for to do nothig as he did for the last 21 years

billnewbie, wikin, wiccan, anyway you spell it, it comes out n-u-t-s.

Her double WAS at the pie eating contest, but so was she. The contestants were very confused.

The one here was just someone having some fun.

+1 localboy. Best summation I've read so far.

ihavealife - yes I do agree with you. If his contract allowed for it, then he should get it. I don't disagree that he might have outsmarted the council in using the clause to his personal advantage. At this point, he didn't have the city in his best interest, but his own. It for sure was a learning opportunity for all, but I question people who are thinking Steve was evil for completing the terms of his contract to its fullest. He took what was eligible in his contract, and nothing more.

It has been a great discussion either way....

localboy..The difference to me is Amy didn't get the $ for GM workers.It's my opinion that she just questioned if this was in his contract.The city attorney needed to set-up and explain all of this to the council.We all know when others mess with our money what can happen ! I think you and I get this !!

ihavealife - my point was that it was funny that Amy was upset (irritated) that the city manager used a clause (not illegal) in his contract to better himself $9424. Amy is an appointed UAW official (one would assume she is in agreement with the UAW policies and efforts)who negotiated (same as Sheiffer)a separation bonus for their employees. The bonus was for $45,000. That is a lot of bonus for somebody who is a non-skilled hourly employee of an auto factory with no other responsibilities than that of their job element discription. To be upset that a highly skilled, educated, long time city manager of 62,000 people, used an option in his contract to receive an additional $9424 is fundamentally hipocrasy, due to what her own organization had done to General Motors. It is regardless if one is a private sector business, or a public entity. The contract allowed the additional money, so the city manager accepted this money on behalf of the city council, who are representing the public, and who was in charge of this contract.

You proceded to jump of course to identify some minor factual errors of my SAP point, instead of understanding my point of hipocrasy on Amy's part.

localboy...You assume alot...My husband did want to retire at 30 years.That would of been 48years old,2 small kids at home.So he did the right thing and waited for them to finish H.S.He knew he was retiring this year even before the offer was on the table.By the way he's 61 and had 42.5 years in !! I may not know everything ,but after all GM has been a part of my life for 28 years.The workers that we know with 30 plus still have kids to support and that could be the reason they stayed also.

Gazettefan:
It's spelled wiccan, what are ya, ignerent.
How do you know that wasn't her double at the pie contest?

ihavealife - it was a incentive to leave early. Period.

These over 30 would not have been working if they wanted to retire. If GM gave them $45,000, and they left, that is early retirement. Example, if you were 52 and had 30 years, most people would keep working because they were not ready to retire. SS doesn't start until you are 62. Most people use that age as a official retirment age. If you left before then, that is early retirement.

I just love it when I have to explain the most simple things to people.

Note - GM and UAW called it the SAP (SPECIAL attrition package). You can call our city managers $9424 his SAP. You got me thinking you are Amy Loaching.

Mr ShEiffer you need to retire as you said you would.if you continue this way you will impale the citys ability to have a effective city council.There are people trying to save this tow an all he is doing is stalling.This city needs a new city manager so the city can move foward this angers me an i am tired of it.Now mr Sheiffer you need to retire so Janesville can move on.We need a new manage so the city can try to save jopbs an creat new ones That is what should be important not screwing around with this.

gfan...El Jardin used to be my favorite,can't eat spicy food right now.:( Have a good one !

At the time of the "andreah" post, the real one and I were at the Senior Center placing bets on the pie eatin' contest.

Failure to tell all the facts is lying. Ask the cops about interrogating people and thats what they tell them. Man up Sheiffer. Have the balls to admit you were wrong in not informing a newly elected council to all of the technicalities in your contract!!!!!!!!!!

Margaritas and food at El Jardin and beers now. Big day tomorrow.

gfan...Darn it !!! I saw that and was wondering where you were .....LOL Oh dumb me it's r/c night! Heres to ya lemonade heaven !

Settle down all you druids and wikens, it's not her.

I thought he was paid quite well to put up with such adversarial views and tactics.
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It comes with the territory.

"I can tolerate this whole problem if it amounts to revenge for how much Sheiffer had to put up with the likes of B'moon, McCoy, and the rest of those pathologically lying malcontents, as well as those whose didn't speak out against them.

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That says a lot about you and your misguided, unquestioning support of Sheiffer.
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Can you tolerate any other "revenge" by city employees?

I strongly urge everyone to attend the council meeting on september 22 at 7pm and voice your displeasure at the city attorney who is suppose to represent the city, Not sheiffers interest! The Sheiffer "nepotism" and mistreating of employee's and his so called "retirement" that shafted us the citizens!

Gat a mayor and alderperson government so as to protect yourselves citizens. It will happen again and again if you continue to pay these fools high salaries and listen to other council members that are or were government employees!!!! Of course he knew what he was doing right?? The city attorney works for him right??? Your city attorney if working for the council should have been watching out for the citizens and the councils best interest. But the gazette article just a day ago stated the city attorney answers to the city manger, hmmmmmmmmmm.

sheiffer gave his notice to be gone september 2nd of 2008 from the position of city manager in janesville.
his notice was acknowledged and accepted - thus no additional "termination" notice by the city council was necessary. common since tells us this.
if he wanted to retract his resignation, that would require council approval, which he did not receive.
he threatened to stay on anyway. a tantrum.
what can you do? pack his personal belongings from the office, put it to the curb, have police escort for him to the door (rock county sheriff if the police feel compromised), and change the locks. accept no blackmail, threats, or extortion.
if he has a letter from a lawyer with some silly technicality teen-rebellion manipulative word play in it? so what.
he tells you that opposing him will be bad for the image of the city and impede the city manager selection process? not as bad as putting up with his flagrant insubordination.
let him "sue the city in a circuit court of law against the best funded city attorney office in the state of wi, who will crush him and his attorney with technicalities, exhaust his resources, and destroy him financially if he tries to mess with janesville" that is exactly what he tells our citizens, and what he told me.
put him to the curb

andreah

And if Councilman Steeber dismisses this as simply a "misunderstanding"...then I hope when it's election time, there is no misunderstanding by the electorate in replacing him.

Ok, two ways to look at this.
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1. Who initiated the termination of contract? If it was Sheiffer by announcing his "retirement", then he is morally corrupt by demanding this payment for termination of contract.
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2. Is it not Sheiffer's responsibility and obligation to keep the council informed of such pending obligations? IE: if a subordinate of Sheiffers was retiring with similar language in his contract, wouldn't it be Sheiffer's responsibility to inform the council of such contractual obligations and deadlines?
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Since he was still under contract at the time his own contractual deadlines were approaching, wasn't it his legal and moral responsibility to inform the council of such...rather than wait until after the fact and have his attorney do what he should have been man enough to do himself if he did indeed have the best interest of the citizens of Janesville at heart as he professed for 21 years?

Just wait citizens of Janesville. Mr. Scheiffer isn't done yet.
Did you know that the new assitant city attorney the son of Mr. Sheiffer's secretary and her husband works for the water department? Talk about nepotism!

This is payback from our former City Manager. In the weeks before Steve's retirement, he expressed some interest "consulting" with the City through year end. Shortly after his pronouncement, Nepogate hit the front page of the Gazette. Amy, let it pass and let it go.

If Sheiffer was waffling about retiring, why did they negotiate with him? Why didn’t let his contract automatically renew on Dec. 31 and trade him to New York?

localboy...You are wrong again ! The $45,000.was not for EARLY retirement, it was for workers with 30 plus years.I not sure what to think of Steves last move,I do think this should fall on the city attorney and not Amy.

In the end this is just a shameless ploy to get more money than he deserves.

almeg - would you rather the tax payers money go to a woman with 4 kids from 3 different dads and no job? Or to a public servant who did a very good job keeping Janesville a well run city? Also keep in mind the city manager is also a taxpayer.

One thing that could have brought this to light would be the use of an independent attorney to negotiate with the man who hired the current city attorney. On the other hand, we're only talking about 10 grand here, and another lawyer could have cost the city more than than in the end. It seems this is more a matter of stung pride than money.

Amen...almeg

localboy- GM's early retirement offer was paid by them. A company. Scheiffer's deal is going to be paid my the taxpayers! See the difference?

ihavealife - you are correct. It was $45,000! I think my point is made even if I made a $5,000 mistake. Amy has a lot of guts making a big deal about $9,424 when her non-skilled co-workers were offered $45,000 to retire early.

I don't think blame rests with the City Council or Council President. The City Attorney is supposed to represent the City Council and he failed the Council. He clearly works for the City Manager as an employee and as a friend.
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Sheiffer's antics don't surprise me. He is fiscally savvy and a whiz with numbers. He knows how to protect his interests at the cost of others and walk that line. He's a smart man.
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Time to move on.

I did not agree with Steve 100% of the time but it will be tough to replace any person in that position. If one added up all of his time answering the phone at all hours of the day and night all of the family time missed, yes that position does and did require that Man to put our city before his family without ever complaining and it may look like he is making tons of money and has aquired numerous sick day's but if you did the math and looked back over the years, he probably had the best $5.00 per hour job in the city.

I say hold "Ms Loasching" the president responsible for not paying attention!! She wants to be this "person to do for everyone" maybe she should pay attention; or not get involved where she has no expertise. Hopefully she won't screw up the talks with GM.

I think what Sheiffer is doing is wrong, you want to retire; then move along. On the other hand maybe Ms Loasching should tend to "one basket at a time" and pay attention. I bet the people of local 95 are glad she left and took the postion with the international; makes one wonder "how she got that offer, hmmmm". This isn't the first I've heard of her messing up, she approached a land owner on Parker Dr. after the flood and started speaking "condemming " she knew nothing of what she was talking about. Best to luck to the city of Janesville clearing this up.

Why is it we give these people so many perks while we get practically nothing?? They are there doing a job for us citizens..We screwed up big time giving them free reign to how much they make and all the perks they get to rule us!

This is pure BS! Sheiffer announced in January his intention to retire on Sept. 2. I see no need for a notice of termination once he made his announcement. I am fairly new to the community and have never met Sheiffer. However, he sounds selfish to me. But, then, perhaps his upcoming surgery is for a brain transplant ... actually, make that a soul transplant.

Are we sure we have competant people in our city council???? How could they not know what the procedures are concerning the city manager?? Oh, yes, were they not the city manager's puppets?

Snarly...Steeber may have not spoke because remember "AMY is the SPOKESPERSON FOR THE COUNCIL"

Time to oust Rashkin, Steeber and Voskul who truely adore and love Sheiffer. Good god, Wake up citizens! First the issues with employee's, And now this, Sheesh! Any other surprises? I'm sure Steeber who was on the council in the past got a lil cozy with Sheiffer and hense the need to need to defend him. Raskin is to nieve to rationally think about this all and Voskul a neighbor a Sheiffer. What a bunch!

It seems to me that the city attorney should have advised the city council of its responsibilities respecting the city manager’s contract. Maybe the city council should revisit its recent decision to leave the city attorney under the control of the city manager.

City Council, asleep at the wheel. "Loasching said the council was unaware of the need to send Sheiffer a notice of intent to terminate. The council assumed it would simply buy out Sheiffer’s vacation and sick days and release him from his contract, she said."

There are members are acting on behalf of the citizens of Janesville. Sheiffer's pending retirement has been known for a very long time to be "unaware" of the language in his employment contract is pathetic.

localboysince1968....Where do you get your info from on UAW/GM ??? You said they were offered $40,000. incentive to retire ??? If you are going to say something that you know nothing about , you should at least get the facts straight.....It was $45,000. :)

It sounds like he just burned any goodwill he may have had with the city of Janesville. But does it really matter?

Did anyone really think schieffer was just going to disappear,he's kinda like bush & doyle. Whether it be good or bad,they ALL want us to remember them,for the most part,in our wallets,where it hurts the most.

Correction:

I can tolerate this whole problem if it amounts to revenge for how much Sheiffer had to put up with the likes of B'moon, McCoy, and the rest of those pathologically lying malcontents, as well as those whose didn't speak out against them.

Call it the B'moon tax. Blame B'moon.

I can tolerate this whole problem if it amounts to revenge for how the much he had to put up with the likes of B'moon, McCoy, and the rest of those pathologically lying malcontents.

Call it the B'moon tax. Blame B'moon.

Are you telling me that Amy - an UAW appointed official, is upset that the city had to pay the long time manager extra money to retire? The UAW negotiates that right every year. Just recently, near retirement hourly non-skilled autoworkers, were offered $40,000, that's right, $40,000 as an incentive to retire. Do you think that $9424 is a lot for a educated, skilled long time dedicated city servant? I think Amy's comments stink. But I am sure she thinks it is ok to bargan for UAW workers to receive retirement payments instead. I mean quit with the hipocracy already.

Questionable? Yes. However, they ought to be happy just to have him gone.

Bend over janesville council you got it good this time,some one should have looked in to this before, and Mr. Steeber sound's like you knew about this and why didn't you say anything,????? MORE TAX MONEY SHOT TO HE\\.

I just wish Steve would retire and get out from under any city workings, this guy is a joke...

I'm a bit surprised that Sheiffer can announce his retirement and hypothetically rescind it without penalty. This may be something to ensure is better handled in the next manager's contract (after due consultation with peer cities).

Advanced notice for early termination of an employment contract is standard language. Too bad the Council President didn't do her homework.

WELCOME TO THE BIG LEAGUES...MAYBE THE PRESIDENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONE TO READ THE fine PRINT OF THE CONTRACT OF THE CITY MANAGER, BUT AGAIN OUR PRESIDENT IS LOOKING FOR AN OUT AND PUTTING THE BLAME SOMEWHERE ELSE.