Greenfield council split over mediation pitch as formal complaints near hearing

At the April 7 workshop, Council member Machihi urged fellow council members to consider the League of Minnesota Cities' collaboration services to address what he described as a breakdown in how the council functions.

Machihi said he had reached out to the League in December and wanted the council to pursue a collaborative approach before engaging in a costly adversarial process. "We owe it to the residents of the city to ask a simple question. Do we want to continue down a path of internal escalation or do we want to take a step toward actually fixing how we work together?" he said, and encouraged colleagues to contact Amy Gor at the League for collaboration services.

Council member Bronzack pushed back, saying the matter scheduled for April 21 is a formal hearing on four complaints alleging misconduct by an individual council member outside of council business and is distinct from internal mediation. "What we're talking about here is four complainants that came forward and alleged misconduct by you ... It is not about disagreement amongst us on this council about any particular issue of city business," Bronzack said.

City staff and the city attorney (a Mr. Dames was referenced) explained that the council has formal procedures for handling complaints and that the code‑of‑conduct and employee complaint processes differ; staff said the group can still pursue collaboration services at any time but that the pending formal process will proceed on its own schedule. Several council members acknowledged the council has had difficulty working together and said they would raise the topic again at the next meeting.

The hearing on four complaints is scheduled for April 21; Machihi said he will participate and reiterated his preference to explore collaboration services first to restore working relationships.