The Inside Out was the first township information outlet to report Clerk Terri Kowal’s upcoming departure (some call it an escape) to Auburn Hills.
Since her friend, and Assistant City Manager, Tom Tanghe was the person who recommended the hiring of a new city clerk, Mrs. Kowal’s new employment opportunity should surprise no one. This proves that (especially when it comes to government jobs) it is not what you know but WHO you know. Someone who has feasted at the public trough for 21 years, as Mrs. Kowal has done, would most certainly understand this fact.
It does seem rather peculiar, however, the way this came down. In fact, much of what Mrs. Kowal has done over the last several months seems rather strange and, in some ways, bizarre.
• Kowal’s active support of the “Save Shelby Status Quo Liberal Spending Liars Society’s” recall against Supervisor Rick Stathakis and Treasurer Paul Viar soured many residents about Terri Kowal’s independence. Furthermore, when her son and daughter-in-law (who live with her) circulated petitions for the recall, residents began to see through Kowal’s facade and understand the dirty politician within.
• Kowal’s paranoia hit a high mark just a few weeks ago. It was revealed that she approved having her township office area swept for listening devices. She also approved this surveillance sweep for the entire police department and the Human Resources Department. Her reasoning was unclear and since nothing was found this seems like a ridiculous waste of time and taxpayer money.
Kowal tried to give credence to this by claiming some ceiling tiles had been moved and wires and duct tape were hanging down. So, obviously somebody planted bugs, right? For the sake of argument, let’s assume someone did plant bugs in her office? Who? And if they did, would they be so sloppy as to make it obvious that it had been done? Were any photos taken to justify this waste of tax dollars? If so, where are the photos?
• Kowal’s abuse of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) resulted in the Board of Trustees voting to take FOIA responsibilities away from. Kowal’s political games with the FOIA, including using e-mails from other Trustees for her own political reasons, prompted the move.This was a unanimous vote, with Kowal herself supporting the move. However, she claimed that due to the heavy workload of her department, and with her department being so understaffed, giving these duties to the Human Resources Department was a good idea.
• Kowal’s statements and actions about the so-called “banker box gate” were weird. First, Kowal claimed someone tampered with an e-mail in a cardboard banker box with string around it. Trustee Manzella then claimed it was a break-in of a locked file drawer, and claimed she was filing a complaint with the Michigan State Police (no complaint was filed). Then, Kowal turned this back into to a locked banker box. How exactly do you lock a cardboard box with string anyway? Duct tape??
• At first Kowal denied wanting another job, saying she never looked for one. But, it was later discovered that Kowal put her name in for consideration in Auburn Hills. She denied getting any offer from the city, and persisted in her denials even after the Inside Out posted actual minutes from the meeting where the Auburn Hills City Council voted unanimously to give her an offer. Check out the screen capture below:
Keep in mind that the meeting where the Auburn Hills City Council voted unanimously to make Kowal an offer was held NINE DAYS before Kowal’s Facebook comment above. The meeting minutes show that Kowal was present at that meeting to answer questions from the Auburn Hills City Council. Yet, she still seemed surprised by news that she would be leaving? The only thing we can figure is that word of her employment change spread much faster than Kowal wanted, so she tried to deflect the message.
• Mrs. Kowal told her friends and township employees that the Auburn Hills gig was a good opportunity with more money. Then we found out that her new appointed job actually pays less than her current elected position.
So what is going on here?
One theory, raised by one of our readers, is “politics.” Mrs. Kowal probably glanced around at the township political landscape and saw the handwriting on the wall. She apparently didn’t want to go through another election to try and keep her job. Maybe she realized that she is not as popular or well liked as she thought?
Keep in mind that even though the press has reported that Kowal has been township clerk since 1996, and has won re-election ever since, there is much more to this story.
• In 1996, she first elected by promising to put “Kowality” in the clerk’s office. Pretty lame theme.
• In the 2000 election, Kowal faced token opposition and almost got defeated. If that candidate against her had actually done some real work, and not taken the lazy way out and did nothing, Kowal may have lost that race.
• In the 2004 election, Kowal had NO OPPOSITION. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realize that it is very easy to win when you have no one running against you.
• In the 2008 election, Kowal again had NO OPPOSITION so naturally she won.
However, times have changed, and we suspect Kowal understood this too. She probably reviewed her recent statements and actions about the banker box/FOIA incident, spoke to people about her strange claim that her office had been bugged, and saw (in hindsight) that voting to add her family members to the township’s payroll, and then voting to give her daughter a promotion and pay raise, were not the smartest things to do. So, given this and the fact that she had served on the Board of Trustees for 21 years, she decided to get out now before she is voted out next year. This way, she gets to take her lifetime health benefit (paid for Shelby Township taxpayers) with her as she begins her new taxpayer-funded job in Auburn Hills.
As expected, Kowal’s resignation has drawn plenty of attention. However, not every reporter has gotten his or her facts straight. Consider the following story from the November 16th Detroit News:
Township seeks new clerk: Shelby Township is seeking to replace its municipal clerk, who has been hired by the city of Auburn Hills. On Monday [Nov. 14th], the Auburn Hills City Council voted unanimously to appoint Terri Kowal its new clerk. Kowal, 37, of Shelby Township had been the township’s clerk since 1996. Kowal will become Auburn Hills’ clerk on Jan. 3, 2012, at a starting salary of $72,000 a year, according to meeting minutes.
Since the Detroit News reports Kowal’s age as 37, and since she has served the Clerk for 15 years, this would mean she was first elected clerk at the age of 16? In fact, since she was first elected Trustee in 1990, that means she first became a member of the Shelby Board at the ripe old age of 10? It is unfortunate that so many journalists are sloppy in reporting basic facts.
After finally admitting that she has a new job, Kowal posted the following on Facebook to those people who were sending her goodbye messages:
Kowal has tried to dispute the image of her “resigning”, insisting that she is “retiring.” She may truly see this as a retirement, but most people see it for what it really is. If she had completed her term and decided not to run again, that would be a retirement. However, deciding to step down before your term ends to take another job is a RESIGNATION, pure and simple. This is a game of semantics, and Kowal doesn’t want to be remembered as the clerk who resigned to go to work for her friend Tom Tanghe in Auburn Hills.
However that, in essence, is exactly what she is doing.
Shelby Township residents sincerely hope Mrs. Kowal has learned from her grave missteps here in Shelby Township. As the Auburn Hills FOIA coordinator, we hope she doesn’t play politics with the process over there the way she apparently did here. We also hope she doesn’t talk about bugs planted in her office or someone breaking into a locked, cardboard banker box.
If she does, LOOK OUT Auburn Hills taxpayers — because you are in for a huge surprise!
Until next time...
