Dear Members of Our Cherished Community:
My name is Bill Ruddock and I am a member of Chelsea City Council.
In our May 15th meeting, we withdrew our contingent offer to Mr. Troy Bell as Interim City Manager, which harmed the reputation of the candidate. In our June 12th meeting, I made a statement to help set the record straight on the qualifications of Mr. Troy Bell. What follows here is the essence of that statement.
First, I want to say how much I enjoy working with this council. Based on my experience, I know that every member of council is working for the betterment of Chelsea; for the city staff; for the needs of the people who live, work and visit here; and for fair, respectful treatment of all people.
When we have differences of opinion, we express them respectfully and we nearly always reach consensus on every vote. These are all signs of a healthy council.
However, our decision to withdraw the offer to Mr. Bell failed to meet these general principles. I don’t believe that it was our intention, but we ended up casting aspersions on the career and character of Mr. Bell. Here’s what the Sun Times reported about our decision on May 18th:
At its May 15th meeting, the council voted to withdraw its offer to Mr. Bell. Comments from the council alluded to the confidential background check as the reason for giving them pause.
Here’s what MLive reported on May 22nd about the withdrawal of our offer to Mr. Bell:
At issue was information turned up in the vetting process for Bell, city council members said at their May 15 meeting, without citing specifics. … city leaders shared … reactions to the confidential background information they reviewed on Bell.
The average reader would assume that there must be something in that background check that gave us pause. There must be something criminal, illegal, unethical, or immoral in that background check. And because the background check is “confidential” the reader, and certainly potential employers of Mr. Bell, are left to fill in the blanks, assuming the worst.
I state here, for the record, the background check turned up nothing criminal, immoral, unethical or illegal. It has innuendo, false news reports and opinions that the council was already aware of prior to its offer to Mr. Bell.
As it turns out, we were a divided council before anyone did a background check. After we interviewed the candidates on May 8th, we used ranked choice voting to select Mr. Bell as our candidate. We did not know at that time that we were, in fact, split 4 to 3.
After receiving the confidential background check, we met on 15th of May with only six council members present. We each spoke in turn about the candidate. Three members supported continuing with Mr. Bell, while three expressed reservations. It turns out that the same three members who supported continuing with Mr. Bell had ranked Mr. Bell as their first choice in the rank-choice vote the prior week. Those who expressed reservations had not ranked Mr. Bell as their first choice. Thus, preferences of individual council members did not change because of the background check.
Mr. Bell is left with what the press has written based on our comments during the council meeting. My statement here is meant to set the record straight for Mr. Bell and to highlight that what we say in council meeting can have real life consequences for persons who come to us offering their expertise.
Mr. Bell was City Manager in Muskegon Heights for three years. I want to quote from a few key people who worked with Mr. Bell during that time:
Republican State Senator Jon Bumstead said “I have had the pleasure to work with and interact with countless municipal leaders around the state, but few measure up to what Mr. Bell has brought to the communit[y].” and “[Bell]…demonstrated profound ethics.”
Muskegon Heights Police Chief, Fire Chief, Chief Building Official, Community Development Director, Deputy Public Works Director all jointly signed a letter stating, “The engineer for our on-ramp to the highway of success is Mr. Troy Bell.” and “He has the support of the business community….he has sometimes changed our thinking and pushed us to move past antiquated systems to serve the community better.” and “The absence of Mr. Bell will make our work much more difficult for our small team…”
Mayor Watt of Muskegon Heights said that Mr. Bell managed the city through “…the creation of the 1st downtown vision plan, the revamping and restoration of the DDA, …the creation a 5-year Recreation Plan…created the Reserve Police Officers program…established a fleet management program …that assisted the city in the replacement of all its vehicles…to save the City money” and “Bell is ethical, courageous, disciplined and a tremendous hard worker and yet easy going, approachable, humble and friendly.” MLive quoted the Mayor saying, “[not renewing Bell’s contract is] absolutely the worst decision that could have been made in the history of this city…[adding that the city has gone from] being on the verge of a breakthrough to the verge of a breakdown.” (ref: https://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/2023/01/muskegon-heights-severs-ties-with-city-manager-troy-bell.html)
Council Member Cook of Muskegon Heights said, “…[He is] a beacon of class and integrity” and “…he has not been concerned with politics; he has been focused on demonstrating profound ethics and achieving the success of the community.” and “…no one can outwork Troy…”
Mr. Bell attended our May 15th council meeting in person and was present for the preceding budget meeting. After our vote to withdraw our offer during the council meeting, Mr. Bell did not leave the room. He stayed until after the meeting was adjourned. Afterwards he spoke with many members of council and wished us well. In that action alone, he showed us who he is. A man of deep integrity.
