MASON CITY – The Mason City Human Rights Commission met Thursday afternoon and took on the question of deciding Lionel Foster’s immediate fate as Human Rights Director, a position he has held for about 40 years.
As the prospect of legal consequences loomed for terminating Foster prior to city funding running out on June 30th, Commissioners Steve Palmer and Brian McNamarra backed down from a motion they brought forward that would have axed Foster on May 15th, effectively terminating him early. Friend of the commission Kathy Gaines made the point that simply letting Foster stay on as director until funding runs out on June 30th would be “separating” the commission from Foster, versus an outright termination as Palmer and McNamarra had motioned for.
Commissioner Colleen Devine touched on the possible legal ramifications to the city for terminating Foster early, saying that a massive lawsuit could be brought against the city if caution is not exercised. “He may have a case anyway,” Devine said.
A city attorney, Randy Nielsen, was present but offered no legal advice to the commission on the matter, saying only that Foster should seek his own legal representation. Mayor Eric Bookmeyer was not in attendance, nor was City Administrator Brent Trout nor any City Council members as the commission grappled with this issue.
Foster again made it clear Thursday he has no intention of resigning nor retiring from his position as director. “I’m too young to retire,” he said.
After Palmer and McNamarra rescinded their motion to terminate Foster, talk then turned to keeping Foster around as a paid consultant. A committee of three commissioners was formed to look into the prospect of making Foster a paid consultant within the bounds of the $15,000 annual budget allowed by the city council. Foster did not comment specifically on whether he would be open to that opportunity should an offer be extended.
More to come on this meeting.
Watch video of entire meeting:
httpv://youtu.be/yTuDfyWWSyc
I would like to see a list of names that would like to see Matt run for Mayor….right here thank you Jim Reed
Jim, I would love to see Matt run for mayor!
Quinn will keep the Human Rights Commission….thank you.
Eskimo……..how is Quinn going to keep the HRC? The HRC will be downsized and it is not going away. Lional is from what I see is losing his job but the commission will still be there in a differant format.
It appears to me that not only will Quinn not be able to keep the HRC, he not able to keep a roof over his head, keep a steady job, keep the cops from rolling up on him, and keep a clean house.
If Eskimo is Quinn just posting under a different name dont make a farce out of yourself.
@common sense man-Quinn doesn’t stand a chance after all the negative comment that were on here. He would be a fool to try to run now.
LVS-You are a Jerk!
north iowa city… this comment by LVS was a correct and honest statement. your statement was totally uncalled for this time, and you have lost your own creditability by posting .
Mason City got this way because too many citizen’s sit home in Nov.of every election year and don’t exercise their right to VOTE.It is just that easy.Blue collar,the backbone of this community need to rise up and take our local goverment back.Right now it’s just the so called (they think they are anyway) elite.Most of these people are outsiders with their own agenda.Starting with one of the worst Mayor’s we have every had.We had more people wanting to live here in the 60’s and 70’s then now, just look at the census over the years.
You’re so right about people not bothering to vote. The attitude seems to be “It doesn’t matter whether I vote or not. The wrong people get in every time anyway”. And just how much sense does an attitude like that make? The wrong people keep getting in because too many DON’T VOTE. People like me (who vote in every election) are totally frustrated by the people who are too lazy (or uninterested) to vote. And then they think they have the right to complain? I don’t think so!
Curious as to who the right people are?
Totally you are 1,000% right, are you listening people. Not enough MC people vote, that is how we got Blimpmeister and his gang of 6 Council hates working people they are wrecking our town. I have been saying this for better then 30 years. Nobody listens, look what we ended up with. How do you think Beermeyer won, he got in because the right people stay home or in the bars. Same way back in the day when the rightwingnutcase Gary Blodgett beat Joe Lapoint and Mike Dunn and some other good guys who would of really represent working people. Listen up people.
I think the city council needs overhauling, they getting to be a little “Gestapo”doing as they please, they don’t want any organization trying too undermine them,an there sneaky little plans. Men, without direction!
time to start over, correct the wrongs, move foreward,with honesty, an good leadership!!!an the respect of the community they should be Representing.
Let me make sure I got this right…..some of you are critical about the way the current Mason City Mayor and Council spend the tax dollars they are in charge of. But, some of you seem to give the impression you hope Mr. Foster does sue the city and some even go so far as to encourage Mr. Foster to “Take it to them.” Wouldn’t that be another lose of the very tax dollars you are so concerned about?
Maybe someone more familiar with the MCHRC can answer these questions for me; What year was it that Mr. Foster was appointed to his position on the commission for life? If the members of the MCHRC are appointed by the Mayor with City Council approval, who then has the authority to terminate those appointments?
Foster is not a member of the Commission. He is an employee of either the City or the Commission. This is unclear to me as I have not read the law authorizing or creating the Commission. To the best of my knowledge, he does not report to the City Administrator or the City Council, which leads me to believe he is an employee of the Commission. He was not appointed, he was hired. He has no vote. He is there to manage the day to day operation of the Human Rights Agency; to provide advice and counsel to the Commission; and, to carry out the work they direct him to do.
Old Lionel is going to play this for all he can get and more power to him. They defunded his position so there is nothing to pay him with period. He will take the pittance severance pay they give him (doesn’t seem like much for all the years he put in) for all those years through many administrations. He will draw his maximum unemployment for the duration. (I doubt he will find a similar position for 80% of what he was making). When that is all used up he will have everything in place for his law suite and he will probably win on several different layers. Color and age being only tow of the reasons. Good luck Lionel. Take it to them.
This is an unwinnable case. If you could prove “personal vendetta” there would be a lot more people suing their former employers. He doesn’t have a lawsuit. Period.
@stupd-watch and see. I have known Lionel for a long time and he knows his way around the law. Different than you he has spent his whole life dealing with it.
We’ll see who’s right, LVS. Don’t get too comfy.
It’s a completely winnable case, and Foster knows it, which is why he’s just sitting there laughing to himself and not saying much. And lots of people do sue their employers, and win.
The commission was defunded, not his position. The severance is a lot more than others get when laid off. There is no other position I’m aware of in MC – his was the only one. He will draw unemployment and then take his IPERS pension. End of story.
@ 49: you’re right. Foster’s only hope is to find a lawyer who will take this case on a contingency arrangement, hoping not to win, but for a settlement, of which the attorney gets 1/3. But no smart lawyer will run that risk, and those who may be willing to do so won’t want to gamble, because all costs will be on them, with little or no chance of any worthwhile payday.
Absolutely correct. I’ll say it again. It’s not winnable. If the commission is wasting its time debating that, no wonder they got defunded.
Hey, sicka, just want to mention that I really enjoy your comments and I always read all of them. We agree on most things but even when we don’t I have to respect the way you state your case. And I NEVER worry about Elvis getting the best of you.
And I feel the same way, JMO! We don’t have to agree on everything to be civil and have a discussion!
And the day will NEVER come when that clown gets the best of me! I actually enjoy watching him melt down before my very eyes! HA HA!
@stinksofstupd & justmyopinion (one and the same) – Are you so desperate to get someone to agree with your B.S. you have to post under a different name telling yourself how much you love yourself. You really are a loser to have to stoop so low. We know you have a multiple personality disorder but this is really going to far. Grow up and get a life.
Oh, LVStd! You know that doesn’t work! Every time you get caught saying or doing something particularly asinine you try and throw the shame off onto someone else. In this case, you’re trying to deflect from the fact that you have several screen names (because you do).
Again, you’re just not smart enough for the game, bubba.
@stinksofstupd-and this from the queen of copy and paste. When it comes to brains you can’t lick my boots. Why don’t you use one of your many other names on here to tell yourself how great you are. You are a legend in your own mind. When the revolution comes and it will, you will be one of the ones we will be looking for. Commie.
LOL! Don’t you HATE it LVStd?
This is my favorite part! The part where you start flinging wild accusations all over the place and calling me worse and worse names simply because I run circles around every word you say and sit back and laugh while you show the world just how big a chump you are!
Come on, LVStd – let’s see how long it takes you to get booted off this site! Matt already warned you once!
@stinksofstupd-just to set the record straight (pay attention with your little pea brain). Matt has never “warned” me about anything. It was you in one of your typical brainless rants that was warned and that was more than once. You think you are so smart but we think you stinkofstupd.
Let’s ask him! He said to clean up the comments or face a ban! I don’t post filthy vulgar things – that would be YOU!
The fact that you argue weakly about this just proves that you KNOW it was you! HA!
You’re so easy, LVStd. It almost makes me feel bad…. ALMOST. HAHAHAHAHA!
Elvis, I have to agree with sicka. You really do post some vulgar stuff on here. Not only vulgar — some of it is downrighr stupid.
Downrighr, as in DOWNRIGHT. Sorry about the typo.
I don’t think that the City is giving Foster severence pay. I believe the payment will be for the vacation he didn’t use this year and the vacation he is building up this year that he can use next year. In other words, he’s earned it all. Severance connotes either a good will payment by the City or a contractual obligation. I don’t think Lionel has a contract.
You have to remember that over half the commissioners were appointed by Bookmeyer. So they are carrying out his agenda.
It is really sad. They want Mason City to be a progressive city, but they cut the department that helps them achieve that.
Who wants Mason City to be progressive? I sure don’t. I’m sick and tired of having to support all the bums who have come here in the last 20-25 years. It’s great that MC finally has a mayor who takes the bull by the horns. You Foster defenders are part of the problem.
Good lord, if this is the brain power of this commission no wonder they cut the funding! Foster has no lawsuit! The funds dried up for his position – happens all the time in all kinds of government agencies! If he wants to stay on for a buck a year as a consultant, that’s fine. But he has NO CLOUT. When the funding is no longer available, he is no longer paid.
Boy, that was hard.
@ sick – Just curious, what year did you graduate from what law school?
@just-she thinks she is so smart she could teach law school.
@just saying-just for the record, Lionel has plenty of “CLOUT”. He is black, he is old, and he knows lots of very powerful people that will help him. He also knows the law as well as any lawyer when if come to this type of stuff. (He has been doing it a long time). There is a huge difference between having funds dry up and having them taken away for political reasons. They didn’t “dry” up at all. The funds were still there. Drunkmaster appointed his stooges to the commission to destroy it from within and knowing Lionel (and I do) he has documented the hell of it. It was a vendetta on the cities part plane and simple.
It’s called common sense and a working knowledge of things. Most adults are equipped with the ability to grasp such simple things.
No, I believe there is grounds for a lawsuit, and why two commissioners changed their minds.
And from all accounts thus far, it gives the appearance of an agenda that has been in place for quite some time, with those who bear such angst grappling for what ever methods they can make stick, and avoid any appearance of impropriety or outward evidence of personal attack.
But, add up all the events in past years, and you end up with enough to support the fact there was, and is a serious effort to rid the City of the HRC. One cannot speculate the basis for such actions because we are not mind readers.
It is a direct slight to the citizens of this community who need the protection HRC offers.
What’s next Councilman? Salvation Army? NI Transition? NI Community Action?
I am reminded on a daily basis, that the specific mission we have as human beings in life is to help others, especially for what ever reason, those who cannot help themselves. But an enlightened man such as you are, already knows this. Is your hate that strong that it over-rides compassion? Helping your fellow man? I just don’t get it.
Foster does have a good case, and the city attorney obviously knew it, which is why he dodged the question. Couldn’t be helping the possible opponent, since he’d be defending the city. Also, two commissioners wanted to fire Foster early, before the funding cut takes effect, which would mean he’d have cause to sue the commission instead of the city council and mayor, which I’m sure is exactly what some were hoping for.
He didn’t dodge anything. He said he could get his own attorney, and he could. How is that dodging anything?
Poor people and their ‘rights’. Who do these people think they are? It’s always about who has the money and who doesn’t. Eric knows the score and why his wife makes more than yours. Period.
Don’t complain, this is the world you wanted. The war on the poor has gone on as long as the war on drugs. It’s legit to hate poor losers now.
Land lords over renters. Whites over blacks and browns..well I’m sure you ALL get the picture.
Be careful. These are by and large the kind of people who cheer welfare cuts. They sure sing a different tune when it hits home, don’t they?
There is so much evidence that this was a personal vendetta by Bookmeyer winning a tort case against the city is a forgone conclusion. Then this group just keep digging themselves in deeper and deeper.
A real head shaker!!
Quite simply put, the total lack of leadership from City Hall, specifically from Mayor Eric Bookmeyer and all six city council members is embarrassing and staggering at this point. The fact that Bookmeyer and the council shunned this meeting today -after creating this fiasco in the first place- and offered no guidance nor leadership to this group of volunteers under the cloud of legal and moral consequences made me sad to be a citizen of Mason City. Mayor Eric Bookmeyer is a total and complete failure as mayor and it is embarrassing that this is the best candidate that the people of Mason City had to choose from in the last election. I can only say that I am glad that some of the commission seem to have the best intentions here, while it is becoming apparent to me that at least two commissioners are simply Bookmeyer plants with the sole intention of destroying Human Rights in Mason City as quickly as they can achieve it. It was obvious today that the commission needs some guidance and assistance from leaders with a decent moral compass as well as legal and other resources in moving forward – and City Hall is not delivering. Expecting the commission -that is simply there to work on human rights abuse cases- to sort out this mess is above the call of duty for them and really outside their expertise. This is what happens when there is no leadership, Mason City.
@Matt-damn, I wish I could write like you. Great comments.
Wrong Matt, you are wrong. Why the heck does mayor or any other city official need to do anything at HRC meeting? Decision is made, funding cut, job cut, bye Lionel, move on. City Atty represents city, not foster. He was smart not to respond. Lionel is done, no case. City has every right to cut. No liability what so ever. Turn out the lights , last HRC out the door