It's not easy being Jess Green.
The embattled American Fork mayor finds himself in the eye of a city spinning out of control like the farmhouse in the Wizard of Oz. Whether he has the heart, courage and brain to weather the storm will likely be played out in the next few weeks. Whether he should even try is a hot topic around town.Residents and colleagues are calling for Green's head. A petition for his ouster is making the rounds. Two City Council members scheduled a special public meeting next Wednesday for "discussion and action" regarding concerns about the mayor's recent doings.
"People in this city have had a gutful. They want him out of here. They want him out of here big time," said Councilman Grant Parker, who numbers himself among that group.
Green said he intends to finish the last seven months of his first term but won't seek re-election.
A letter Green wrote on American Fork City stationery requesting leniency for a repeat drunken driver that came to light two weeks ago touched a nerve in the city and beyond. It was the latest in a string of events that have brought the mayor under fire.
"D--- it, I'm tired of this crap," Green said. "This is really getting to me."
The question is, did he bring it on himself or is there some plot against him? Green's detractors say the former; his supporters the latter.
"He's asked for the publicity," said Malcolm Beck, a former American Fork mayor and Utah County commissioner. "He can't blow his nose without someone going after him."
Councilman Ricky Storrs, who says the mayor ought to seriously consider resigning, can't figure out what happened to a once promising administration.
"It's almost like something snapped," he said.
Green apparently never takes a vacation. He rarely ventures outside Utah Valley. It's as if he's paranoid about missing something.
"He's a one-man show," Parker said.
Green comes across as Robert Conrad in those old TV commercials daring someone to knock a battery off his shoulder. Beck, who's considering another run for mayor, said Green's approach to the job is "I'm in charge and prove I'm not."
The mayor makes his presence known wherever he goes, whether he's taking over a meeting or snoozing through it. Green can be hard to understand. He often starts conversations somewhere in the middle, leaving listeners bewildered. His orations seem to have no end.
Shortly after taking office 3 1/2 years ago, the mayor announced that he enjoys the sting of a battle. And there have been many inside and outside the city. Some organizations refuse to deal with American Fork until Green leaves office. The city's annual legal bill swelled from $15,290 in 1993 to a projected $103,000 in 1997.
Even Councilman George Brown, Green's lone ally on the five-member City Council, concedes the mayor can be undiplomatic, a bull in a china shop. But, he points out, Green is the mayor.
"If I were left alone to do my job, I could do it quite well," the mayor said.
Brown said what's being played out now is a power struggle between an elected official, Green, and an appointed city administrator, Carl T. Wanlass.
"Jess Green was elected to change the control of city government," he said. "That was his platform."
Wanlass won't take orders from the mayor, Brown said. Furthermore, he said the city administrator has enlisted support from a majority of council members and police Chief John Durrant, whom Brown and Green tried to fire earlier this year.
"All I can say to George Brown is he's not very attentive in meetings," Wanlass said, adding he doesn't hold sway with councilmen. "If they don't like my recommendations, they vote ac-cord-ing-ly."
Green and Wanlass have gone the rounds over city personnel management issues. City employees say Green attempts to micro-manage city departments.
Wanlass also wants to make it clear that he has nothing do with Green's personal troubles, the things that have people calling for his resignation.
Storrs disagrees with Brown's power struggle theory. He said problems stem from a communication gap.
Speaking to council members and senior city staffers is something Green rarely does outside of Tuesday council meetings. Green communicates almost exclusively by memo.
"I'm so tired of the mayor's memos," Parker said.
Many of the Green's communiques concern the police department, an area where some of the city's most divisive skirmishes are held. Green claims to have a laundry list of misdeeds committed by officers and the chief. But he refuses to make them public.
Council members, all of whom have read Green's allegations, say there's no substance to them.
The mayor says the police department is covertly working to bring about his demise. Whenever he puts heat on the police, he said, something happens to him, such as being accused of stealing a soda or abusing his daughter.
It was Green, however, who alerted the public to the alleged child abuse in a letter-to-the-editor published in the American Fork Citizen.
American Fork city government lately is best summed up as the good, the bad and the ugly, mostly the latter two.
Significant accomplishments are hard to come by. Brown says Green has done a good job with city planning and infrastructure. Wanlass said the mayor has worked hard on city parks. Even Green himself is hard pressed to come up with something good.
"I'm going to have to think about that because all I'm seeing is negative," he said. "This last year hasn't had a lot of highlights." *****
Additional Information
Low points, distractions and bickering in Am.F.
There hasn't been much to cheer about in American Fork lately. Personal and political distractions constantly sidetrack the mayor and City Council to the point that nothing gets done. Here's a sampling of municipal and mayoral lowlights: - The entire police department files a federal civil rights complaint against Mayor Jess Green, administrator Carl T. Wanlass and city attorney Tucker Hansen over an alleged "gag order" regarding a former patrol officer. - The city and two homeowners grapple over who's responsible for damage and flooding at their houses during construction of the Mount Timpanogos Temple, somewhat marring what's supposed to be a joyous event.
- The Homebuilders Association of Utah successfully sues American Fork over illegally collected impact fees, which could cost the city $2 million in reimbursements. American Fork has appealed.
- Constant bickering prevents the City Council from putting together a bond election package for a new library, public works complex, police station and city hall. New sites for the latter two remain undetermined.
- American Fork police turn over a report to the Utah attorney general office alleging Green physically abused one of his teenage daughters. Charges are not filed.
- Green is accused of walking out of a convenience store without paying for a fountain drink. Charges are not filed.
- Green writes a letter on behalf of a chronic drunken driver that outrages Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Some allege Green begged leniency for the driver in exchange for the city being able to obtain property the man's family owns. Green says there was no deal.