Kennesaw Council Members Respond to Rumors of Low Morale at City Hall

Members of the Kennesaw City Council gave long and impassioned comments on the state of the city during Monday night’s council meeting. The meeting came on the heel of comments made by Leonard Church to the Marietta Daily Journal in which he questioned the state of management and morale at City Hall.

Church, who is running against Mayor Mark Mathews in the November election, previously served two terms as mayor before being unseated by Mathews four years ago.

"A recent survey by the mayor revealed that there are a number of issues and that morale is a problem,” Church told the MDJ. “With business owners, citizens and staff all echoing the same sentiments, I decided it was time to get back involved."

Some users on the comment thread of the MDJ article have further criticized the current council.

Kennesaw council members spent the majority of Monday night's meeting responding to comments about low morale at City Hall and the conduct of the council.

“It has come to my attention that some think the morale here at the city is bad,” Councilman Jeff Duckett said. He cited the recently mandated Kennesaw Employee Climate Survey, saying that he recalled only two negative comments made among over 190 employees surveyed.

“I don’t think two comments constitute bad morale," Duckett said. “This mayor and council are extremely transparent. We encourage comments, we encourage anyone to come forward with any issue they have.”

Duckett also spoke on the matter of the He emphasized to the public that the tax was voted on by the citizens of Kennesaw and that were not pushed through by the council without the consent of the governed.

“I don’t know if you supported that SPLOST or not, but this mayor and council did not vote that SPLOST in. The voters did," said Duckett. “The items that were on that list were not the items that we wanted. It’s the items that the voters voted for.”

Councilman Bill Thrash addressed concerns about where funds for the were coming from.

“These funds that we’ve used thus far (for the teen center) are seized funds,” Thrash said.

Thrash said the center is in a borrowed building and that the city is not spending general funds on the center, with the exception that the Youth Council has designated some of its funding from the city to buy snacks for the kids at the center.

“Snacks are all these kids get sometimes for an evening meal,” Thrash said.  “If you hear that we’re using or wasting general fund money for at-risk kids, boy, that’s a tough one to waste isn’t it?”

Councilman Bruce Jenkins said he is proud of this council’s track record, and that he would like for citizens to fact-check when they hear things that he believes are “half-truths” about how the city and council are operating. 

“This council, under my watch, from what I have seen, has always been transparent," said Jenkins. "In fact, it’s gone out of its way to be transparent. There are quite a few organizations in this county that could take a few lessons.”

Other actions taken at the meeting:

• The council approved a motion to buy a van for the teen center. The van will be used to ferry students from school to the center, and then to their homes later in the evenings.

• The city proclaimed Oct. 3-9 Public Safety Awareness Week and gave special recognition to several public safety departments.

• The city declared Oct. 23-31 Red Ribbon Week and presented a certificate of recognition to Lance Corporal Jessica Allen of the Young Marines. Red Ribbon Week encourages citizens to participate in drug awareness education and take an active role in preventing their children from falling into the practice of drug abuse.

• The council approved a pouring license for Sparkles skating rink.