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Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.22.2008
Last week's City Council decision to freeze bus fares was about much more than economic hardship for the poor — it is indicative of a growing rift between council members and City Manager Mike Hein that could lead him to quit or be fired.
Tuesday's 5-1 decision on bus fares was laced with comments slamming Hein — who left the dais during the discussion and watched from a back media room — as Councilwoman Karin Uhlich railed about the city's cutting corners and blamed Hein for the budget shortfall.
Uhlich's chastising of Hein follows similar public criticism of him in the past three months by council members Shirley Scott, Steve Leal and Regina Romero.
Tensions escalated Thursday as Uhlich told the Arizona Daily Star's editorial board that Hein must "own his mistakes" — apologize and explain why the $36 million general fund subsidy of Sun Tran and Van Tran was reduced in the next two years' budgets.
Hein fired off an e-mail earlier Thursday in which he slammed council aides for meddling in council affairs and took offense at the council's implication he had purposely cut the transit-fund subsidy to hurt the poor.
"The public motion and the majority of fan mail I am receiving seemed to implicate I purposely instructed staff to take care of the general fund on the backs of the working poor," Hein wrote.
"Or perhaps more simply that I personally had a hand in the design of such. That is preposterous, offensive and a bit damaging to my ability to manage. In other words, not true."
Uhlich said she has not been getting timely or accurate information from the manager's office, adding that she doesn't know if "deceit, incompetence or just being overwhelmed" were the reasons behind it.
"I can't do my job if the manager isn't doing his job," Uhlich said.
To fire the manager, the council would need to put his job status on an agenda for discussion. It could happen in open or closed session, although the final vote must happen in public, the City Clerk's Office said, with four votes needed for removal.
Although four council members are at loggerheads with Hein, there isn't yet a council member fronting an effort to fire him. When asked if other council members had similar concerns, Uhlich repeatedly declined to answer, saying she was speaking only for herself.
Hein has some strong support on the council, including Mayor Bob Walkup, the lone dissenter in the 5-1 vote on bus fares.
Walkup prematurely left a conference of mayors he was attending in Miami last week and flew back upon hearing about the tension swirling around Hein. If people have issues with Hein, Walkup said, "I need to get in the middle of that."
Walkup said Hein has brought city and county governments closer together, won the Rio Nuevo funding extension from the state, and created the budget-sustainability plan to pay for police, fire, roads and parks.
Although Walkup said this is "a period or maximum stress for the council," he said firing Hein is "the wrong thing to do." "I am an absolute 100 percent supporter of the city manager," he said.
Chicken or egg
The center of this dispute over transportation is how and why a 25 percent increase in most bus fares was proposed.
In his e-mail, Hein said the Transportation Department asked for the increase, to which he said he responded "crap or something to that effect. … You tell them to crunch the numbers and brief council. Raising fares are not politically popular, staff is reminded. No other direction is given."
The Transportation Department initiated the fare-increase plan, its spokesman Michael Graham said, and it was first brought to the council in a March transportation subcommittee meeting.
Interim Finance Director David Cormier said there are conflicting numbers about the Sun Tran subsidy in different city documents. He said he is preparing a detailed report on the subsidy that should be ready this week.
He said it has been increasing since 2004, when it was $25 million.
Uhlich acknowledged money will have to come from somewhere if increased ridership does not plug the $1 million hole estimated by transportation officials. However, she said the deficit was created by budget engineering, and it could be made up by freezing hiring, cutting travel or merging departments with the county rather than increasing bus fares.
In an interview, Hein took responsibility for not getting the council members the information they wanted, but said there wasn't necessarily a mistake in lowering the subsidy. And there definitely wasn't a conspiracy to lower it as a means to raise bus fares, he said.
Cormier said there's nothing he has seen that would indicate such a conspiracy.
Battle brewing
Other council members have publicly chastised Hein for making decisions without their approval.
In May, Leal and Romero spoke harshly at a subcommittee meeting over a decision to move the Greyhound bus terminal to El Camino del Cerro and Interstate 10 without council input after the council said the station should remain Downtown. "The council voted to do this and short of the council changing its vote publicly, nobody — nobody — has the right to change or usurp what we said," Leal said.
Scott has criticized Hein several times over the city's dispute with its police union, and voted against next year's budget because of questions over funding sources for new police officers.
Romero joined the club in early June as she and Hein argued during a council meeting about changes made to Rio Nuevo projects on the West Side without council approval. She had high-level backing in doing so from U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who said he recently spoke to Romero and Uhlich about setting a timeline for Rio Nuevo projects on the West Side.
"I really believe in getting the timetable and not holding those projects off," Grijalva said. "I was all for what Regina did with her motion (demanding a timeline), and the support she got from Leal and Karin. … I think Regina is absolutely right in holding Mike Hein accountable."
Grijalva has not talked with Romero or Uhlich about replacing Hein, and said he wonders if Hein's job is really in jeopardy or if this is simply a case of political squabbling. But he also wasn't exactly opposed.
"I don't know if the timing is the best situation both for the city and the budget situation," the congressman said. "I am going to respect whatever decision needs to be made, and everyone knows Regina and Karin are really good friends of mine."
Hein, who returns from vacation in two weeks, laid much of the blame on council aides who do their own research and "do not have the strongest public-finance background or technical experience."
That's coupled with aides' historical distrust of the city staff, which he said is "hyper-reactive, but sometimes lacks the political acumen and a pulse on the community."
"We sometimes make things much more difficult than they ought to be," Hein said.
Uhlich said it's possible trust could be repaired with Hein, but added, "When I make mistakes, I own them and if I don't, I expect to be held accountable for that."
● Reporter Josh Brodesky contributed to this story. Contact reporters Rob O'Dell at 573-4346 or rodell@azstarnet.com and Andrea Kelly at 573-4243 or akelly@azstarnet.com.
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