WILLMAR - An unknown Willmar City Council member made an insulting comment about a city resident that was picked up by a live microphone during the Labor Relations Committee meeting Wednesday.
All eight members of the City Council were in attendance, according to committee chairman Steve Ahmann, due to an agenda item to discuss the process for finding a new city administrator.
Early in the meeting the unidentified council member, apparently unaware of the open microphone, said, “Oh, great … listen to this idiot,” as Willmar resident Steve Gardner rose to address the meeting.
The statement, which was made before Gardner spoke, can be heard on recorded video of the Labor Relations Committee’s May 13 meeting, beginning at the 1:15 minute mark.
A former City Council member, Gardner addressed the meeting, encouraging the council to hire an outside firm to help conduct the city administrator search.
Gardner told the council members they were not capable of conducting the search themselves. He concluded, “This is a task you are not well suited for.”
Gardner issued a statement Friday, saying it did not matter what any City Council member thinks individually about him or his opinion.
What matters “is that any member of the public is ever treated with such disdain and disrespect by a sitting council member,” Gardner said.
The source of the audio “idiot” comment cannot be identified on the video as the camera was focused on Ahmann, who was not speaking. So far, no one on the council has admitted to making the remark.
RELATED STORY:
Willmar mayor apologizes on behalf of city council for 'idiot' comment
