Bothell City Council should honor commitment to transparency | Letter

Published 9:42 am Thursday, May 12, 2016

This statement was read at the 10 May Bothell City Council Meeting and submitted as a letter:

Good evening Mayor and City Council,

My name is Ben Wiselogle, and I am a six-year veteran of the United States Navy with two deployments to the Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Middle East. One of the best lessons that we learn in the military is to subjugate our personal feelings and desires for the good of the organization and mission that we serve. That is what great leadership looks like.

The decision to fire Bob Stowe in the fashion that you did seems to be based on personal grievances and with no clear path forward to either preserve the gains that his team earned, or thoughts on where the city will go next.

At the very least, it would have seemed prudent to engage in some sort of well thought out turnover process so that the institutional memory and relationships of Bob’s 11 years of exemplary leadership could have been preserved. I can see none of this in your decision making processes.

Between the military, Haiti, and university, every time that I have returned to the city that I grew up in, I have been continually impressed and proud of how Bothell has grown and developed under Bob Stowe’s tireless leadership, and to terminate his employment in such an opaque and cold way is not okay, and I can’t let this go without making my complaints heard. Bob is a dedicated and nationally recognized public servant and deserves better than this.

Further, from my perspective, you seem to be violating the number one inviolable rule of leadership and service, which is the premium of putting the needs of one’s organization above one’s own.

As a veteran and current Bothell resident, your decision seems small, and you need to be made aware that your actions seem not to be honorable, or in the best interests of the city of Bothell.

This is how a community breaks down, and the discourse turns negative: When the common citizen believes that their voice is not heard. I ask you to rescind the firing of Bob Stowe at the next council meeting, for the good of the community. Please pause, give yourselves time to think this major decision through, and do what’s best for our city.

I am using my voice, and I ask you to listen, and honor your commitment to a transparent government that truly listens to its citizens.

Thank you for your service.

Ben Wiselogle, Bothell