Jason A Jensen
6 Arrowhead Rd
Kimberling CT, MO, 65686
April 25th 2016
Eddie Coleman
Mayor of the City of Forsyth
City Hall
15405 US Hwy 160
PO Box 545
Forsyth, MO, 65653
CC: Brian Anton, Jack Baker, Cheryl Altis, Clint Hillard
Hey Eddie,
Your return of my gift to the people of Forsyth, MO was received exactly as you intended – which is to say with the contempt you wished to convey towards me.
It wasn’t so much of a “proposal” as the invoice was a form of truce in-so-far as it would have transferred ownership of the website to the city you manage. The irony here, is it would have given you what you want in this situation and all others – control. Your refusal to accept has left you in a state of no control.
As far as the “proposal” being “unsolicited” – I suppose we will have to disagree on what constitutes a “solicitation”. When I spoke to Mr. Hilliard about the way the server bidding process went, he apologized for any misunderstanding and then proceeded to give me a bit of an ear full on the dissatisfaction of the state of your current website. To paraphrase, he said you “must resort to using the talent of the local high school to meet the needs of the website because it just is not in the budget.”
A complaint, by way of its nature, is a solicitation for a solution.
So you can understand, now, that when you took my 2-3 weeks of work and effort and dismissed it on your personal preference of me – instead of what is best for your city – which was also my olive branch to you and your organization to let the past be eroded in time and be forgotten; why I believe today stronger than ever that your organization needs oversight.
So I founded the not-for-profit organization “Open City Project” in the State of Missouri. I, on behalf of that organization, will be conducting extensive Sunshine Act requests to get the information I need to furnish the website – the website is now the property of that organization. I registered the domain Forsyth.City to house the site. Since you refused the acceptance of ForsythPD.org the sites have been linked. All offers have been revoked.
I will be requesting the following information:
Budgets, Invoices, Bills, Contracts, Employee Handbooks, Personnel Records, Email Communications, Personnel Payroll/Salaries, and whatever other public record I think the public would be interested in.
Plus I plan on recording all future city council meetings for the record.
I will also be pursuing each and every violation of the sunshine act – you have 2 issues outstanding as of right now – to the full extent of the law.
Your cooperation on these matters is not optional.
I really do prefer it this way. Whereas before, I would have made a suggestion, such as allowing people to comment on the website and then you would have rejected the idea because of the lack of control it affords you – well now there will be no more requests on what you prefer. I will implement the procedures and functions of the website I feel are necessary, appropriate, prudent, or desirable.
You are, of course, free to register and engage if you are so inclined – but you will be afforded no special access or rights.
I am very excited – I finally get to create a website that will help the people of a community to come together and understand their government and its operation.
Not only am I going to make making record requests easier than ever before BUT I am also going to let the default action be that the records are added to the site.
As far as Officer Complaints for the Forsyth Police Department I will make this as easy and open as possible. I even hope it becomes a model for others.
To close, while you are taking my name in vain, remember it was you who sought to pervert the city’s purchasing. I have the records and evidence to document it as well. You overloaded the bid from Stallard Technologies by adding an extra 8 core processor, Remote Management, and $1000 of licensing not in the Celopso Consulting Inc bid. Then you kept me from making a fair bid – as I was not furnished the system spec everyone else was work with. I asked Angela for this information on the phone point blank – and was told it didn’t exist.
So the next time you open you city meeting with a prayer to a higher power and then violate the Laws of Nature by using the commons you manage to your own ends – expect the laws of nature to enforce themselves as they always will.
In other words, I know of no god that will answer the prayers I heard before the meeting.
You just manage the city – you don’t own any of it except maybe the plaque on your desk with your name on it.
Then keep in mind, that I, knowing all of this, offered a truce in the form of a gift, at significant cost to myself, just to have you spit it back at me.
A constituent.
Jason A Jensen
Director of the Open City Project