There is a struggle going on in Taft City government, which is not unusual, except this one is not between city council members over approval of the city budget.
This fight is between two veterans of public service - one elected, one appointed.
And it is an unusual struggle because city manager's, who are hired by the City Council, don't usually hold press conferences to respond to council persons who are critical of their job performance, or to respond to accusations that they are liars. They are, after all, his bosses.
On the one side of the fight is Taft City Councilman Cliff Thompson, a politically smart, combative and some say self-destructive city councilman who has never shied away from the media spotlight or controversy when he wants to get his way.
On the other side, is Taft City Manager Robert T. Gorson, a professional city planner with over 33 years of executive and management experience, 17 years in local government, and the former Director of Planning with the City of Anaheim before coming to Taft to plan the city's future growth and economic development.
Both are men who like to get their way.
Thompson, who was recalled from the Taft City Council back in 2001 but was since reelected to the council in 2003, has issues with Gorson over control of the future direction of the city, employee pay raises that Gorson has made since he was hired, which Thompson contends are illegal and Gorson's contracting authority.
Gorson has issues with Thompson interfering in city administrative affairs, the harassment of city employes and who should be running the day-to-day affairs of the city.
"It's unfortunate that we have a rogue City councilman," Gorson said in reference to Thompson at a recent press conference held in the City Council chambers.
Gorson was referring to Thompson's interference in city affairs and his alleged harassment of Gorson and city staff.
Gorson's press conference was a response to a 30 minute presentation that Thomspon made at the February 16th Taft City Council meeting where Thompson said that Gorson had lied about pay raises he had made to city employees.
Thompson contends that Gorson gave a 40% pay raise increase to city employees, a charge that Gorson refuted in his news conference.
Gorson also said that he and employees at city hall felt threatened by Thompson.
Gorson filed an official complaint with the Taft Police Department in late 2009 when he alleged that Thompson had driven his red pick-up truck in a threatening manner towards him and his wife. Thompson said that he was driving normally and even waived at the Gorson's as he drove by.
"I have felt threatened and I know others at city hall felt threatened," Gorson said.
When they hired Gorson nearly three years ago, the City Council had an ambitious plans to expand the city limits to Interstate 5, look for new economic development, plan the city for a future of smart, sustainable growth, and expand the boundaries of the city's redevelopment agency.
So far, the city has significantly reduced it's ambitious plans for city limit expansion, withdrawn a downtown building facade renovation program that would have helped pay for and spruce up the downtown, saw the demise of the Chamber of Commerce Downtown Committee which advocated for the clean-up of the downtown, and slow enforcement of the city building blight code enforcement program.
On the other hand, Gorson has secured a coveted Enterprise Zone designation for the city which promises to bring economic development opportunities to the city, and he may have even secured $2 million federal grant to fund a 27 acre city owned industrial park that would bring as many as 800 new jobs to the city.
The city was also successful in it plans to buy the 46 acre rails-to-trail property from the railroad.
Over the past two and a half years, since Gorson was hired by the Taft City Council, much has transpired between the two men who were once good friends (Gorson attended Thompson kick-off announcement for his County Supervisor campaign) which many say is part of the reason the city has become so embroiled in controversy and examination by the Kern County Grand Jury.
Shortly after being hired by the council, Gorson and his wife Myglo entered into a real estate investment transaction with Thompson. It was a hand shake agreement where the Gorson's gave Thompson $200,000 to invest in Ford City real estate. However, both parties failed to report the transaction to the city clerk which is required by state law, until two years later.
Just after Thompson filed bankruptcy in 2009, and following aggressive attempts by Thompson to get Gorson to hire him as assistant city manager, Gorson disclosed the investment to the other four city council members, who were stunned to hear about the deal.
At about this time, Thompson began making accusations that Gorson had given city employees raises without council approval, and had hired city contract employees without council authorization.
Some councilmen say it was Thompson's way of getting back at Gorson for dislcosing the deal.
To settle the argument, the council asked the City Attorney to give a legal opinion on whether the real estate deal between Gorson and Thompson was legal, and whether Gorson had the authority as city manager, as he contends, to give raises and hire contract employees without council approval.
The city attorney in a memo to the council said that the real estate transaction was legal, but that Gorson did not have the authority to give raises or hire employees.
The opinion was a win for Thompson.
Not satisfied with the city attorney's opinion, the council hired another firm, which Thompson vehemently opposed, to get a second opinion.
Some councilmen believe that Thompson and the city attorney are close associates, and that the city attorney's opinion was too favorable for Thomspon. So the council sought a second opinion on the two issues.
Michael Jenkins, a League of California Cities attorney who had done previous work for the city was hired to give a second opinion and said in his memo that the real estate deal was not against the law, agreeing with the city attorney, but that Thompson had violated the law by sitting in on employee evaluations of Gorson because of the conflict of interest, something the city attorney did not mention in her opinion.
But Jenkins differed with the city attorney on the raise issue and said that Gorson did have state and city authority to hire city employees and give raises without council approval.
The second opinion was a loss for Thompson.
According to one councilman, seeking the second opinion infuriated Thompson who then went to the Grand Jury and escalated the argument.
The Grand Jury soon picked up on Thompson complaint and began secretly interviewing council members and staff.
The resulting Grand Jury report concluded that the council was divided into two factions, that Thompson had violated public trust becuase of non-disclosure of the loan and participating in Gorson's evaluations, that the city manager had failed to adhere to government codes and listen to the advice of the city attorney, and that the city council had failed in its financial responsibilities.
The Grand Jury report was a win for Thompson.
But since the release of the report, and the hiring of yet another law firm to investigate allegations of Thompson harassment of city employees, things have not cooled down.
In fact, Councilmen Randy Miller and Paul Linder have placed a resolution to censure Thompson on the council agenda next Tuesday for his conduct as a councilman.
With no chance that either Thompson or Gorson will relent, Things are only bound to get worse at city hall.