My sentiments exactly.
I love this picture so much I may put it on buttons or a t-shirt. I got it on a mailer I received yesterday with the message, “Fire Scott Gruendl.” Chico Taxpayers Association couldn’t agree more!
Gruendl told me years back, he was going to “bring some decent salaries into this town.” I thought he meant, better jobs for everybody – he meant he was going to join public workers all over the nation in jacking up their salaries by way of a contract MOU that attached salaries to “revenue increases but not decreases…” That MOU was followed by increases of 14, 19, 22 percent over the next few years. City Manager Tom Lando’s salary went from about $65,000/year to about $165,000 a year, and Gruendl’s salary as Glenn County Health Director went up from around $50,000/year to just over $100,000.
In Glenn County he tried to eliminate a department and bring it under his management, demanding a huge salary raise to go with it. The retiring director was so mad at Gruendl, he cancelled his retirement in order to stop Gruendl from taking over his department. That’s what Dave Burkland did under Gruendl’s direction here in Chico – he eliminated positions, such as RDA director, Airport manager, and several others, took those titles and added them to his salary. His predecessor, Greg Jones, had enjoyed a $190,000/year salary after Lando. Burkland took a lessor salary, but then, under Mayor Gruendl’s direction, eliminated positions and added the salaries to his own, going from about $165,000 to almost the $190,000 Jones had retired on. Gruendl stood by applauding – they told us they were saving money. That was and remains a blatant lie, but Gruendl still insists he’s done a good job of stewarding our city.
Okay, let’s talk about what a freak this guy is. In 2012, he followed a city council candidate to his car in a dark parking lot, and swaggering like he was on meds, proceeded to threaten the man for divulging public information from the city podium.
He acted similarly at a committee meeting when I asked him why he and his neighbors protested a low-income housing project next to Doe Mill. Gruendl led that protest, claiming that low-income housing lowers property values for neighbors. He had the project moved over to North Valley Plaza, with no concerns for the neighbors there. Now North Valley Plaza is a wreck, piles of dirt have sat where successful stores had sat for years. “It’s always been an eyesore,” says the owner of the Pour House. No, it wasn’t always an eyesore, that happened on Gruendl’s watch. That was a viable part of town, with good family housing all around it. Why was it okay to place low-income housing there, but not next to Gruendl’s hood?
When I asked him this at a morning meeting, he shocked the entire assemblage by threatening to close the meeting. He never answered the question, even though the very topic of the discussion was, why people don’t like low-income housing in their neighborhood!
Gruendl has also voted to raise his own salary as councilor, he’s voted to lay-off employees and make them pay more of their own packages but he still receives salary and benefits as council, paying only 2 percent of his $9,000/year salary toward his $21,000+ health insurance package. He also receives health insurance from Glenn County and from Chico State where he is a part time teacher. All this free health care, two extra salaries, in addition to his $100,000+ salary from Glenn County.
What a pig. He’s got himself so overextended he thinks it’s okay to drive 102 mph down a public freeway, endangering lives and making a mockery of the public trust.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyLJ9cQij0k
You can see it on the Superior Court index, here, just type in “Gruendl, Scott”:
http://www.buttecourt.ca.gov/online_index/Search.cfm
He was only fined $859? A friend of ours kid was fined over $400 for a bicycle infraction. I’ll never forget the story Gruendl told on “Chico Left” – ah, remember Tim Boozekay? It was the first week of school, and the cops were out in force giving tickets for anything. Gruendl had been stopped, admittedly jaywalking, by a gal from Chico PD – he said he told her, “you don’t know who I am…” and walked away. He bragged about that.
I’ll say it – if you reelect this ghoul, you deserve what you get. He’s driven our city into the dirt for his own financial gain. Ask anybody in Hamilton City what they think of him – Ham City opted out of Glenn County mosquito district, cause they said Butte County mosquito district gave them a better deal. A few years ago, Gruendl tried to force Ham City back into the Glenn County district, admittedly just for the revenues. He thinks it’s okay to loot the public coffers for his own gain, he’s an unbelievable pig.
A vote for Gruendl, is a vote for bankruptcy. Furthermore, it’s a vote for corruption, greed, and embezzlement. It’s a travesty of the public trust.
Chico Taxpayers Association 