By Megan Kelley
Editor
mkelley@mihomepaper.com
CLARKSTON — Last Thursday, the Clarkston City Council held a special meeting to discuss the resignation of city Clerk Catherine Ashley.
Ashley’s resignation was not officially accepted by the council, however the council did vote to establish the office of a deputy clerk and Evelyn Bihl was named deputy clerk.
Ashley was hired by the council to fill the position of clerk on July 1 of this year and submitted a letter of resignation just 17 days later.
“Although I am capable of fulfilling the duties – and find my coworkers helpful, generous and considerate, as well as many of the residents – I can no longer tolerate those within the community who unfairly accuse me of wrongdoing, impede my work, and file frivolous lawsuits against me (the first being on my 12th day of employment),” Ashley wrote in her letter of resignation.
In her letter, Ashley also implored the council to support its employees by charging for FOIA requests. She stated that should the council begin to look into a solution to relieve the “burden” on the clerk, she would be willing to discuss coming back as clerk.
Evidence submitted along with Ashley’s resignation included several FOIA requests from resident Susan Bisio requesting a number of documents regarding Ashley’s hiring.
According to the agenda packet for the city council meeting, Bisio submitted 22 FOIA requests for various items, not limited to Ashley’s employment, between July 4 and July 24.
Problems arose in early July when Bisio and her husband Richard Bisio submitted a petition that, with enough valid signatures, would include a charter proposal on the Nov. 5 General Election ballot. The proposal would establish Historic District Commission guidelines and give supervisory authority of the commission to the elected city council representatives.
While the city had 45 days to validate the signatures on the petition, Bisio claimed that repeated requests for progress updates went unanswered, so she and her husband filed a lawsuit against the city, Bisio said in a post on her personal blog.
In a later blog post, Bisio refuted the allegation that she had submitted 22 FOIA requests and stated that her issue was not with Ashley, but with city Manager Jonathan Smith and the city Attorney Tom Ryan, citing a five-year FOIA lawsuit from 2015.
“Our former clerk is certainly entitled to her opinion, even though she is probably unaware of our history with the city government and certain officials. It’s unfortunate that she decided to resign, and I genuinely hope she reconsiders,” Bisio said in a blog post on Aug. 1.
It is unclear if the council will formally accept Ashley’s proposal at a later meeting or if Ashley will decide to remain in her position as city clerk.