Ms. Miller has a habit of not protecting confidential information. The City’s Ethics Ordinance states, “City officials shall respect the confidentiality of information concerning the affairs of the City. They shall neither disclose nor divulge to an unauthorized person confidential information acquired in the course of their duties.”
During the September 26, 2022 Council meeting, a resident (Resident 1) was speaking with Council. At the end of the discussion, he asked if he was being investigated for something. The Mayor explained that a second resident (Resident 2) had filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for emails between Resident 1 and Council. Resident 1 responded by asking why anyone would want those emails. Resident 2 was sitting in the audience and Ms. Miller immediately pointed to him, identified him by name, and suggested Resident 1 ask Resident 2 why he requested the emails. This disclosure—that Resident 2 filed the request and Ms. Miller’s identification of him by name--violated the ethics policy. While the identity of Resident 2 is public information and could itself be FOIA’ed, it was completely inappropriate for Ms. Miller to volunteer this confidential information during a Council meeting. Unfortunately, this disclosure immediately caused an unnecessary resident-to-resident conflict. Click here to see the video. At, 1:23:36, one can see Ms. Miller point to and name the resident. Click here to see a video of Council’s apology to Resident 2 and the City Attorney’s comments on the incident at the November, 14, 2022 Council meeting.
Another example of Ms. Miller disclosing confidential information was when she discussed the salaries and raises of City employees on Facebook. This is another clear ethics violation. Again, this information is available if a resident requests it through the proper FOIA process. However, simply posting salary and raise information publicly to manufacture resident outrage about city staff salaries was rude, cruel, unethical, and a violation of staff privacy. Ms. Miller has been repeatedly advised by the City Attorney that Council members should not post about City business on Facebook, but she routinely ignores this. Click here to see the Facebook post.