Concordia City Commissioner Chuck Lambertz Urges Civility and Respect from Elected Officials in the Community

Concordia City Commissioner Chuck Lambertz, delivering comments at the end of the city commission meeting on Wednesday, August 17th, implored other elected officials in the community to demonstrate civility and respect in their own conduct.

Lambertz opened his comments by thanking his fellow commissioners for managing themselves "in a respectful and professional manner."

"I think it reflects well on our city that this governing body serves with the professionalism that this position warrants," Lambertz said.

He went on to challenge other governing bodies in the community "to hold themselves accountable as well as their fellow members who were chosen to lead this community to serve in their capacity with the high standards of respect and professionalism that our citizens deserve."

Lambertz's comments come less than two weeks after a heated verbal confrontation occurred between USD 333 Concordia Board of Education member Tony Miller and Concordia Junior High Science and Horticulture teacher Bruce Jacobs, including the shouting of obscenities, with Jacobs expressing outrage over this summer's decision by the school district to spray products and poison a school campus butterfly garden, and just two days after the school board voted unanimously to adopt a resolution to give notice of their intent to terminate Jacobs from his employment with the district.

The decision and fallout has triggered many emotional responses on social media, including criticism that Miller has faced no public consequence for his involvement in the incident with Jacobs, as well as questions raised about whether a conflict of interest existed for Miller with respect to the vote on Jacobs' employment with the district.

You can hear Lambertz's comments in full here: