March.....
- Murray has had a series of contentious meetings with all three of the city's major labor unions, claiming that she was seeking concessions to help balance the City's budget. In March, Murray accused City Fire Fighters of not caring “if I don’t have the money to address our declining neighborhoods’ housing stock and clean the city up. It doesn’t matter to them that we have sewage backing up in people’s homes, and we have a long-term control plan that we have to start implementing.” In a meeting with the Police Union she tried to order a police captain to discipline an officer for referring to her as ma'am instead of "Madam Mayor." (Portsmouth Times: "Union Speaks Out On City Budget Issue")
-The EPA continued to threaten the City with millions of dollars in potential fines for failure to comply with environmental regulations by not replacing a Rick Duncan, whom she fired in January, with a qualified director. (Portsmouth Times: "EPA: No More Warnings to Mayor, City.")
- City Solicitor Mike Jones took the extraordinary step of publicly calling for Jane Murray to resign as mayor. After reciting a long list of Jane's reckless actions, he stated "the potential financial ramifications that the city now faces are frightening in my opinion." (Portsmouth Times: "Solicitor Calls For Mayor To Resign.")
June.....
- Murray fired Shannon Southworth, the City's highly qualified Grants Technician who was the only remaining employee in the Community Development Department, when Southworth questioned a payment to one of Murray's favored contractors for substandard work. (Portsmouth Times: "Southworth Issues Statement About Firing", P-Town Underground: "Crazy-Town Community Development.") Southworth was soon hired to a "High State Government Position" in the Ohio Department of Development. (Portsmouth Times: "Fired City Employee Now In High State Government Position," August 27, 2010.)
August.....
- In an interview on WSAZ-TV, Murray called Portsmouth "the most corrupt city I have ever witnessed, the most corrupt government." Murray comment was in response to questions about the apparent success of the effort by citizens to place her recall on the November ballot. Her unsubstantiated comments on such a widely-watched news program broadcast were seen by many citizens as a embarrassment to the City. She could give no examples of the so-called corruption to the news media or to city council who questioned her about her accusations. Later the Police Chief requested that she report the "corruption" to his office or to other appropriate authorities so it could be investigated. she refused, saying she would do so at the "proper time and place." (Portsmouth Times: "Mayor Calls City Corrupt.", "Police Chief Responds to Corruption Comments")
September.....
- In September, Police Chief Charles Horner went public about an long term dispute with the mayor, which Horner said been going on since at least May. The City had been awarded a State grant, for a major upgrade of the Law Enforcement Computer System, but Murray would not approve the paperwork so the State could release the money. Horner told City Council that Murray's refusal to sign literally put the police and the public at risk, because the upgrade was needed to keep the in-cruiser computers relied upon by officers to identify drivers operational. Murray was withholding her approval in order to pressure Horner on other Law Enforcement-related issues. (Portsmouth Times: "Spat Over Server Continues." P-Town Underground: "Crazy-Town")
November.....
- Murray has had a series of contentious meetings with all three of the city's major labor unions, claiming that she was seeking concessions to help balance the City's budget. In March, Murray accused City Fire Fighters of not caring “if I don’t have the money to address our declining neighborhoods’ housing stock and clean the city up. It doesn’t matter to them that we have sewage backing up in people’s homes, and we have a long-term control plan that we have to start implementing.” In a meeting with the Police Union she tried to order a police captain to discipline an officer for referring to her as ma'am instead of "Madam Mayor." (Portsmouth Times: "Union Speaks Out On City Budget Issue")
May.....
- In May, Murray's habit of making slanderous, unprovable accusations against citizens brought another lawsuit on her and the City of Portsmouth. Shane DeSimone,a former PHS student and Portsmouth resident, sued claiming that "on two occasions in April 2010...Murray published (publicly stated) that plaintiff (DeSimone) was ‘laundering’ money through his rental properties...” and also stated that "DeSimone, an Italian American, ...was in the Mafia." (Portsmouth Times: "Another Day, Another Lawsuit Against City.")-The EPA continued to threaten the City with millions of dollars in potential fines for failure to comply with environmental regulations by not replacing a Rick Duncan, whom she fired in January, with a qualified director. (Portsmouth Times: "EPA: No More Warnings to Mayor, City.")
- City Solicitor Mike Jones took the extraordinary step of publicly calling for Jane Murray to resign as mayor. After reciting a long list of Jane's reckless actions, he stated "the potential financial ramifications that the city now faces are frightening in my opinion." (Portsmouth Times: "Solicitor Calls For Mayor To Resign.")
- On May 12, Murray and her fake engineer, Jeff Peck, released to several charts which she claimed showed increased traffic accidents on Route 52 in order to justify her plan to replace traffic lights, against the recommendations of a study completed by the Ohio Department of Transportation. However, all of her information was fabricated to produced the results she wanted, as the police chief reported the following week. Using a legitimate traffic analysis, Chief Horner reported: "We had 235 U.S. 52-related accidents, based on the top 15 accident locations, before the light removals, and after the light removals, 106, based on the top 15 accident locations. That’s a reduction of about 50 percent.” (Portsmouth Times: "Chief Horner Challenges Mayor’s Traffic Numbers")
June.....
- Murray fired Shannon Southworth, the City's highly qualified Grants Technician who was the only remaining employee in the Community Development Department, when Southworth questioned a payment to one of Murray's favored contractors for substandard work. (Portsmouth Times: "Southworth Issues Statement About Firing", P-Town Underground: "Crazy-Town Community Development.") Southworth was soon hired to a "High State Government Position" in the Ohio Department of Development. (Portsmouth Times: "Fired City Employee Now In High State Government Position," August 27, 2010.)
August.....
- In an interview on WSAZ-TV, Murray called Portsmouth "the most corrupt city I have ever witnessed, the most corrupt government." Murray comment was in response to questions about the apparent success of the effort by citizens to place her recall on the November ballot. Her unsubstantiated comments on such a widely-watched news program broadcast were seen by many citizens as a embarrassment to the City. She could give no examples of the so-called corruption to the news media or to city council who questioned her about her accusations. Later the Police Chief requested that she report the "corruption" to his office or to other appropriate authorities so it could be investigated. she refused, saying she would do so at the "proper time and place." (Portsmouth Times: "Mayor Calls City Corrupt.", "Police Chief Responds to Corruption Comments")
September.....
- In September, Police Chief Charles Horner went public about an long term dispute with the mayor, which Horner said been going on since at least May. The City had been awarded a State grant, for a major upgrade of the Law Enforcement Computer System, but Murray would not approve the paperwork so the State could release the money. Horner told City Council that Murray's refusal to sign literally put the police and the public at risk, because the upgrade was needed to keep the in-cruiser computers relied upon by officers to identify drivers operational. Murray was withholding her approval in order to pressure Horner on other Law Enforcement-related issues. (Portsmouth Times: "Spat Over Server Continues." P-Town Underground: "Crazy-Town")
October.....
- On October 22, the Portsmouth Times reported on Murray's bizarre plan to control traffic around her house on Dorman Drive. She called it a "Traffic Calming Plan," but it mainly consisted of adding three-way and four-way stops at almost every intersection near her house. As with many of Murray's actions this seemed to be targeted at SOMC. Her plan would have caused serious traffic congestion near the hospital and City Council wisely over-ruled her plan with a city ordinance. (Portsmouth Times: "Mayor Unveils Traffic Calming Plan." P-Town Underground: "GRIDLOCK..")
- On October 22, the Portsmouth Times reported on Murray's bizarre plan to control traffic around her house on Dorman Drive. She called it a "Traffic Calming Plan," but it mainly consisted of adding three-way and four-way stops at almost every intersection near her house. As with many of Murray's actions this seemed to be targeted at SOMC. Her plan would have caused serious traffic congestion near the hospital and City Council wisely over-ruled her plan with a city ordinance. (Portsmouth Times: "Mayor Unveils Traffic Calming Plan." P-Town Underground: "GRIDLOCK..")
- Murray was criticized by local businesses (State Electric, West End Electric, Lute Supply, and Market Street Hardware) for purchasing Christmas lights from out-of-town without giving local merchants a chance to bid on them. They stated Shawnee State regularly requested bids for local vendors, as the City had done previously. Murray blamed her decision to order $14,000 worth of Christmas lights from Bloomington, Minn., on a "volunteer committee" she had formed. Murray said she "asked them to work with us on a plan to decorate the downtown area. I had asked that someone call the Chamber of Commerce about getting the businesses involved. And the volunteers did not follow through on that. And it became late in the game and therefore I had the order taken out..." (Portsmouth Times: "Mayor Defends Out-of Town Christmas Light Purchase.")
- Murray requested a meeting with the Mayor of New Boston and attempted to get him to go along with a scheme to create two new fees in Portsmouth (and New Boston): a "stormwater fee" and a new "flood defense fee." (Her plan is to repeal the current city "Flood Defense Levy,' which was just passed by voters in November and replace it with fees that can be increased at her discretion.) Murray used false information to mislead village officials claiming that the fees were needed by the City since flood defense revenues had, in recent years.... "dwindled from $225,000 a year to less than $119,000 a year." In fact as of September, the City had collected $210,825, and should exceed $225,000 by year end. (Portsmouth Times: "Murray Pitches Floodwall Plans to New Boston," "Murray's Flood Fund Numbers Don't Add Up." P-Town Underground: "Jane Murray's $100,000 Lie.") New Boston officials wisely declined Murray's plan and put off Jane's next meeting request until after the recall election.
- Murray requested a meeting with the Mayor of New Boston and attempted to get him to go along with a scheme to create two new fees in Portsmouth (and New Boston): a "stormwater fee" and a new "flood defense fee." (Her plan is to repeal the current city "Flood Defense Levy,' which was just passed by voters in November and replace it with fees that can be increased at her discretion.) Murray used false information to mislead village officials claiming that the fees were needed by the City since flood defense revenues had, in recent years.... "dwindled from $225,000 a year to less than $119,000 a year." In fact as of September, the City had collected $210,825, and should exceed $225,000 by year end. (Portsmouth Times: "Murray Pitches Floodwall Plans to New Boston," "Murray's Flood Fund Numbers Don't Add Up." P-Town Underground: "Jane Murray's $100,000 Lie.") New Boston officials wisely declined Murray's plan and put off Jane's next meeting request until after the recall election.
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