A very expensive slap on the wrist for a Tempe city councilman, and you paid for it.
Earlier this year, the council voted to officially reprimand Councilman Kolby Granville for swearing at a city employee. Now, there's some more trouble.
The City of Tempe spent $18,000 just to tell one councilman that his actions were officially not appreciated. It became a pair of very expensive no-no's.
In January, the Tempe City Council said the councilman barked an expletive at a city employee.
In April, Granville allegedly called a citizen a psycho stalker on Facebook for posting a picture of the councilman.
Mario Martinez was that citizen.
"It shows that he did something wrong."
In both cases, the city hired outside lawyers to investigate. Both times, the lawyers decided the council could punish Granville with an official reprimand.
The total bill for those opinions, so far, has rung up an $18,632 bill. And taxpayers are footing the bill.
Martinez said it shouldn't be their responsibility to pay.
"We're paying more for his legal bills than we are for his salary," he said. "That is not a good deal for the taxpayer. "
The city could vote on the second letter of reprimand on Thursday or in their July meeting.
ABC15 could not get ahold of Granville in time for this story, but last time ABC15 spoke with him he said he's happy to apologize for his actions.
