After censure, Rochester City Council divisions have only deepened

Molly Dennis still resents the censure she received from her peers at the Rochester City Council last year.

The first-term council member has spent about nine months decrying the restrictions the council put on her, prohibiting her from talking to city staff members outside of department leaders and administration about city business.

Those restrictions ended as of Jan. 1, but the divisions it caused between Dennis and city officials remain.

"There was blatant retaliation for whistleblowing," Dennis said in a recent interview, claiming the formal rebuke she received was the "most harshly restrictive gag order in our city, I think let alone in our state and maybe even nation."

Dennis continues to criticize the city staffers and council members she says are trying to silence her voice, and discriminate against her because she is "neurodivergent." She's weighing whether to sue the city under a federal discrimination claim through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

At the same time, city staffers and her colleagues on the council say they worry she'll continue misinforming the public and harassing local officials, which they fear may impede future city business.

"Because the bulk of the censure (or reprimand) reinforces the existing Council-adopted rules, I would not expect how I, or the staff team, navigate continued misinformation, manipulation, and singular demands to change much," Rochester City Administrator Alison Zelms said in a statement.

Dennis was formally rebuked by the council in March for allegedly harassing and intimidating her colleagues and city staff.

At the time, the council hoped Dennis would see the censure as a check on her at-times aggressive behavior.

It didn't work. The censure, "took away my ability to criticize my government," Dennis said,

Council Member Patrick Keane, who proposed the censure, said "It was important for staff to see that the council was acting on this behavior in their defense."

A city-funded outside investigation found no merit in Dennis' discrimination claims, instead outlining several instances where Dennis appeared to be hostile toward other council members and staff — including a February 2023 council meeting where Dennis repeatedly confronted Zelms and fellow City Council members over concerns the meeting wasn't recorded. Several council members later told the investigator they felt physically threatened.

Dennis denies threatening her colleagues. She says she talks with her hands and can be blunt and direct, but she would never physically threaten anyone. Instead, she feels she was being punished for pointing out city spending issues and questioning how local officials operate.

"It's absurd," she said.

Each side says the other has escalated tensions. An email from City Attorney Michael Spindler-Krage detailed court records involving Dennis' 2022 divorce, including a harassment restraining order against her ex-husband's girlfriend at the time, as evidence that Dennis' behavior was inappropriate and stemmed from more than her ADHD.

Local media reported on the court proceedings, which Dennis said was frustrating as she fears the publicity will negatively affect her children. Dennis said the divorce was acrimonious and shouldn't have been publicly discussed.

Rochester Mayor Kim Norton, who has had her own issues with Dennis in recent months, said Dennis' behavior isn't necessarily affecting city business but it could impact residents' trust in city officials to do their job.

"It's been more personal than it has been functional," she said.

Norton and Dennis had a public falling out in the summer after Norton discovered Dennis was secretly recording their phone calls.

Dennis said she wanted to keep records of her interactions with city officials to ensure she wasn't violating her censure requirements, as well as ensure city officials wouldn't misrepresent her words.

Norton said the recordings were a breach of trust and canceled her ongoing meetings with Dennis. The mayor said she's willing to meet with Dennis, but their talks now have to strictly be about city business and "in an honest and straightforward way."

"If she has a question or an issue, she can always call and we can talk things through but I expected there to be trust and honesty, which means not secretly recording phone calls," Norton said.

Arguably the clearest example of the divide between Dennis and her colleagues came in October when the council voted to deny her request to exceed her training and travel budget.

A majority of the council was ready to vote to allow Dennis to use excess funds to attend a national conference in November — until she spoke. Dennis criticized her colleagues for not attending similar trainings, brought up a longtime issue she has over the city's frequent-flyer mile policy she says is irresponsible and accused Norton of not sharing information she brings back from conferences.

Norton pushed back, saying she always keeps notes and information on a desk available to the public in her office.

"It's really not OK to say things that aren't true," Norton said. "… If you want to defend yourself for spending money, going to a conference, please do so. But do not drag down the rest of the council or me by saying things that are not true."

The rest of the council agreed, with several telling Dennis they would have approved her request if she hadn't attacked them.

Dennis did not attend the conference, citing financial concerns.

City officials across the board say they're concerned the upcoming year will only lead to more fights as the council adopts similar rules to Dennis' censure — council members will try to streamline interactions with staff to department heads in the future per a policy change made in the fall.

Dennis said she's concerned city officials will only work harder to stifle her criticisms. She said she's tried to reach out to council members to mend fences, but it hasn't worked.

She also plans to run for re-election in the fall. "I won't be bullied out of office," Dennis said.