A Message From Fred

Fred Homan is not known for his chats with the media.

That's why the message that arrived in my e-mail inbox yesterday was so surprising and amusing.

The e-mail, sent by Don Mohler, a county spokesman and chief of staff to County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, simply said:

"Fred stopped by for a few minutes—looked great. He jokingly signed this attachment and asked me to send it along."

The sheet of paper had a typed message, a quote by Mark Twain, proclaiming the reports of his death to be "greatly exaggerated."

Underneath it was signed: "Fred."

Homan has been out of work since being injured in a along the NCR Trail.

In a follow up e-mail, Mohler said Homan was "obviously feeling better."

There's still no word on Homan's return to a regular work schedule. Others who saw him around the office said Homan was clearly "back"—meaning he was mentally engaged in county business even though he was not actually supposed to be working.

This is the second time Homan has surprised me.

A few years ago, I was about to file an open meetings complaint against the county's personnel and salary board. I learned that a majority of members had engaged in a pre-meeting that was not open to the public—a pretty clear violation in my mind.

I gave a heads up about my intentions to a county attorney assigned to the board, whom I had known for years. After all, she was eventually going to see it when the state sent her and the county a copy.

That pre-meeting happened before she arrived for the scheduled meeting. She knew nothing about it but asked me to hold off on filing my complaint for 24 hours so she could look into the matter.

A few hours later my cell phone rang. It was an unfamiliar number.

"Bryan, it's Fred Homan," the voice said. "I bet you never thought you'd be talking to me today."

I had to laugh. He was right. He had never called me before.

Homan and I chatted for less than 90 seconds—just long enough for him to tell me he agreed with my assessment of the Open Meetings Violation and that the county was going to train the board on the law.

That was as good an outcome as I could expect since the state board that reviews such complaints is advisory only. I put Homan's promise on the record in a story but decided to not file the formal complaint given the outcome.

Fred hung up. He's never called back.

In telling the story to colleagues, I took a lot of ribbing because all I had for proof was a number in my cell phone at the time.

I've always suspected he used a burner cell phone—call the media and pitch it in the trash.

He sure knows how to get his message out when he wants to.

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