After a harsh rebuke of what they allege has been a year-long pattern of verbal abuse of city staff, costly delays of major projects and unreasonable demands, Eureka's mayor and several aldermen said if it was in their power, they would oust Ward 1 Alderman Steve Collins from his post.

Collins, though, said while some accusations of his interactions with city staff members are justified, he will not resign and will continue to raise questions about key public policy issues, even if those questions are uncomfortable for city officials or other members of the Board of Aldermen.

The public condemnation started early in the April 1 Board of Aldermen session, when two residents, Don Hinkelbein and Ralph Gianino, criticized Collins for questioning and opposing projects already completed and refusing to get on board with other city officials and support the JBA Eureka LLC retail and residential development now under way. Hinkelbein pointed to two projects in particular, the Shoppes at Hilltop transportation development district and the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Eureka Towne Center.

The final phase of approval of TDD funding for the Shoppes at Hilltop has been delayed because Collins asked for a detailed accounting of how the approximately $2.5 million in TDD funding had been allocated.

Eureka officials and the developer, Gundaker Commercial Group, agreed to the TDD financing in December 2006.

Nearly 15 years ago, aldermen approved tax-increment financing to help pay for infrastructure improvements in order to bring Wal-Mart and Eureka Towne Centre into the city. Collins asked for, but said he never received, an accounting of how the TIF funds for that project were spent.

Collins said he wanted an accounting of both those projects because he believes some public funding allocated to those projects wasn't spent on allowable improvements. He has similar concerns about the JBA project.

City officials have approved both TIF and TDD funding for the JBA project.

But other city officials and board members criticized Collins' continued probing into those and other city issues as vindictive and irrelevant, a waste of innumerable staff hours and a significant amount of taxpayer money, and nothing more than an attempt to embarrass the city.

"This is a very serious problem, a cancer on the city we have to do something about," said Ward 2 Alderman Bob Kee. "(Collins) has cost the city a tremendous amount of money. He's impossible to work with, and he's caused so much turmoil with the employees. We recently lost our parks director as a direct result of Steve Collins causing problems for him.

"I've spent 30 years in city politics, too long to let him stop progress in this city," Kee said. If I had the option, I'd fire him right now."

Other board members agreed with Kee that Collins was taking revenge on the city for firing him as city administrator 14 years ago.

Collins denied that charge. He said it wasn't his role as an elected official to always agree with other elected or city officials, or never to ask questions, particularly when it came to expenditure of public money.

Ward 2 Alderwoman Marilyn Leistner, though, said Collins' arrogance and unprofessional conduct had alienated not only staff members, but also developers who want to locate in the city. She said if something wasn't done to curb Collins' behavior, the city would continue to lose employees and opportunities for future progress.

Leistner pointed to the Shoppes at Hilltop TDD as an example, saying Collins had received more than 600 pages of documentation about the TDD and still continued to delay final approval of the project.

"We need to take some kind of action to prevent requests like this in the future," Leistner said. "At one point, he requested paperwork from 14 years ago. There's no point in that."

Collins said he would not apologize for raising questions about public issues.

"That is fundamental to my job as an alderman," he said. "The city's discomfort over answering only raises more questions about these issues."

But Mayor Kevin Coffey said the problems with Collins extend beyond his unreasonable demands on staff and his waste of city time and money.

Coffey said two city employees have filed formal complaints against Collins for his abusive behavior. Coffey said Collins often berated city employees, using foul language.

He alleged Collins had behaved similarly to contractors and developers doing business in the city.

"Our employees don't need to be subjected to this kind of abuse," Coffey said. "It's intolerable and unacceptable, and it's the reason staff morale is at an all-time low right now. I'm embarrassed I didn't take action sooner, but I thought the power trip would stop. It's been a year and it hasn't, and I don't know what to do at this point because it's not going to. Unfortunately, being unreasonable and obscene doesn't usually amount to impeachment."

Collins admitted he had used what he termed inappropriate language with some city employees.

"I apologize to the entire Eureka community for my use of such language. It was not appropriate," he said. "I will work with the mayor and the (Board of Aldermen) to work through these issues with the employees."

Collins said he planned to meet this week with Coffey and the two employees who had filed formal complaints, in an attempt to resolve the matter.

He added, though, that board members' repudiation of him at the public meeting was also inappropriate.

"While the personnel issues raised are significant and should be addressed, I do believe they should have been addressed in closed session," Collins said. "This was done in a public session for political reasons and in an attempt to force me to resign. I will not resign."

Collins was elected to the board in April 2007.