Colonel David Buckingham

Colonel David Buckingham

Bishop Mayor Jim Ellis confirmed what a letter lines out – Colonel David Buckingham, former candidate for Bishop City
Administrator, has donated $4,000 to two Bishop groups. The City of Bishop and Colonel Buckingham had signed an agreement to pay him $38,000 for his losses that resulted from first his acceptance as city administrator and then the denial.

Buckingham’s letter, written to Mayor Ellis and Mayor Pro Tem Pat Gardner, says that “our recent financial settlement resulting from your council’s change of mind after offering me the position of Bishop City Manager was based on the significant financial loss my family sustained after accepting the position of Bishop City Manager, accelerating my retirement from the Army, and preparing for a move to Bishop.”

Buckingham says a large portion of that loss remains unrecoverable but his subsequent move to Morro Bay as City Manager, he said, allowed him to
recover part of the loss. Buckingham said since his sole purpose in requesting compensation was to “mitigate the actual losses we took due to the Bishop City Council’s change of mind, my family and I believe it to be right and proper to return to the citizens of Bishop the portion of the settlement we were able to recover since we are moving to California after all.”

Buckingham’s letter includes two checks that total $4,000. He asks the two Bishop officials to pass on a check for $3,000 to the Future Farmers of America and $1,000 to the Veterans of Foreign Wars – both in Bishop.

Reliable and informed sources in Bishop say three council people had approved hiring Buckingham but later one of them wanted to change the vote which led to the hiring of Jim Tatum and the $38,000 claim filed by Buckingham.

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