Just as the governing body was ready to vote Monday on seeking state intervention to get a chief finance officer after two and a half years without one, City Administrator Bibi Taylor announced that a candidate for the job had accepted the city’s offer.
“This is very good news,” said City Council President Annie McWilliams, who on her blog and also in a statement at Monday’s meeting had stressed the need for someone to fill the statutory post and for other fiduciary gaps to be filled.
But without further details, such as the offer letter and a resume Monday, some council members remained skeptical.
“If the city administrator did not make that statement in front of so many people and on camera, I would not take it seriously,” Councilman Adrian Mapp said, adding he was “appalled” that the administration had made an offer for a position that requires advice and consent from the council.
Taylor said the offer letter contained all the stipulations, including advice and consent of the governing body. The candidate must also be bonded (showing proof of being able to handle money responsibly).
Mapp asked for the proposed salary, but Taylor gave only a range of $90,000 to $95,000. When Mapp asked again and demanded to know who made the offer, the answer was that the mayor made the offer, but Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs said she did not prepare the offer letter.
The council ended up taking a 10-minute recess to allow the administration to retrieve the documents in question, but the recess ended with no action by the administration.
Taylor said the administration had done its part by identifying a candidate and making an offer and asked the council not to go forward with the resolution. But the council passed a modified resolution stating it would become null and void if, by a July 28 special meeting, a CFO is appointed. The resolution assumes all background material will be available by then for a council decision.
The scenario for hiring a CFO was complicated by the fact that the acting director at the state Division of Local Government Services suddenly went on leave for two months. The city must now deal with a new interim director. Although the acting DLGS director in October sent a sternly-worded letter to the mayor and governing body about hiring a CFO, the division then granted three extensions, the last of which expired at midnight Monday. The administration expects the current temporary CFO to stay on until the new CFO is hired.
Later in the meeting, a similar scenario occurred as the governing body prepared to vote on legislation calling for appointment of a director of the Department of Administration, Finance, Health & Social Services, a post which has been vacant since Jan. 31 but which previously had seven handoffs since January 2006.
Taylor said a candidate had been identified and an “offer will be made.”
Again, the candidate must be bonded.
The vote on the director may also be taken at the proposed July 28 special meeting.
--Bernice Paglia
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Ok...So Taylor says an offer letter was made. Not by her, but by the Mayor. The Mayor says she didn't make an offer letter. They looked the council in the face and let them do a 10min recess to retrieve the documents that no one will claim they produced, yet don't argue they exist. They offer a salary range but not an actual salary that was in the letter that may or may not exist and produced by someone. The administration said this was good enough NOT to go ahead with the resolution yet of course, won't identify a candidate.
ReplyDeleteIf this is not simple smoke and mirrors I don't know what is. The fact the city council folded, and YOU ALL DID, just gave the Mayor what she wanted ---- TIME. And that, is the biggest question of all...why is she stalling and playing games? I am not implying criminal, I am implying pure and utter incompetence.
And then the council "assumes" all background material will be available for a decision. Seriously ?? Seriously ?? When has the Mayor EVER provided what was needed in a timely manner. We know Mayor Sharon doesn't mind being a laughing stock to the world, but does the city council really need to follow her down that road by even suggesting this might be genuine. She has a track record that suggests it's anything but true and genuine.
Sounds like a bunch of bull. I'm not buying any of it. As Rob says, maybe not criminally wrong ... but there is something seriously amiss here.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, our mayor proves that she is a liar and irresponsible. I'm glad the City Council didn't buy her garbage and will make her produce or go through with the resolution to have the state appoint a CFO. Most of us are sure this mayor is hiding things she's done that may land her in jail. We want accoutability now, not later Mayor Robinson-Briggs!
ReplyDeleteThese are disastrous moves for our community. The Mayor is incompetent and the council seems to have its hands tied. Government is in a shambles and no one seems to know how to fix it.
ReplyDeleteWe are subscribing to the "Peter Principle". I paraphrase: "Every man/woman rises to the level of his/her incompetence".
City Council rolled over on this one. A serious administration would have produced something tangible as evidence and worked with the Council in announcing such good tidings. But they were headed off at the pass when the rabbit popped out of the hat.
ReplyDeleteAnother batch of pay-to-play, no-bid handouts to our 'city' engineer, Remington & Vernick, who may be Sharon and Jerry's largest political benefactors. A contract for video services to the brother of an ousted School Board member and failed mayoral candidate. And $184,000 of $267,000 of federal stimulus dollars in a contract with a former councilman's son, in which is buried $11,000 supposedly earmarked for emergency assistance. But the grant money is use it or lose it, by September, so we'll whip up a program of skills assessment and job training of those under a certain income for jobs that may or may not exist, offered through employers of which we know not.
The Council wouldn't even table the resolution until the Administration answered questions as to who would get $53,000 in administrative salaries associated with the grant, why the $11,000 in emergency assistance was buried in the vendor contract, and why no provision was made for a driver, insurance, and gasoline, so we can chauffeur program participants, for some indeterminate time, to work at some number of places or other.
It's a scary thought to think that no non-profits could be enlisted to provide the services, especially given the extraordinary length of time it took for the Administration to get its act together to utilize the grant money to help the less fortunate. But voila! We've got the financial controls now. Check! We're doing something good and stimulating. Natch! Money talks, and nobody walks.
And Bibi Taylor, man! She's good, but not that good. Between her primo matador impersonation and red cape work, she should have been able to put together a small jobs program as the acting/interim/whathaveyou of the Department of Administration and Finance, Health and Social Services.
Luckily, we've all been saved at the last minute. We've got the plan, we'll spend the money, and we get a Director and CFO to tell us so on the next stagecoach into town, and video proof! Life is good...
What about Adrian Mapp's contention that appointment to the position requires the "advice and CONSENT" of the council?
ReplyDeleteWe now need a resolution to get rid of the city council. My how quickly they fold. For months they have been talking about this resolution and yet they give this incompetent mayor more time to steal our money. I think Rob's wrong. What she does is CRIMINAL!
ReplyDeleteMayoral appointments to cabinet positions need "advice and consent" from the Council. Letters offering such appointments do not. Mr. Mapp knows this. I am not defending the mayor's inaction on this whole situation but Mapp is absolutely wrong in suggesting that before an offer is made the Council has to advise and consent. That's just nonsense and he knows better!
ReplyDeleteAnon 9:55 left out the Advice portion of the equation. The Mayor should consult with the Council before making an offer of employment. She doesn't have to heed its ideas or requests, only to hear them.
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe people are actually ragging on the city council. They are the only body holding this city together. They have no cooperation with the administration. They are trying to move forward, and in my opinion, doing it without totally embarrassing the mayor. They are much more judicious than I would be with their comments to the mayor.
ReplyDeleteTo Anon as 1:18PM: That's the problem is how the City Council has been treating the Mayor. I do believe the only thing people like her and Jerry Green respond to is complete and utter humiliation. They should be raking her over the coals every chance they get IN PUBLIC, IN THE MEDIA, in any forum that will allow it...then, maybe then...she will start acting like a professional.
ReplyDelete