News came Thursday that Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs has taken on the role of acting city administrator. If a full-scale search for a permanent city administrator is to be conducted, it still behooves the city to get a highly qualified interim city administrator to keep up day-to-day operations. The New Jersey Municipal Managers Association and the New Jersey League of Municipalities could both assist in finding a city administrator. Click here and scroll down to see what the NJMMA offers.
Normally a department head is named acting city administrator, but as someone said on another blog, the bench is thin. One department head already holds the titles of director of Public Affairs & Safety as well as Police Director. Another was only recently named head of Administration, Finance, Health & Social Services and is still running a division in another department. Public Works & Urban Development is being covered by a division head who did not distinguish himself at a recent council meeting by giving the governing body erroneous information while requesting approval for a community event.
The 2012 fiscal year that begins July 1 will demand a solid administrative team if the city is not to sink further into disarray. Cabinet talent has been diverted, if not squandered, on matters such as disputes involving Senior Center members and Recreation Division staff. The mayor herself has shown a tendency to put the Recreation Division fray front and center when more basic money matters need the administration's full attention.
Anyone who is well-versed in city administration is not going to be attracted to a situation where personalities take precedence over performance. A candidate should not have to bring a chair and whip to City Hall as management tools.
As always, the public has to wait and see how this new situation unfolds. There is already a backlog of important, unresolved matters and new issues looming. It would be a lot easier to "keep calm and carry on" if we had a strong city administrator at the helm.
--Bernice
Is Plainfield a retirement community looking for aged wisdom for guidance, or is everyone in public administration and a career in mind just steering clear? When you consider that we are without a City Administrator, have a fill-in watching over Public Works and Urban Development, a part-time CFO, school district woes, and the top three PMUA officials stepping down, I would say we've got our share of difficulties.
ReplyDeleteSo in with the new and out with the old. Maybe it is darkest before the dawn while hope springs eternal.
I kept waiting for the sentence that gave this post away as an April Fool's joke. I didn't see it. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteThis woman can't run a bake sale and I don't trust her and know hundreds of Plainfielders who don't. I wonder why I can't put a comment on the Courier site for this article. How can this be allowed? It's putting the fox in charge of the hen house. We're already in trouble because of this mayor's bungling, and now it will get worse. I've lived here 30 years and think it's time to get out. Thanks for nothing Sharon!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm seriously scared about this self-appointment. How can this be allowed?
ReplyDeleteIt's obvious this woman does not know which way is up and knows very little, if anything, about how to manage a city. The mere fact that a replacement could not be found in 90 days is a basic example of her incompetence.
On the other hand, perhaps all the qualified applicants have heard all of the non-sense regarding Plainfield politics and they've chosen to stay away.
The only silver lining to all of this would be that this is the calm before the storm and that there is a new dawn up ahead. Let us hope!
She had 90 days to find someone. What a crook. That's the Big Red Fox watching the Hen House!
ReplyDelete@9:17 - It seems Bibi's change of plans was not anticipated, so no search was underway. Now she has 90 days to find someone.
ReplyDeleteI keep hearing how everyone doesn’t like the mayor and the way she runs the town. I keep seeing good people leaving because of the nepotism and disarray of our administration but one has to ask how did this happen? You the people of Plainfield voted in this mayor not once but twice. You the people voted to keep Jerry Green in power even though in his 20 plus years our town is loosing businesses and revenue. You the voters of the city of Plainfield have no one to blame but yourselves. I’m tired of hearing people complaining and when voting time comes around the same people get back in. When a person runs for freeholder, doesn’t have to go to any debates, and gets voted in just because they get the Democratic line there is no accountability. Stop the whining and vote for a person not a party and then things may change.
ReplyDeleteThanks 10:04 PM! You are spot on!
ReplyDelete10:04 is absolutely correct. Status quo has not yielded results in 25 years.
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