Lake Worth needs to find a Manager, not a Toadie
Posted: 7:05 p.m. Friday, Dec. 23, 2011
From all appearances, Lake Worth's new city commission is working hard to move backward instead of forward.
After abruptly firing the competent city manager, a three-commissioner majority last week decided not to bother hiring a professional search firm to find her replacement. Instead, ostensibly to save a mere $20,000, city commissioners will search for the city's new chief executive on the cheap.
That is to say, a 3-2 majority of city commissioners told city staff to run the search themselves with the help of volunteer consultants, a task that a small city hardly has the resources or know-how to do well. The result of this shortsighted thinking will be a smaller and less-talented candidate pool.
The manager is the most important person in any city with a weak-mayor form of government. A talented one is important anywhere; in a small, complex, financially strapped city like Lake Worth, it's critical.
Former City Manager Susan Stanton, who had acknowledged faults as a communicator, had deep experience in municipal government and was not afraid to tackle difficult issues. Her bargaining skills allowed the city to save millions by negotiating lower contracts with the county sheriff's office and county fire-rescue agency. She brought expenses in line with falling tax revenues while pushing through the city utility's first electric rate reduction. Under her watch, the city finally broke ground on renovations to Lake Worth's public beach.
Finding a city manager of comparable experience and resolve will not be easy. Many talented candidates will be reluctant to come to a city where the latest manager was unceremoniously terminated without discussion or warning. To find a talented replacement, a national search firm is the least that Lake Worth needs. Kurt Bressner, the highly regarded former Boynton Beach city manager now assisting in Lake Worth's search, told commissioners as much last week, but they ignored his advice.
We wonder whether the move reflects a desire to hire a former city official or some other familiar face rather than perform a true search for the most-qualified person. Settling on a replacement before the process has even begun would smack of the sort of good-ol'-boy politics that most hoped Lake Worth had moved away from years ago. To find the best candidates, Lake Worth needs to conduct a real search.
- Andrew Marra,
for The Palm Beach Post Editorial Board
27 comments:
He has implied that hanky panky is going on. By making the decision that they did, I would have to agree. It makes no sense other than corrupt politics once again.
That's two editorials against this commission now. How many more are we going to get before they do something right??
Stanton,above everything else, was a master of manipulation.Nobody will ever know who the real Susan Stanton is.The Post has their panties in a wad because Stanton was spoon feeding the idiots her spin on things. They miss having their personal code to get into city hall.Did any of you reading this have the code to get into Stanton's inner sanctum? Willie Howard did! A"mere"20,000? Where are all of you who used to whine about the constant expendatures for the parade of "consultants " that were flowing through city hall?A national,expensive search brought us Stanton. Do I want to do that again? No thanks. Just like I was with Stanton,I will be open to whoever applies for the job.I suggest that all of you out there do the same.Katie Mcgiveron
I still "whine" about costs. That has not changed, Katie. Ms. Informed. (that's a play on words).
The biggest expense to date from this self-serving commission is firing Stanton costing us around $200,000 plus after it is all said and done. $20,000 is a drop in the bucket to get the best. You can't see that? Take off your blinders.
I like Studies. We need them in order to get informed opinions. Certainly our Staff does not have all the answers. The Commission has NONE but in all their arrogance, they believe that they do. Now they aren't even paying attention to our Staff, Steve Carr, and to the professional, Mr. Bressner, that they just hired. Instead they are following a bully.
I think it you that might want to get your head back in the right place.
P.S. Start getting nicer in 2012. What goes around comes around. All of you think that Stanton wasn't nice enough. I would say, you all need to take a few lessons from her on nicety.
The three commissioners who fired Susan Stanton had no use for a competent, professional City Manager. They are not looking for a competent, professional City Manager. They are pushing their own agenda. The cost to taxpayers for replacing the CM will be well over $100,000. Lake Worth is watching.
What is their freaking agenda?
Andrew Marra DOES live in Lake Worth but even if he didn't he can clearly see that this new commission has reverted to the corrupt politics of the past. We are going backward and not forward. What a pity that people trusted these people and voted them in. People are blind and they can not see even when the truth is right in front of them.
The truth will set you free
9:46 AM, 12/24/2011
Why do some continue to advance an obvious falsehood? The cost to "get rid" of the cm is $75k, the amount equal to 6 months of pay that she physically did not work for. All other monies are monies she was entitled to earn either way and would be expended either way. If severance packages really upset you so much, maybe you would like to know that the former cm positioned every one of her contract employees with open ended contracts just like hers, and the cost to replace them in the future if needed, is over 1 million dollars!
Also, the pbp spoke of so many of her glaring accomplishments this morning; perhaps we can we take a look at them for a moment?
First the pbp dismissed her clearly caustic, self centered and bullying personality by stating that it was she, the cm, that had somehow self identified a communication deficiency that somehow escaped most of the world’s attention had she not pointed it out for us...are you kidding me?
Regarding her bargaining skills, how many times will we have to attempt to rewrite history as we hear that she did remarkable work in this area when in reality the pbsp and pbfr "savings" were offered up and were on the table all along, yet the cm chose to use her "drama" to drag the issues along to create "the crisis", so that she could "ride in" to save the day?
Also, speaking of bargaining skills, let's see how the fight with the other cities over sewer payments works out for Lake Worth as the cm rejected a $7 million dollar settlement and now the city will likely get little or nothing!
And as for the beach casino...nothing says success better than being 3 million over on a 6 million dollar project...especially when everybody knew about and the cm led commission refused to talk about it, with the exception of one commission member.
And finally, about the "unceremoniously terminated without discussion or warning" comment...according to Kurt Bressner, he, himself, met the same fate during his work history and it its quite common in the city manager world...just ask the Lake Worth cm previous to Susan Stanton.
Let’s be honest, the former cm was not respected because of her personality and her politics, and while some might argue that she did some things well, we all must remember that doing things well is what any cm is paid to do in the first place..it was time for her to move on and learn from her experiences here.
In the end, the pbp needs to take off the blinders and spend some quality time reporting on what has really been going on in this town over the past five years or so...and not spinning things to give the allusion that all is well in Lake Worth and it’s all because of Ms. Stanton. Very few are buying it.
The cost to get rid of the city manager is exactly what was stated in this blog. Stop trying to spin it to something else. If she had not been fired, we would not have had to write a check for $125,000.
As far as all the other stuff you cited, we are looking at things totally differently. It was this stupid past commission that wanted her to get more involved with the city folks. Scott Maxwell insisted on that. Rene as well. She should have stayed out of this and stayed focused on her job, which she tried to do. I told her that. This is a job that should not be political.
Just because Bressner met the same fate, is not a reason to make light of what happened here. He told this commission to hire a national firm, not collect local resumes.
You and your cohorts seem to have all the answers and have been nothing but negative for years. Now that you have the power, let's see what else you can f*&k up. And don't find any more eccentrics like the guy who lives on North O Street. He is enough to drive me to drink. :)
That sounds like Mary Lindsay above. Didn't yiu run twice for election in this city and lose twice? Mary, is there anything else you want to inform all of us idiots on? Because unless you spell it out for all of us ignorant ones, half of the city in your mind, we just won't get it. Why not start communicating with the other half of the people who live in this city who do not agree with you when you say, "very few are buying it" That is the type of statement that brings a lot of division in Lake Worth and people, other than your friends, do not take well to it. The Post has brought you down twice now. Remember, they did not endorse Triolo. I will end this post with your famous words, "Dimwit."
M.B.
I believe that Mary Lindsey would post her name to any comment she makes. Yes the post did not endorse Mayor Triolo and they will do all they can to prove themselves correct.
Anno at 10:48, attacking ML makes no sense. She did not fire anyone. I find it interesting that no one rejects the reasoning that spells out all that Stanton did wrong with hard facts. Instead we see Cara's gang working to set the stage for more lies to the public that our current commission is "corrupt". Saying that these folks are corrupt is a lie and there is no evidence to back that statement up but I see the word used over and over. That's the way you bring down good people in this town. Stanton needed to go and you lost the election Ms. Ano. Get over it. If you want to attack someone at least have the balls to tell us your name. And finally, it only cost $75,000 in severence to get rid of Stanton. The balance paid to her was already owed to her by the city. What it costs to hire a new CM is still up in the air. But I expect by next week Cara's gang will be claiming it's a half million. Your lies will not work this time as we have too many outlets to get the truth out. Merry Christmas and since you won't post your name why should I.
"After abruptly firing the competent city manager....."
I do not think that all thought Stanton was competent here, don't like that word in this story here. Stanton was not competent fully as she was not able to reach out to the public that she served in this city. I am sorry, but she was not good at relating to a lot of people here, she spoke down to people, gave attitude, and was rude and lacked the social skills to communicate and fully interact, this is what lead the commission to realize that they could not work well with her. Maybe she was able to do a lot of other things well, but in the end it was all about her attitude and social skills that axed herself.
It gets mighty tiring trying to put out fires in this city that you all start. First of all, Cara Jennings had nothing whatsoever to do with this commission or its decisions of late. She is not pushing anyone up there but I am sure that she supports the minority.
Now, the next fact is, there are two sides to the story. Keep an open mind to the other point of view, if you possibly can without throwing stones at people. The writer above sounds as if it is someone who does not like Stanton.
As far as the PB Post goes, P.M.M., they have much more credibility than a lot of the commission supporters that are throwing the stones. That is my viewpoint so when you insult them you insult me. Next, we shall see how this commission does. They have already opened up the possibility of a fire and street light assessment for 2012. Wouldn't that put everyone's panties in a knot.
Next, get OVER IT again. We paid out $125,000 that we would not have had to pay out right now. God. Let's get a stick and beat it to death.
You guys won. Stay happy if that is at all possible.
It would have cost us the same to fire Stanton whether we fired her now or 6 months from now or two years from now. The term you are so upset with is "now". Actually, it may have cost us more to fire her later if she did not use her sick pay or vacation time, so actually, we got out cheap. (by your reasoning)
Severance was $75K period. What part of severance do you not understand? The rest is owed her anyway. Now or later.
My gripe is that we will enter another open ended contract without a clause saying that non-renewal does not constitute firing and severance would not kick in. If that were the case here, then you would be correct that firing her cost us money we would not ordinarily have to pay.
Please don't confuse MY viewpoint with an insult. It not my intention to insult anyone or anything.I am not insulted by your viewpoints but I recognize them as they are. Points of view from someone who wishes to keep the dialog alive and is not timid about expressing those points of view. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours Lynn.
That is not my reasoning that we got off "cheap." Far from it.
Whether she had a fixed or an open ended contract, what is the difference? All this means to me is that she can be fired at any time, that she will come up for performance reviews and that she can keep performing her job as long as she meets performance standards. She did just that in April when she got her review.
She negotiated her contract and all of her severance, etc. was included in her open-ended contract which, by the way, is not abnormal, in fact, quite the contrary. The commission accepted her contract. So, I am confused when you talk about clauses on firing and severance. After looking at the situation, I see no difference. The art of negotiation is a wonderful thing.
The parties are free to include any clauses on which they agree in the contract, except for those contrary to the mandatory provisions of the laws and regulations (discrimination clauses, for example) and to those of applicable to Lake Worth.
They just don't have a defined term and therefore, an open-ended contract may be terminated either at the wish of one of the parties (redundancy, resignation, retirement...and in Stanton's case, firing).
Thank you, P.M.M. and Merry X'mas to you too!
Michael, all she was supposed to do was to report to the Commission, not the residents of LW.
Good ole boy politics. Thanks for putting it right out there Mr. Marra. Let's see what this commission really has in mind.
Yes....let's...
Why do some continue to advance an obvious falsehood? The cost to "get rid" of the cm is $75k, the amount equal to 6 months of pay that she physically did not work for. All other monies are monies she was entitled to earn either way and would be expended either way. If severance packages really upset you so much, maybe you would like to know that the former cm positioned every one of her contract employees with open ended contracts just like hers, and the cost to replace them in the future if needed, is over 1 million dollars!
The new CM will decide who needs to be replaced. Probably NO ONE. Susan hired highly-qualified professionals (for a change) who are doing excellent work for us. The contracts are standard. BTW, no one complained about Bill Smith’s $300K package when we went to PBSO. What an outrage, the guy was a bum who couldn’t manage a Dairy Queen.
Also, the pbp spoke of so many of her glaring accomplishments this morning; perhaps we can we take a look at them for a moment?
First the pbp dismissed her clearly caustic, self centered and bullying personality by stating that it was she, the cm, that had somehow self identified a communication deficiency that somehow escaped most of the world’s attention had she not pointed it out for us...are you kidding me?
Never saw this publicly, just hearsay. Stop spreading lies. She was always very cordial and nice when I spoke with her. Maybe because I didn’t call her names .
Regarding her bargaining skills, how many times will we have to attempt to rewrite history as we hear that she did remarkable work in this area when in reality the pbsp and pbfr "savings" were offered up and were on the table all along, yet the cm chose to use her "drama" to drag the issues along to create "the crisis", so that she could "ride in" to save the day?
Staff had to walk away from PBSO negotiations twice before getting $1.2M. I’m sure that Bradshaw just “offered up” $1.2M right off the bat. Because that’s his M.O., right?And of course, this shadowy, anonymous person knows the truth and everyone else is lying.
Also, speaking of bargaining skills, let's see how the fight with the other cities over sewer payments works out for Lake Worth as the cm rejected a $7 million dollar settlement and now the city will likely get little or nothing!
Really?? When did they offer $7M?? I missed that. Maybe because it’s not true? The commission makes these decisions based on advice from legal counsel. Not the CM.
And as for the beach casino...nothing says success better than being 3 million over on a 6 million dollar project...especially when everybody knew about and the cm led commission refused to talk about it, with the exception of one commission member.
The $6M is for the building, not the utilities. County will not pay for. She did the right thing, the city SHOULD pay for utility upgrades to ITS OWN PROPERTY. We’ve gone from $1.8 to $2.5 to $3M now. Talk about spin!! So hey, want to stop the project? Maybe that’s the next visionary decision these Einsteins will make.
And finally, about the "unceremoniously terminated without discussion or warning" comment...according to Kurt Bressner, he, himself, met the same fate during his work history and it its quite common in the city manager world...just ask the Lake Worth cm previous to Susan Stanton.
Doesn’t change the fact that it was poorly done with no public input. The candidates did not “run” on removing the manager, yet a small group of people claim that the firing has broad support. I think we will find that this is not so.
Let’s be honest, the former cm was not respected because of her personality and her politics, and while some might argue that she did some things well, we all must remember that doing things well is what any cm is paid to do in the first place..it was time for her to move on and learn from her experiences here.
The former CM was not respected by a very small group of malcontents who verbally abuse anyone who disagrees with them. She is, in fact, very highly respected in her field. Please name one thing that Paul Boyer or Bob Baldwin did well, but don’t hurt yourself trying. It is Christmas Eve, after all.
In the end, the pbp needs to take off the blinders and spend some quality time reporting on what has really been going on in this town over the past five years or so...and not spinning things to give the allusion that all is well in Lake Worth and it’s all because of Ms. Stanton. Very few are buying it.
The spin is not coming from the PBP. It came from a bunch of stupid people who wanted to lick the shoes of Ric Bradshaw and pay for him to trot horses around in 90 degree heat and waste our tax dollars on tricked-out Winnebegos. It comes from a small group of ignorant people who believe that slapping up six-story buildings will cure our ills. It comes from people who are scratching and clawing to spin some really stupid moves by shockingly un-informed and tragically mis-informed dunces who are now ruining our city. Spin that. Merry Christmas.
I agree with the above poster.
In this particular case, we should pay for the infrastructure. However, it should have been revealed from the get-go that it was not included anywhere in this $11 million dollar price-tag. We, the public, are not experts on what or what not we can spend in the bond money. The Commission should have been told. Someone knew. This sort of money should not have come as a complete surprise. Did everyone just assume that we all knew this? Perhaps, but then that is putting the blame on the wrong people.
An $11 million project should be an $11 million project, not $13.5 million with an attempt to justify it all. From the very beginning and going forward, it should have been revealed that it was a $13.5 million dollar contract and that we had to come up with the difference. This was never done.
this commission of Triolo, Amoroso and Maxwell are telling us that they want to move forward. How come everyone else thinks they are doing just the opposite? They are not listening.
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Sure hope you're not one of those applying for the job. Read the Post article again. Change your diapers.
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