[Speed Gibson,
Wednesday June 20, 2007 at 10:47pm]
Another one bites the dust
The Green Hornet too often said something like "there's a pattern forming here" when starting to investigate a problem. There may be a pattern when it comes to City Managers, the latest turnover being in the City of New Hope. Dan Donahue has held the position for 25 years, and suddenly he's out. I serve with Dan on our multi-city cable commission and can only say he's a nice guy and appears to be a good manager.
I've seen this script played out many times throughout the Twin Cities, always with words like "management style", "different direction", and "irreconcilable differences". No specifics of course; that's all done behind doors in Executive Session. But the result's the same. The position turns over in an ugly manner rather than simply not renewing the employment contract. Residents are left in the dark. Some are angry.
I suspect there is a "Firing City Managers for Dummies" book out there somewhere, probably published by public employee unions. (Just kidding!) For the sequence is always the same.
As Space Ghost too often observed at the end of his episodes, "there's a lesson here somewhere."
I've seen this script played out many times throughout the Twin Cities, always with words like "management style", "different direction", and "irreconcilable differences". No specifics of course; that's all done behind doors in Executive Session. But the result's the same. The position turns over in an ugly manner rather than simply not renewing the employment contract. Residents are left in the dark. Some are angry.
I suspect there is a "Firing City Managers for Dummies" book out there somewhere, probably published by public employee unions. (Just kidding!) For the sequence is always the same.
As Space Ghost too often observed at the end of his episodes, "there's a lesson here somewhere."