I attended the 8:00 called meeting of the City Council this morning at the O.Henry Hotel. Before attending, I learned from the News & Record this morning at breakfast that the Council members had already had personal interviews with the top candidates chosen by the consulting firm. The stated purpose of today's meeting was to discuss the results of the interviews and the package of infomation amassed on those top candidates.
When the meeting was called to order, the mayor informed us that non-Council members would not be allowed to speak prior to the closed session. The Council voted unanimously to not audio tape the closed session after consulting with the City Attorney and the consultant. The Council then voted unanimously to go into closed session to discuss the candidates.
A stated reason for having a closed session and for not taping the closed session was that some of the City Manager candidates did not want their current employers to know that they were applying for this position. I can understand why candidates might not want their names divulged in the early phase of the search process, when they might not have a realistic chance of being chosen. But candidates who are far along enough to have personal interviews with Council members should be willing to have their names released and allow contact with their curret supervisors.
Since it is entirely possible that a majority of the current City Council members will be replaced in November, and the City Manager works for City Council, I call on the current City Council to postpone the choosing of a City Manager until the new City Council is sworn in later this year.
If the current City Council is unwilling to do this, I call on them to introduce the final group of candidates for the job to the public in one or more sessions where the candidates make presentations and answer questions posed by citizens. Following those sessions, those participating would present Council with their ratings of the candidates and comments on their qualifications. Then the Council can make a more informed vote on who should be the new City Manager.
I welcome your comments.
See my web site at www.boyettforcitycouncil.com.
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Hi Art...thought I had posted this earlier but guess I'm a slow learner.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more. They City Council is a board of "public officials" and basically all of what they do should be open to public view before, during and after.
They have been so secretive for so long they don't know how else to act. I hpe we can clean out the whole Council from top to bottom. Good luck to you!
Shep Huntley