AT LAST, A CITY MANAGER
Well it took well over a year and at least three stops and starts, but the City Council finally voted, 4-1, to take the word “Interim” off Jim O’Reilly’s title and offer him a strong contract, (in his favor), for an indefinite term, (until he quits or gets fired). The vote took place at a Special Meeting of the City Council on Monday, November 30 at 11:30 A.M.
Under the terms of his contract, well it’s called an agreement to avoid some legal issues, but it really is a contract, he will receive an initial salary of $108,000 plus a car allowance of $5400 per year and the cost of his cell phone. He will receive all the benefits of a Charter Employee which, if we use a guesstimate figure provided by the City’s Director of Administration, amounts to about 30% of the stated salary. Our Manager’s total compensation package in the first year of the agreement will be in the range of $140,000 to $150,000.
If, at any time during the agreement, the City Council wishes to terminate the Manager’s services without a specific cause, he will be entitled to 12 months salary and benefits at the then current rates. In order to terminate the Manager without specific cause, the Council must have 4 votes to dismiss, (a “supermajority”). Termination for cause will not require a supermajority or the above described severance package. It is these two items, 12 month’s severance and a supermajority to terminate, that caused the most difficulty in coming to a final agreement.
The agreement also gives the Council the option to review the Manager’s performance annually, but they are not required to do so. (For a full reading of the contract presented to the Council, go to www.mygulfport.us and click on “agendas and meetings”, then “package” for the December 1 meeting of the City Council.)
Negotiations leading up to the final agreement were, to say the least, difficult with Jim O’Reilly resigning as Manager at least twice during the process. Each time City Manager O’Reilly walked away from the bargaining table, the Mayor and others convinced him to continue negotiations. (And why wouldn’t they since they chose not to do a formal search and had only one chicken in their basket. [The chicken reference is particularly apt in Gulfport.]). The negotiation process was exacerbated by having a change of the City Attorney in the middle of it.
Interim City Attorney Minkoff, now Judge Minkoff, did a round robin negotiation where he acted as a hub, conveying information from Councilor to Councilor. The result was a messed up 1 ½ page document that didn’t even spell out standards of employment. In the midst of this unconventional negotiating process, Mr. O’Reilly walked away from the negotiating table at least once before even the imperfect agreement was produced. Oh, by the way, the technique reportedly used by our Interim Attorney is known as hub and spokes communication, (I talk to Council Member 1 then I communicate what CM 1 said to CM 2 and what CM 1 said to CM 3, etc.). In everything I’ve read about Florida’s Sunshine Laws, this technique is illegal.
Of course this document didn’t fly. Then Mr. O’Reilly was asked to draw up his own document for presentation to the Council. He was only too glad to do so. Of course it was all in his favor with things like a 24 month severance package in it. The Council couldn’t accept that document either. However our now Acting City Attorney, Andrew Salzman stepped in at the November 17 Regular Meeting of the Council, pointed out the areas of agreement, the areas of disagreement and indicated that he could draft a document for the next meeting on which the Council might act. It turns out that Atty. Salzman has extensive experience in negotiating and drafting employment contracts for city managers. Finally, the Council put the matter into the right hands by asking their attorney to do the job they should have had him do in the first place.
At a Special Meeting of the City Council at 10:00 AM on Monday, November 23, Acting City Manager O’Reilly would not budge on his demand for at least a 12 month severance package and a supermajority vote to cause dismissal. He withdrew from consideration for a second time, opting to return to his Leisure Services Directorship, (and who could blame him)? The City was faced with a lost year and the time and expense of searching for a qualified candidate.
Somehow, by some miracle of negotiation, where no Council Member was authorized to negotiate on the City’s behalf, another Special Meeting was posted for Monday morning, November 30 at 11:30 AM at which time a contract was presented, the Acting City Manager opted to continue his candidacy, the two sticking points were negotiated and a new City Manager was hired in less than an hour. This surprising turnabout is truly a miracle only it doesn’t appear to be the hand of God that caused it to happen. The hand of our long serving resident near-God is a much more likely cause.
Using an unconventional, some would say dysfunctional, approach to problem solving, our City Council lucked out with a good result in this case. But, such risky behavior came within a hair’s breadth of leaving the City without an administrative leader for several more months and a huge expense of conducting a search and hiring an unknown quantity. Depending on who one talks to, the cost estimate runs from $30,000 to $100,000.
Of equal importance, erratic, unconventional behavior on the part of our City Council undermines the faith our citizens have in our local government. In today’s environment, there is widespread public concern about the actions of our state and federal governments to the point where serious discussions about a possible third party movement are taking place . People are generally frightened by and disgusted with so-called leaders in Tallahassee and Washington DC who are non-responsive to their wishes. Are we losing faith in our local government as well? As a postscript to the story of the messy hiring of a new City Manager, lets take a look at a summary of some of the comments from citizens at the Special City Council Meeting on Monday morning, November 30. You be the judge.
John Frieberger began the public comments by asking why this important meeting was being held on a Monday morning when most people could not attend. He also questioned the process by which the final negotiations were conducted by suggesting that the Mayor might have engineered the whole thing in “a smoke filled room.” Lee Stapella was more specific when she commented, “We do not have a strong mayor form of government, and the Mayor generally does not have substantially greater power than Council as a whole. I wonder if I could be directed to a place in the Charter or an ordinance or other resolution allowing the Mayor to negotiate, let or sign contracts on behalf of the Council and the City, or is this a new duty never before performed, newly imbedded within this particular contract? (She did not receive an answer to this question.) Dottie Wolski added the following in part: “I am absolutely disgusted with the behavior of four of you! Four of you have been here since our police chief left and you still, after about 1 ½ years, have not hired a single person to do the job. Only citizens bring up the subject of hiring a police chief. Four of you have been here since the last City Manager left. You have had Mr. O’Reilly dangling for over a year. Occasionally, one of you brought up the issue of hiring a City Manager, just to have it die for lack of discussion and follow through from the rest of the Council……you spent more time on changing the Chicken Ordinance than you have in considering the needs of the City and seeing to it that the key positions to keep the city running smoothly are filled.” In further comments Ms. Wolski suggested that the annual review of the City Manager be mandatory rather than optional and that accumulated vacation time of up to 4.33 months was excessive. (These comments were neither discussed or considered by the Council before their vote.)
Why a consensus selection of Jim O’Reilly took over a year to accomplish is a mystery to most observers. Did some on the Council prefer to have a weak Manager-In-Waiting for several months in order to subvert the Council/Manager form and further their own agendas? Is our not having a secure, contracted City Manager the reason why we don’t have a permanent police chief? Whatever the rationale, the dysfunctional process of hiring our City Manager by our present City Council cannot be said to be in the best interests of our citizens and taxpayers.
One wonders whether Jim O’Reilly should be congratulated on his long-time-in-coming appointment or should be receiving our sympathy for having to deal with our City Council the first and third Tuesday of every month.
The system is dysfunctional; the participating Council is ill equipped to address most issues that come before them. They either delay what they cannot comprehend or totally rely on an inadequate Staff leadership to do their thinking. They have been ill served by their attorneys, and don’t seem to know what a good attorney’s work product would look like.
Most recently Bob Worthington suggested that we hire our new part time attorney, because, as he said; of the professionalism he has brought to the city. I’ve had a look at his work product and from my observations it is laced with inaccuracies. So, he may be professional but he certainly is not precise. Bob Worthington also stated that there were Smokers all over the City, but according to the City Clerks office there have only been two in the history of Gulfport, one on 5133 Gulfport Blvd in 2005 and another on 1431 49th Street in 2008. Mr. Worthington’s opinion is hardly reliable or accurate on any subject, so we should examine this attorney with a magnifying glass and not just accept his appointment. It’s our money that this Council will be spending and they cannot be trusted with this responsibility, as history has demonstrated
While I agree that Jim O’Reilly is a good selection for City Manager of Gulfport, and didn’t think that his residency should impair his consideration, I too would be leery of a 24-month severance package, as I suspect most Citizens and Municipalities would. The City Council put them selves in a trick bag, again for not being diligent and working on the issue. Not having a comprehensive view or understanding of the ramifications of their inaction they pretend to be cognizant of reality but when confronted with pertinent questions they fall apart and rely on a Staff who doesn’t do the work.
Instead of addressing the Chief of Police issue they have been dangling a carrot in front of two ill equip officers. Again, I’ve seen the result of their work product and thus far, in my observation are not up to the task. Mr. Vincent would be the logical choice given his service, educational level and recommendation of our last Chief, but can he serve two masters? The public that he is sworn to protect and the Council that he has to cover for?
Hopefully the new City Manager will be able to force a changing of the guard in the Community Development department, resolve the Police and Attorney issue and help these confused Councilmen with their lack of cognition.