It has been 17 years and 233 days since the city’s pledge to build the West Branch Library.
Slavin Management Consultants, the firm hired for the city manager search, should be presenting its list of finalists to the city council at any time. What should the Glendale city council consider in choosing finalists?
During my 16 years on city council I worked with various interim and permanent city managers, Dr. Martin Vanacour, Ed Beasley, Horatio Skeete and Dick Bowers. I never worked with Brenda Fischer which was probably a good thing. I think we would have butted heads from day one and I quickly would have been at the top of her *hit list.
What qualities did these city managers possess that served them, the city council and the people of Glendale well? One major quality was that of responsiveness to anyone and everyone. Under Dr. Vanacour it didn’t matter if a citizen was a ditch digger or stock broker. If a citizen called his office, without fear or favor, every issue received a quick and efficient response. Sometimes an issue was resolved to the citizen’s satisfaction…sometimes not but every issue got an answer…not in weeks but in days. The same occurred with councilmember questions and requests.
Another quality that stood Dr. Vanacour, and now Dick Bowers, in good stead there was, and is, no favoritism shown toward any councilmember. All were, and are, treated equally and with respect. Information provided to one councilmember was also provided to the rest of the council. Neither had or has a reporting system where employees are required to report every interaction with a councilmember to the city manager’s office.
Council requires a city manager that shares information willingly and openly and in a timely manner with city council and citizens. Many of council’s previous decisions during the tenure of Ed Beasley were made in either a vacuum or with ginned up information designed to get council to approve a specific outcome. Dr. Vanacour practiced sharing complete information and Dick Bowers is doing the same. If Dick Bowers were willing, Glendale could not do better than to hire Dick Bowers on a permanent basis. However, Mr. Bowers is retired. He graciously agreed to serve short term in Glendale’s hour of need. He wants to be retired once again and to spend time with his family and friends. He’s earned it.
The next city manager must show that he or she truly respects and values all employees within the Glendale governmental family. For too long Glendale’s employees have experienced a work atmosphere based upon fear and favoritism. The city manager must show no bias toward any specific department and make financial resource decisions and recommendations to council based upon the most effective use of taxpayer dollars.
The city manager’s fiscal philosophy should be a conservative one. He or she should believe, as a core principle, that a government’s fiscal decisions are not based on tax increases or growing the size of government. Glendale has learned the hard way that it’s not the size of government that determines the quality of service to its citizens. It learned that the same superior service delivery can be accomplished despite the reduction in the number of employees delivering the service. It’s an individual’s commitment to excellence that counts…not the number of employees on the payroll.
Council should look for a city manager with extended experience, intelligence and adaptability. The last thing the city needs is someone who has been a department head or assistant somewhere. The city needs a city manager with city manager experience and knowledge. The candidate has to have the requisite knowledge and flexibility to hit the ground running.
Lastly, the new city manager must learn to love Glendale. Dr. Vanacour did and still does to this day. Mr. Bowers, retired city manager of Scottsdale, has always exhibited a love for and genuine concern for Glendale. That is obvious in his commitment to serve as its Interim City Manager. Glendale owes Dick Bowers a great deal.
I would strongly suggest that the citizens of Glendale are offered the public opportunity to “meet and greet” all of them before the final selection. This is so important for Glendale and gaining public support at the outset will help smooth the transition to a new city manager. A “meet and greet” not just for stakeholders such as Chamber of Commerce folk or college presidents but for ordinary citizens who take an active interest in and participate in their local government.
In summary, it is my hope that city council will weigh and measure these qualities of the city manager candidates very carefully:
- Responsiveness to all
- Respect for all
- Practices open government
- Respects and values all employees
- Conservative fiscal philosophy
- Previous city manager experience
- Intelligence and adaptability
- Willingness to embrace the entire community
© Joyce Clark, 2015
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It had been said that you could put mother Teresa in a government leadership role and even she would be corrupted in short time!
I am in no way saying anyone at the city is corrupt but I am saying it’s the entire make up that breaks whatever good is put in place at the city, I have recently retired and moved on to another city but as someone that has had the opportunity to work in an much larger government and now a smaller county I can look back and for certain point to the lack of leadership as being the main issue!
There is no shortage of management in fact it seems harder to find someone who actually is in the position to do the work and when you do they are so depressed and worked to death by not having support (see leadership) that they are just there for the internet connection to look for job postings online and a paycheck.
My suggestion would be to hire a proven leader maybe spend more than a few days or a meeting deciding who would fit in, maybe give them a trial appointment and see how things work out but unfortunately like we see in virtually everything that happens at this once fine city is some knee jerk reaction will be made and all will suffer because of it. How about reevaluating the current roles of people below the city manager position and see how things are in those roles! As someone who was there for a very long time I have yet to directly meet or be introduced to a city manager (3 of them) and my coworkers are in the same boat but through all the turmoil be it the financial crisis or the Coyotes crisis or the library crisis or the (see where I am going there?) it has been all the same leadership below the city manager that have remained the same, how about maybe listening to the employees without the staring eye of the department director (Talking to you HR and the next city manager) Here is a great example of something I am talking about, recently an email talking about classification and compensation came out which said employees will have the opportunity to fill out a survey that will be handed out by the department director!
Let me start by saying compensation is important to some but I would certainly give up 25% just to work around positive, career minded and healthy coworkers and not just check collectors or title hunters, director, supervisor, deputy, senior etc.
Back to the survey, is there some reason HR is not handing these out directly to random individuals in each department? A big sticking point at the last so called survey or “group of your peers” type of decision was that upper management basically handpicked the survey recipients there by grooming the survey to their liking! Give a survey or ask how things are going to someone who has been employed for less than a year will produce totally different results than handing it to an employee that made it through most/all of the major up’s and down’s.
I am asking PLEASE consider ALL the constituents, (not just voters) the visitors (tourist) and the employees when making decisions.
Joyce,
I remember Dr. Vanacour and he is everything you said he was. He knew every employees name and treated each of us with respect.
Ed Beasley, Horatio Skeete, Brenda Fisher … all were above lowering themselves to deal with the ‘common’ employees. These managers ruled by instilling fear.
It is no longer fun to work for Glendale; employees are still leaving in droves. Glendale needs to put the ‘fun’ back into dysfunctional.
Joyce,
You have a presented a good perspective on what is needed in the future Glendale city manager. I have one thing that you did not include in your comments about Glendale employees working under “fear and favoritism”. I would add one more word– intimidation. The employees I have heard from faced regular intimidation from the top if they did not follow direction, no matter that the direction was poor judgement or in some cases plainly illegal.
Going forward, I agree that the new city manager should exhibit all of the traits you describe AND two more. Integrity and Courage. Integrity to always do what is in the best interests of the city and be willing to have the courage to tell the city council the truth even though it may be risky.
We have seen an example of the city council’s courage to do the right thing – the Coyotes agreement. They need a city manager what will work with them to continue making right decisions and have the courage to carry through even when opponents make political threats against them.
Well said Ken. I agree.
Joyce,
It seems like there is a common thread here ….
too bad management continues to manage with their head in the clouds.
Joyce,
Thank you for the kind words about my father. We grew up with a love of Glendale in our house and I have such great memories of my dad showing us how special of a place it is.
Jason, To this day I admire and respect your Dad. I hope he is doing well. His love of Glendale was always evident. He is a special person.