It has been 17 years and 173 days since the city’s pledge to build the West Branch Library.
Another blog milestone: 250,000 reads of my blog. My thanks to everyone who has taken the time to follow me. It is appreciated.
On June 9, 2015, the St. Louis Post Dispatch ran a story by Stephen Deere announcing that Glendale’s former City Manager Ed Beasley has been hired as Interim City Manager for 6 months in Ferguson, Missouri. The first reaction from many in Glendale has been absolute speechlessness followed by a stunned “Wow!” Here is the link: http://m.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/ferguson-about-to-hire-an-interim-city-manager-accused-of/article_399ec201-78c8-5acc-883b-d5ad6b21f718.html?mobile_touch=true .I didn’t know much about Ferguson demographically although it is nationally known as the recent birthplace of Afro-American civil unrest characterized by the false chant of “Hands up…don’t shoot.” According to the census bureau (here is the link: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/29/2923986.html) the comparisons of Ferguson and Glendale are stark:
- Ferguson has a population of 21,111; Glendale has a population of 230,000.
- Ferguson’s racial makeup is 67% black and 29% white; Glendale is 67% white and 6% black.
- The median value of a home in Ferguson is $93,700; Glendale is $144,300.
- Ferguson’s median household income is $38,685; Glendale’s is $47,474.
Ed Beasley had a long and storied 17 year career with the City of Glendale. He began his tenure in Glendale in 1998 as Assistant City Manager under Former City Manager Dr. Martin Vanacour. In 2002 Elaine Scruggs became the council appointed mayor after Mayor Quentin Tolby resigned. From the start of her tenure as mayor she seemed to butt heads with Vanacour and shortly thereafter he resigned and Beasley was appointed by the city council as the new Glendale City Manager. He served in that capacity for ten years until 2012. At the start of both their tenures in 2002, Scruggs supported Beasley during his DUI trouble. See link: Beasley DPS . But as time passed, Beasley’s and Scruggs’ relationship became rocky as each vied to become the ultimate power broker in Glendale. As their working relationship soured over the years she was never able to garner enough council support to have him removed.
In 2012 he announced his retirement to city council and left. A year later information would become public that would tarnish his reputation. Beasley ran his administration with an “inner circle” of advisors from within Glendale’s ranks. He apparently was not shy about helping his friends, witness Glendale’s former HR Director Alma Carmicle’s job retention with her $140,000 salary despite her permanent move to Mississippi and former Director of Finance Art Lynch’s overly generous $930,000 three year compensation as a consultant. Rumors also flew about Beasley’s attempt to secure the purchase of the Coyotes for John Kaites and Jerry Reinsdorf after Jerry Moyes declared the Coyotes bankrupt in 2009. See this link: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/something-smells-in-glendale-did-the-city-steer-the-phoenix-coyotes-franchise-to-an-insider-6430691 . Then there was Beasley’s choice of Andrew Kirkland as chief of police. In less than 5 months after his having been hired he was under investigation and resigned. See this link: http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2005/04/04/daily63.html .Beasley seemed to surround himself with some seemingly ethically challenged employees. Those employees in upper management unafraid of pointing out that “the emperor had no clothes” soon recognized the futility of doing so and left city employ. It didn’t take them long to figure out the landscape as they became marginalized by Beasley and his friends.
Beasley was golden during Glendale’s run-up to become the sports mecca of the state. He was riding high as he was courted by some of the largest cities in the nation to become their city manager. Although he had left Glendale’s employ it wasn’t soon before a publicly released city audit revealed fiscal mismanagement of the Risk Management Trust Fund and the Workmen’s Compensation Trust Fund – all of which occurred on his watch. He was one of the most highly compensated city managers in the state earning a six figure salary as well as a generous benefit package. In May 2012, Beasley formed his own consulting business, Ed Beasley and Associates LLC. Less than a year later by February 2013, he became vice president of Colliers International Government Solutions division.
Ferguson’s hiring of Beasley as its Interim City Manager follows a steady stream of 3 other city managers in quick succession – in the span of 3 months. His contract amount is $84,500. That’s quite a come down and embarrassing. He had applied with other governmental jurisdictions but his services were declined. Ferguson has its own set of problems, a Department of Justice investigation whose findings demand compliance and a rising number of lawsuits. It’s make or break time for Beasley. Ferguson faces so many challenges. If Beasley demonstrates an inability to solve them his career as a city manager anywhere will die. Those are pretty high stakes for a man seeking rehabilitation. His seeming deal making, his reputed willingness to insure the financial futures of his friends and his questionable approval of irregular financial arrangements may or may not serve Ferguson’s interests well. Ferguson, heed these words, “Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well.” (Hamlet Act 5 Scene 1). Glendale thought it knew Ed Beasley well.
© Joyce Clark, 2015
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Did Beasley ever serve jail time for the DUI conviction? As I recall, he was supposed to spend the required time in jail (24 hours?) pretty much at his leisure. I’m betting he never bothered.
J.D., I don’t know. I have heard of instances of people deliberately showing up at the jail around midnight and then being released a short time afterward. Whether it happened in this case I do not know.
Hmmmmmm where to begin, where to begin……I guess I will start with the former “I didn’t know” Mayor. On a rating scale of 1-10, my own personal opinion puts her between a 2-3. She did a good job with Luke Air Force Base & some transportation issues and some other things. I suspect when Glendale was much smaller in terms of population and size, she was okay. She could and most likely did woo the Women’s Club and various other organizations. But as the City grew, so did her ego. I think she was out of her element. I really strongly feel that in this day and age, there should be qualifications for Mayor. It takes someone with financial skills and a person with interpersonal communication skills not driven by ego to bring people together & to maintain composure under utter chaos. Not someone who throws temper tantrums in the face of adversity. You may say, well that is why we have staff; however, you need someone who understand the financial lingo and knows how to ask questions. She appeared to be very tight with the Fire Fighters, as an example the John Holland incident, which I never saw was fully revealed. For these reasons and many more. there must be term limits. The office was never meant to be a career. How on earth could any rational person believe, when the entire world was collapsing, that, “Glendale did things differently!” They sure did!!!! It was then, and is now, a laughable moment. She surely had plenty of minions who must have told her differently. I understand that she may not have knowledge of every little thing that goes on, but on the big issues it is your job, at that level, to find out. A little investigative work would have been helpful.
On to Mr Beasley, The City Manager does take direction from the Mayor & Council. Having said that, there appears to be questionable execution of that direction. From various folks I know, and, my own personal opinions, his strong point was never negotiations. Speaking in the area of sports, Glendale was dealing with sharks, who are real pros in negotiating! I am sure they were laughing all the way to the bank. There are plenty of reports indicating why it is bad for cities to enter into sports deals. Glendale was ego driven. All the stars were lining up for collapse. I am sure even now, Glendale is just an 1/8 of an inch from filing bankruptcy.
In some cases, hiring practices were, well, in my opinion and many, many others, unethical. By the way, I have heard from multiple people that Mr Lynch’s post employment salary over the years from his retirement was closer to $1.2 M, but alas, the general public will never really know. And to think that City Department budgets were cut is down right shameful.
There has been much said & written about Ms Carmicle working from Mississippi when employed by the City. However, I am curious about the crafting of the press release, which clearly was an attempt to put her in a really bad light. Did she deserve it? Maybe, maybe not. I certainly feel as a Human Resources Director she did do questionable things, conflicts of interest in negotiating, after selling her house moving to apartment in Peoria when HR rules and regulations say you must live within City limits of Glendale at that level. BUT, was the $14,000 she received an individual bonus OR did all “Executive Directors” receive that $14,000 “bonus” under what I think was a dreadful reorganization (which I heard was Ms Carmicle’s idea), in fact, ridiculous in light of what Glendale was going through. I cannot in my wildest dreams imagine that everything she was doing did not go through City Attorney office. I am not sticking up for her by any means, but it all comes down to crafting press releases for the press, the job of the ex Communications Director who I strongly feel was not qualified for the ultimate job she finally advanced, Assistant City Manager. While I am sure her resume is glowing and well crafted, when it comes right down to it, I was told she was a scheduler for Channel 12 news before coming to Glendale? If true, good grief. And the beat goes on, as does the drama.
All of these comments are based on what I have heard and been told by multiple people and are also based on my own personal opinions.
Paperscrapper, Many of which I can validate and most certainly share with you.