ZAP! #147
As readers will recall, mayor BVD presided over an illegal meeting whereby members of the council discussed and then reached a consensus on a new hire for the open city manager’s position. The meeting was posted as a “Special Meeting” with the agenda specifying: Personnel Matters - City Manager Interviews. The council should have only interviewed the potential candidates. Period! (Wasn’t the council’s “consensus” choice later invited back into the conference room to determine when a good starting date would be for his employment? Was this question asked of the other two finalists?)
The decision to rush this process was executed by mayor BVD, since three council members had earlier placed an item on the February 6, 2014 council agenda to extend the interim city manager’s contract.
In an effort to gloss over this egregious legal error (that was approved by the city attorney and assented to by mayor BVDs new consigliere, councilman John Danish) the council now has to approve -- in an open meeting -- the contract for the new city manager designee. Of course, by the time mayor BVD and her furless litter* complete this action, they will have had plenty of time to wipe all the legal-egg off their face and slug down a shot of Pepto-Bismol for all the crow eaten for the inane and wrongheaded action taken.
Actually, mayor BVD should have taken a lesson from the Irving ISD school board president on how to handle the naming of a job finalist. IISD completed their process and didn’t have an illegal meeting to name their new superintendent. And their process produced an excellent choice which was faultless in execution!
City Legal Opinion Alert: A new problem (requiring real legal interpretation?) is now surfacing as a the city attorney has stated that the three council members who wanted to extend the interim city manager’s contract cannot remove this agenda item (which was postponed at a prior meeting) from the February 6, 2014 city council meeting. Seriously?
As it is apparent that mayor BVD and her furless litter will proceed with naming Steven Sarkkozy, from Bellevue, Washington, as the city manager, then why place the interim city manager in an awkward and embarrassing position for an agenda item that apparently may not have enough support to go forward? Especially, since Danish and Webb flip-flopped and failed to go through with an original commitment to extend the interim city manager’s current contract. Is this really the way to treat a dedicated civil servant who has committed the bulk of his professional career to serving Irving’s best interest?
As An Aside: If Steven Sarkozy is named the new Irving city manager (as his one year severance package from the Bellevue city council winds down), then maybe mayor BVD will at least inform the public as to the vetting process that was employed to ascertain that this individual was the best and most qualified person to assume the reigns at Irving city hall. Did any members of the council travel to his hometown to interview his former council members or chamber business interest in the city to obtain a good read on his innate abilities and professionalism. What glimpse of his performance was obtained from reviewing Seattle Times articles?** Has anyone vetted the ‘consulting work’ he performed during the past year when he was not the city manager of Bellevue? Would any of his consulting clients pose a conflict of interest with developers or projects Irving currently is involved in?
Has mayor BVD and her furless litter selected an individual based solely on a highly polished resume, coupled with possible spin and glib responses during an interview process? (Or Lean Six Sigma mumbo-jumbo that previously paralyzed city staff under the Gonzalez regime?)
Citizens really would like to know all the details as to why this individual was selected, at this point in time, when the interim city manager is doing a fantastic job righting the city’s ship of state and resolving many thorny issues left over from the reign of Tommy Gonzalez. And staff of the CCR still believes that this could be accomplished if mayor BVD and her furless litter would listen to more astute voices in the community (not just the droning of the chamber of commerce) that have a deeper and better understanding of what it takes to run city hall in an efficient manner.
To assist mayor BVD and her furless litter, CCR readers would be advised to immediately contact her and the furless litter by phone or e-mail before the February 6th council meeting. (See below listing.)
The old adage of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” applies to the current environment of city hall functionality. City hall is not broken under Steve McCullough’s leadership! And while the interim city manager may not appreciate or even be aware that staff of the CCR is making this an issue of profound concern for readers, we do believe that mayor BVD and her furless litter are about to scurry down a path that could stalemate recent city advancements.
mayor BVD and the Furless Litter
______________________________________________
bvanduyne@cityofirving.org 972-898-7500 Beth Van Duyne Mayor
tdspink@aol.com 469-450-0444 Tom Spink Place 8
jcdanish@juno.com 972-554-0500 John Danish Place 1
blamorgese@sbcglobal.net 214-460-1990 Brad LaMorgese Place 6
dwebbplace3@gmail.com 214-490-9749 Dennis Webb Place 3
gerald.farris@verizon.net 972-554-1810 Gerald Farris Place 7
City Hall FAX #: (972) 721-2384
Frankly, staff of the CCR believes the entire search process has been compromised by mayor BVD and that perhaps the pool of candidates was considered in haste in order for some unknown or hidden agenda. Sure, this may sound like a political conspiracy theory, but when mayor BVD and her furless litter disengages common sense and willfully engages in an illegal meeting, then there could be more afoot with this issue than what is currently known by the general public.
Would someone contact Irving’s CSI task force? A larger microscope is required to view details that could be hidden from the naked eye on why mayor BVD and her furless litter are hastily moving on a selection and decision process that could roll back recent achievements and advancements in the management of the city.
…………………………..Mark Holbrook
NOTES:
* Since 1984, the CCR has been “kicking cats” (politiCats). All “kicked cats” that later have been spayed or neutered are considered by the CCR staff to be furless.
** Additional reading by staff of the CCR:
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2013/04/sarkozy-resigns-as-bellevue-city-manager/
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20050212&slug=overrun12e
