Did Jennifer's memo say anything about the 2008 budget? The levy limit is
based, in part, on growth in tax base. The tax base recently stopped growing
much outside of the tax incremental districts. The city is adding positions in
the 2007 budget which will create permanent spending increases in 2008, 2009,
etc. The city could find itself in a very tight spot when it puts together its
2008 budget at this time next year.
I hope the city hires a new administrator who is an ace at budgeting and
does not follow Mayor Decker's suggestion to strip the city administrator of
responsibility for the formulating the budget.
Bill Connors
Former City Administrator
Evansville needs a strong administrator soon. Even if the new target date of mid-November is viable we will still have been without a pro running the city for more than 5 months.
4 comments:
very well written, the both of you.
After the finance meeting last night there was considerable discussion over the appropriateness of taking administrator candidates out to dinner. Seems the Mayor is concerned over the invitation saying "and spouse" as well as other questions of open meeting laws etc. I pointed out that, to my understanding, to the letter of the law, this whole discussion was out of line since it wasn't on the agenda, and they could give notice of the dinner. John Sornson suggested replacing "and spouse" with "and guest". Mason suggested the Administrator recruiting firm was probably well versed on interviewing practices and should be relied upon for guidance. Mayor Decker said she was concerned over potential lawsuits and wanted to protect the city and recommended the discussion be placed on an upcoming agenda, though I was unclear if it was a Council Agenda or F&L.
Either way, with this kind of minutia being debated at this early stage, it could be a long drawn-out process. I hope the F&L can stay strong on their focus of keeping this ball rolling and not allow themselves to be stalled by the small stuff.
For goodness sake -- we sure like to make things as difficult as possible. Micromanaging the process is a sure sign to a potential City Administrator that they DON'T want to work in Evansville!!
Just notice the dinner as a "closed session" pertaining to potential hiring of employees. Then you're all legal.
I know when Jennifer was a candidate, there was a reception/dinner for all the finalists at the same time. Gave them a good opportunity to show their ability at handling akward situations.
Mason made the "closed session" suggestion and the Mayor said you can't have a closed session in a public place. So then there were attempts at remembering restaurants with private rooms and a thought of no dinner at all.
While lawsuits are important, in the case of enjoying (or not) a dinner together seems like much ado about nothing.
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