The question that not one councilor saw fit to ask
was, “If we can get by for up to six months with a Town Manager serving 20
hours per week at $1,000 per week, why do we need a full timer at more than
twice that amount?”
Now, there is no reason that no one was aware of
this question. I raised it in an earlier article, Featherbedding
And Ignorance At Southbridge Town Hall. Some of the members of the
council read this blog as attested to the fact that the Meeting of the Whole
ended up being televised after another article titled, Why
Is This Off-Camera?
Certainly the question is especially valid over the
course of the upcoming months. During the remaining hours of the week when the
Acting Town Manager is absent, that mantle will be assumed by the Finance
Director. This is during what must doubtless be her busiest time of the year.
Over the next five months she will be at the center
of the budgeting process which culminates in the vote on the budget in May. (A
reminder to councilors and citizens alike – that is when your tax rate is
really set!)
Despite that fact, the outgoing Town Manager
negotiated a contract that inherently assumed that someone serving 20 hours per
week was totally adequate. If he implicitly testified to that effect, why
wouldn’t any councilor ask him why he felt that this was sufficient? And, if it
is sufficient, then it should be good enough for the remaining six months of
the year this year and every year.
Maybe because that’s all we really need. Or, maybe
it’s because the town hall is so egregiously overstaffed that there is enough
redundancy that it can function on that basis. Or maybe, just maybe, both are true.
Whatever the case, these are things to keep in
mind in the course of two imminent events. The first is when the Town Manager
Search Committee comes forward with its recommendations. Do we really need
somebody full time for big bucks? The second is when the budget is debated and
voted upon. Just how much fat are we really paying for? Are councilors really
doing their jobs for the taxpayers, or are they just making a belated
stocking-filling run servicing town employees for Santa?
For those who haven’t had the opportunity to see the way-off Broadway production of "Bats" as performed by the Solons of Southbridge which documents the handling of the contract issue regarding an Acting
Town Manager, it is provided below in three acts.
The first act, subtitled “The Car Keys To The
Kingdom”, covers the Council of the Whole Meeting which discussed the proposed
contract.
The second act, subtitled, “Baby You Can’t Drive My
Car”, shows the actual vote on the contract.
The final third act, subtitled, “Maybe Baby”, shows
the move to reconsider the vote taken in act two.
Act I - The Car Keys to the Kingdom
Act II - Baby You Can't Drive My Car
Act III - Maybe Baby
Seems to me if a interim manager can come in and "manage" part time, why go through the expense of a full time manager? And how do the rest of the council feel since there input was omitted from the T and G article? I know how Denise feels.............
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