Who's leading the parade today?
lithograph by Gillian Golding
On November 14, 2011, our new City Commission was sworn into office. The general feeling among many was that the majority had shifted and for some, not a moment too soon. It's difficult to say what this or any "majority" in Lake Worth really means because our political lines are not drawn with Republican Red or Democrat Blue. The "party lines" in Lake Worth are drawn in black and white and I don't mean Caucasian and Otherwise. I mean black and white in terms of absolute contrast. It's a little like pornography - Difficult to define but we all know precisely which side has the majority at any given moment in time.
Kinda funny because every candidate's campaign promises to "bring people together" and yet once the election is over, we still end up with a "majority" of the Commission on one side or the other at for at least a year when it all shifts again with the next election. We know it. Commissioners know it. No one likes to talk about it, except to pay lip service to "serving all the Residents of Lake Worth".
There are very few issues that transcend the political divide in Lake Worth. The last Commission meeting gives us an example with the Consent agenda item to donate $500 for the 2012 March Magic and Dance event. The City has supported this event for the last 18 years with a small donation that allows underprivileged children in Lake Worth to attend. It's good thing and in my opinion, the City is right to support efforts like this with modest donations. But it's the larger issues of much greater relevance that never seem to rise above the great divide. Case in Point: our next City Manager.
From the day Susan Stanton's contract was terminated on December 6th, 2011, this has been a bone of contention of Jurassic proportion. Whether to hire a headhunter or not, whether to elevate the current Assistant City Manager or not, whether to require or simply recommend ICMA affiliation or not, whether to put an Interim City Manager in place or not, how to do that or not, how involved Staff should be in evaluating resumes or not, and the list gets bigger every time this comes up on an agenda.
Then there's the constant rehash of decisions that have already been made, starting with whether or not it was a good idea to even fire Ms. Stanton. Innuendo abounds about whether or not this decision should have come "with cause" and a likely lawsuit. Recriminations resurface regularly about not hiring a headhunter, not following the advice of the ICMA affiliated Range Riders volunteers and having too many meetings or not enough meetings devoted to even more of this.
This pushme pullyou style of governance is by no means isolated to the hiring of a new City manager. The Beach and Casino leases come readily to mind as another recent example. Which brings me to the question: What good does it do to have a "majority", and I mean ANY majority when even after lengthy debate, input, interminable marathon meetings, call it what you want - we still never get in second gear without backsliding halfway down the mountain we started to climb? How many times are we going to get up against a deadline and suddenly realize we need a decision NOW, and then have to listen to a lot of complaining about having to make decisions at the last minute AGAIN.
Yes, we need a City Manager. HIRE one. We need an Internal Auditor. HIRE one. Because we need a new Utility Director too and the Commission doesn't have the authority to HIRE one of those. Whoever the new City Manager is will do that whenever we have one. It would be nice to have an Internal Auditor on board before then so that he/she could take a little looksee at the Utility Budget, progress on the exiting FMPA thing, the long range electric utility plan and how those big ticket items will affect what options the new City Manager has in operating this City.
We are 91 days into the latest reincarnation of the Lake Worth City Commission. The honeymoon, or whatever you want to call the last three months is over. It's time for the next State of the City address and I'm hoping for something more than another "Can't we all just get along?" kind of speech.
Despite all evidence to the contrary, made manifest in how our annual elections are conducted, the true vast majority of Lake Worth Residents live and die in that grey area where they don't really give a damn which "side" our elected representatives were elected by. They want the City to keep the lights on, answer the phones when they don't, lower the utility rates and taxes, keep the City clean and safe and once in a while, make a small donation to a worthy cause. And fireworks on the Fourth of July. We all like that a lot. Maybe because fireworks are colorful - not black and white.
From the day Susan Stanton's contract was terminated on December 6th, 2011, this has been a bone of contention of Jurassic proportion. Whether to hire a headhunter or not, whether to elevate the current Assistant City Manager or not, whether to require or simply recommend ICMA affiliation or not, whether to put an Interim City Manager in place or not, how to do that or not, how involved Staff should be in evaluating resumes or not, and the list gets bigger every time this comes up on an agenda.
Then there's the constant rehash of decisions that have already been made, starting with whether or not it was a good idea to even fire Ms. Stanton. Innuendo abounds about whether or not this decision should have come "with cause" and a likely lawsuit. Recriminations resurface regularly about not hiring a headhunter, not following the advice of the ICMA affiliated Range Riders volunteers and having too many meetings or not enough meetings devoted to even more of this.
This pushme pullyou style of governance is by no means isolated to the hiring of a new City manager. The Beach and Casino leases come readily to mind as another recent example. Which brings me to the question: What good does it do to have a "majority", and I mean ANY majority when even after lengthy debate, input, interminable marathon meetings, call it what you want - we still never get in second gear without backsliding halfway down the mountain we started to climb? How many times are we going to get up against a deadline and suddenly realize we need a decision NOW, and then have to listen to a lot of complaining about having to make decisions at the last minute AGAIN.
Yes, we need a City Manager. HIRE one. We need an Internal Auditor. HIRE one. Because we need a new Utility Director too and the Commission doesn't have the authority to HIRE one of those. Whoever the new City Manager is will do that whenever we have one. It would be nice to have an Internal Auditor on board before then so that he/she could take a little looksee at the Utility Budget, progress on the exiting FMPA thing, the long range electric utility plan and how those big ticket items will affect what options the new City Manager has in operating this City.
We are 91 days into the latest reincarnation of the Lake Worth City Commission. The honeymoon, or whatever you want to call the last three months is over. It's time for the next State of the City address and I'm hoping for something more than another "Can't we all just get along?" kind of speech.
Despite all evidence to the contrary, made manifest in how our annual elections are conducted, the true vast majority of Lake Worth Residents live and die in that grey area where they don't really give a damn which "side" our elected representatives were elected by. They want the City to keep the lights on, answer the phones when they don't, lower the utility rates and taxes, keep the City clean and safe and once in a while, make a small donation to a worthy cause. And fireworks on the Fourth of July. We all like that a lot. Maybe because fireworks are colorful - not black and white.
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