March 4, 2009

Is this a good idea?

Mayor Tom Friedel is planning to start searching for a new city administrator. It's an interesting decision when mayoral candidates are questioning whether the city needs an administrator.

10 comments:

  1. Nix this. Bad idea. He is the "Interim" mayor. It can wait until a new mayor is elected. Even then, that is the mayor's job. We don't need a city administrator.

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  2. Obviously, Becker's Boys already know the outcome of the upcoming election. It's the rest of us that need to get a clue.

    This is the same arrogance that the City Council has displayed towards the citizens of Racine throughout Becker's tenure. They really, really don't give a damn what their constituents think.

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  3. Considering the short time to election, the high tax burden in relation to real property values, the economy: a smart leader should reconsider the need for the city administrator position. Maybe citizens will vote for mayoral candidates with strong management skills and political clout.

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  4. With 8 weeks (thereabout) until the election if Friedl does more than collect resumes he is overstepping his position.

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  5. Orbs -

    Please get some help. Small minded negative jerks like you are the reason Racine is sinking into oblivion.

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  6. Racine does not need to waist money on this. Who ever is mayor should do the job they are elected to do.

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  7. The search needs to be started now, because it easily may not come to fruition for some time, probably not until well after Friedel's tenure.
    Not including the possible costs of any legal expenses, the City Administrator position clearly paid for itself in $ saved by better administration. Nearly all the aldermen/city officials/employees agree on this.
    AND-with all the candidates for Mayor in this election, no one has a lock on this race. With the usually low turnout and a concerted grass roots effort, this race could easily come down to a hundred vote difference between 1st and 10th place. How anyone can claim the outcome is already known must be a conspiracy theorist of the highest degree...To get positive results you need to think positive...

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  8. The search is a waste of time and resources. The mayor needs to be strong enough to handle the position without an administrator. If they are not strong enough then they will not get my vote. I agree, they are an arogant lot.

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  9. Starting a search is a waste of time. Hiring a recruitment firm and doing the legwork costs thousands. And, if you start too early by the time the next mayor is elected, and IF they decide to fill the position, those candidates may have already moved on and gotten a job elsewhere.

    I completely disagree with flynnagcy on most of their post. Most employees and department heads I've personally talked to DO NOT agree the city administrator saved any money due to better administration. To the contrary actually.

    Perhaps with the right person in the position they could save money, I'm not sure. I think the city should sit back and wait on refilling that position until a later date, perhaps never.

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  10. The City of Racine is a billion dollar a year business-and it seems most of you would rather have a single person running it rather than a "board" or a team. The administrator's salary is a drop in the bucket compared to the entire budget-yes, it trickles down to us ultimately, but even if the administrator saved half his salary, he's reduced our costs, and done valuable other work besides...-by Friedel starting the search initially and someone else completing it, we have joint input on who should be picked-
    I do have to wonder why nearly every blogger on this site is so negative, and have to ask-what have you done to better Racine? Is your input limited to this blog?
    Each of these candidates cares about Racine enough to run-how about mentioning their positive attributes rather than the negative?

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