-- Former mayor Gary Becker was sent to prison last week.
-- Former City Administrator Ben Hughes (left) -- who resigned a month after Becker's arrest in January 2009 -- is about to get a new job. The City Council of St. Clair Shores, Michigan -- a suburb of Detroit -- voted 7-0 tonight to hire Hughes as City Manager.
Well, technically; the vote was to make a conditional offer to Hughes on Wednesday. If he accepts, Hughes will be replacing a retiring city manager, Kenneth Podolski, 60, whose contract expires June 30 -- "not one who was caught with four hookers," in the words of a Detroit Free Press contact. (Apparently they have mayoral problems in Detroit as well -- i.e., the continuing case of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's sexual misconduct is still in the news there.) Update: Hughes tells us he is definitely going to accept the job, and expects to start work in St. Clair Shores on March 22.
A national search produced 50 candidates; the final four were interviewed by the council on Saturday. Others interviewed, according to the Free Press, were Ann Capela, city manager of Inkster, MI; Grant Kleinhenz, city manager of Centralia, IL., and James Payne, former city manager of Rio Rancho, NM.
St.Clair Shores is slightly smaller than Racine: The 2000 Census said it has a population of 63,096. (Racine's is 80,806.) It is located 13 miles northeast of downtown Detroit, in Macomb County, on the shore of Lake St. Clair. It also is just 21 miles from Dearborn, where Hughes' siblings and family live.
Hughes, 36, began work here on Oct. 1, 2007. He resigned on Feb. 16, 2009. He holds both a B.A. and a Master's degree in public administration.
Good riddance.
ReplyDeleteBoth of them give me the heebie jeebies. That picture just about made me choke on my coffee.
ReplyDeleteCongrats Ben. I wish you the best in your career. Keep your head up and let the past be the past. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
ReplyDeleteJust what don't people get??!! With a track record like his, his resume would surely be one of the first to hit the circular file! Watch out, ladies.
ReplyDeleteIf he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, I guess he was in a couple of wrong places at the wrong times.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope for this city's sake he doesn't end up in any more wrong places.
Pete and Justin - you guys are disgusting - showing the photograph of Ben with Becker. If one of you guys was caught up in a child enticement case, would you like to have your photograph published with the convicted of the two of you. What the hell is your point? For christ sake leave Ben to move on without the continued tie to Becker - he had nothing to do with what Becker did. This coverage is totaly unacceptable! You should be ashammed of yourselves.
ReplyDeleteAnon 8:30 - chill out. They are thankfully both past history.
ReplyDeleteWe cropped in on the photo. Thanks for the feedback. You're right, no point linking Hughes to Becker any more.
ReplyDeleteGood luck Ben... you deserve some good news!
ReplyDeleteBen is a great guy and I wish him the best. Congrats.
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ReplyDeleteRacine Post editors - The comment at 9:58 needs to be deleted.
ReplyDeleteDustin - I take back my comments - thanks for adjusting the photo. This was the right thing to do.
ReplyDeleteFinally the guy can move on with his life. The rail-roading he got was terrible! Nobody could beat up on Becker, so they attacked Ben next. Typical politicians. Too bad.....
ReplyDeleteIs he going to take Cole with him too? They can move in with the Tingles.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Ben. Thanks for your attempts to actually hold city workers accountable for their performance, and best of luck in your next gig.
ReplyDeleteNo anon 12:06 and anon 12:15 - Hughes had his own issues totally seperate from Becker.
ReplyDeleteThose of us who really know the guy are grateful he's moving on.
I am sure he'd like people to think he was simply holding people accountable, but that's just not the case here.
Let's just see what happens in the future, I suspect we will be hearing about him again. I do agree that he could indeed use the best of luck in his new gig.
He may have been trying to keep people accountable but he sure had no concept of procedures or protocol. He was also lacking the ability to empathize with people. Dustin will probably delete this post but the people who worked at city hall knew what the situation was like. It is difficult to manage people if they don't trust you.
ReplyDeleteHopefully this is the last article on Ben. Both Ben and Racine need to move on. The press needs to leave him alone to start over and Ben needs to let go of the issues that he had here.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if we never heard about Gary again, but that would be too good to be true. I'm sure we will hear about Gary's return after prison, his new job fixing houses or selling underwear and about every time he sets foot in a womens store. I hope he moves to some other town when he gets out in somewhere like Alaska.
I'm delighted for Ben and his new wife. They deserve better than the hate-mongering here in Racine.
ReplyDeleteBen is a superb guy who is getting the results he deserves. Good things do happen to good people and the good part about the past situation is that it will only make him stronger for the future.
ReplyDeleteBen a supurb guy? Hahahahaa! One thing I will say - I am glad he's going and he can't go soon enough.
ReplyDeleteI am very "close" to someone at city hall and have heard about all the inside problems there with Hughes too.
Time to move on and track another former government employee. After reading about the latest scandal tied directly to Caledonia police chief I would assume he will be gone soon. It was his admitted decision to try to get a 25% raise for a long time pet employee. Now he has admitted to cutting checks to employee's friends to avoid paying taxes.
ReplyDeleteIf Chief Meier doesn't step down this week for likely illegal payments and general bad decision making he should be fired next week. The two officers involved should be fired too. Wow I just gave Caledonia three open positions to help their budget situation and I don't even live in Caledonia.
The latest Caledonia news about the two actions by the chief along with the conduct of some Racine and Mt Pleasant elected official tells you how bad things are in local government right now. These people don't seem to understand how bad these things look to those of us who pay the bills.
Found Anon 4:43's comment of "but he sure had no concept of procedures or protocol" quite amusing. Yup, no doubt that's a city government employee.
ReplyDeletePete and Dustin,
ReplyDeleteWe need a new topic for the Caledonia situation. It should be about conflict of interest (paying a cop to fix cop cars) and the rule of law versus municipal arrogance (social security payments, state income tax & federal income tax).
Anon 11:33 you and your close buddy gossip about him and you take that to be reliable information. Sad.
ReplyDeleteHe is a good guy. I was glad to spend time with him, working and helping others. He will be missed.
Our neighborhood certainly will miss him, more so than a certain purple victorian house's residents.
I liked Ben - the problem is that city employees don't like accountability. They were never held to a higher level of performance before Ben came to town. I hope the city employees have not gone back to their lazical ways.
ReplyDeleteI knew Hughes, probably better than most of these bloggers.
ReplyDeleteYes on the surface, he is likeable, friendly, energetic.
However, I saw another side of him that I am sure others here blogging did not.
Don't let facades fool you - generally when someone seems too good to be true - they are.
And the comments about city employees are just way out of line. Yes I know some that are better workers than others, but overall the city has some great employees.
Ben Hughes did not get himself in trouble because he was trying to hold people to a higher standard - there were so many other factors involved that would not be appropriate to get into on a public blog.
Have any of you supporting Mr. Hughes ever gotten a solid answer as to why he resigned? I can already answer that for you, NO you haven't.
I worked with him also - and the employees were not held to a high standard prior to him coming on board - so don't act like you know it all. Most of the employees are lazy - they have an entitlement mentality - something for nothing.
ReplyDeleteWhether you assume some employees are "lazy" or not it had nothing to do with the issues surrounding Ben Hughes.
ReplyDeleteSo please don't act like YOU know it all anon 1:38, because it is obvious you don't.
I wouldn't be surprised if anon 1:38 is Mr or Mrs Hughes themselves.
Sorry 1:53 - you are wrong on so many levels. If you know so many bad things about Ben, let's hear it. He's gone now and has a job so let's hear it. It is so easy to make leading comments out here with nothing to back it up.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 2:43 - actually I have to agree with the poster at 1:53. There were some problems. I doubt a person who knows him casually would experience them, but yes definitely. I think the poster at 1:20 pm today explains it better than I can.
ReplyDeleteAnd even though I don't like the guy, I don't feel right posting specific explanations here for the world to read.
Sorry guys and or girls - don't make leading comments about anyone, if you are not willing to site examples. Otherwise what's the point. I suggest you put your head on straight. Or is it - I know something that you don't, grow up!
ReplyDeleteI think everyone makes leading comments about almost everyone on the blogs don't they?
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I want to say about the former City Administrator is that I was glad when he resigned. There's plenty of talk as to why he resigned, but I don't care one way or another about that. I was just glad when he left.
And no, I am not a lazy or worthless employee - I do my job well and always have. Hughes just did not know how to handle employees in my opinion. I figured it was some sort of Napolean complex, but then I'm not a psychology major.
If you want more details I suggest talking with the city attorney or the alerman.
Hey Hughes dont let the door hit you on the way out.
ReplyDelete4:36 - why should I ask the alderman - you were the one that made the comments.
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ReplyDeleteOh drats, that post was deleted before I got to see it....
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ReplyDeleteJason, I heard about the problems with the investment through the grapevine. I'm not one to instantly believe rumors I hear though, particularly negative ones as I know how things can get embellished along the way. It's too bad everyone doesn't realize that.
ReplyDeleteI for one know of several pink/purple Victorian houses in the historic district and they are all unique and beautiful. Those that think otherwise have no appreciation for history or architecture, so don't worry about the ignorance of bloggers.
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ReplyDeleteWhy were Jason's posts deleted? I read them, and they didn't have anything wrong with them.
ReplyDeleteThe writer asked us to remove his comments.
ReplyDeletei would like to know more of ben hughes
ReplyDeleteWell you guys seem to be right about hearing about Ben Hughes again one day.... :
ReplyDeletehttp://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121108/METRO03/211080456/1014/metro03/Former-St-Clair-Shores-official-hospitalized-self-inflicted-gunshot-wound