Ok, looks like the blog is working now. I am still in Tennessee, but should be home by the weekend. This area of the mountains is like a big city now. Traffic is awful. But then, im used to ark city traffic now...
Anyways, I saw in Brand-X that Lane Massey had a "secret" severance package drawn up even before Archer left. Im not so sure that is a real conspiracy though. The package was probably there in his contract just like it was for Archer.He would have gotten that money anyways.
The problem I have with all this is the total money being spent. Massey is getting around 40 grand and Archer is as well. With other expenses, paying a temporary CM, and costs involved with finding new people .. this thing could get to $100,000.
And for what reason?
is it worth $100,000 to change the leaders of administration?
All of this was in executive session, so other than the fact that commissioners were unhappy, we don't know what exactly they were unhappy about.
As a casual observer, it is hard to see how either of them were doing such an awful job...
We will see who replaces them, and whether it was worth it, but it will be a couple years before we know for sure.
Its going to be real interesting to see what happens there.
James, you're weird.
ReplyDeleteWhy you chose to cast this as "what it cost" to make administrative changes is beyond my comprehension.
$100K, if that is the final number (and I think it will be notably more) is NOT what it cost. That is what a rogue lame duck City Manager chose to give to his departing friends.
It is fitting that his real Achilles was that he could not separate his personal connections from professional accountability. He simply could not tell his friends "no."
In fact, he could have released any of them with nothing more than two weeks pay. The Director of Administration terminated more than one of his subordinates and then made them essentially beg for severance. He contested their unemployment. He was totally unfeeling towards their human plight.
To now suppose that this is some fixed and non-negotiable cost is simply ludicrous. In fact, most City Managers do not have an exit package comparable to the perks afforded Mr. Massey. Archer's actions (while legal) were unconscionable and, ultimately, demonstrate why he was NOT selected through a valid process, was not recruited by any other city for the many years he sought the office of City Manager and explains why he was a last minute pick by the previous commission.
He clearly was not City Manager material and his abuse of tax payer dollars to act out his punitive hostility towards the commission for firing him should be made into a legacy for his family.
Steve Archer: Stole from the poor and gave to the pathetic!
It does not cost $100K to change administration or to fix the disservice at City Hall. It cost the taxpayers $00K or better to recover from a lack of integrity and honesty inside that building.
Edited: (Hey Massey probably thinks I need a few hundred thousand dollars worth of software to correct that error!)
ReplyDeleteIt cost the taxpayers $100K or better to recover from a lack of integrity and honesty inside that building.
From the Travelers E-edition article:
ReplyDeleteUnlike Archer's separation agreement, Massey did not waive his right to sue the city or seek additional damages.
No there's the little bullet that can make things even more expensive!
Btw: It's only taxpayer money and there is probably a lot more where that came from - just needed one more reason to Take it!
Gee, I paid taxes all my life to the State of Kansas and it's entities!
Where is my "bailout" or "sweet deal"?
Hate to say: but, Brand X has writeup (complete w/pdx file from City) Looks to me like it wasn't "package was probably there in his contract just like it was for Archer." nope, at least the way i read it.
ReplyDeleteI would like to give my professional anonymous opinion of the latest few weeks at City Hall. "WHAT A MESS!!!" Leadership? Integrity? Missappropriation of taxpayer $$? I could go on. C'mon, $40,000.00 severance? That's more than I made the whole year in 2010. And they just throw it away like it doesn't matter. I have lost faith in Arkansas City Hall. Can somebody help me?
In a recent Courier article regarding the performance review of Winfield's City Manager Warren Poter. Commissioner Phil Jarvis stated that Porter refused a raise to his $100,000
ReplyDeletesalary.
He (Jarvis) stated that Porter refused a raise due to the fact the city was under a hiring and wage freeze and he wanted to be treated the same as all the other employees!
What difference in how two towns operate only 12 miles apart!
I wonder if that new Interim City Manager knows what he got himself into NOW!
ReplyDeleteI thought there was a rule in place about commissioners frequenting the local blogs. Kuhn has been dishing out his usual hate in the newscow comments section of the article about this, and that first post on this page reads an awful lot like a certain "smelly" commissioner as well.
ReplyDeleteThis whole mess seems to stem from the commissioners trying to micromanage everyone and everything in the city (especially Kuhn and Smith) and they are the reason the money is being spent. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that if they didn't run off city managers and Department managers every couple of years (months), these severence packages would not be an issue.
There is no rule, but there was an agreement informally in a worksession.
ReplyDeleteAll the commissioners, and some dept heads, say they dont read the blogs ... but they know when someone said something about them.
I was really thinking about running, but ... im having severe second thoughts.
Well, Kuhn has definitely gone against the agreement by posting on the newscow website and telling people to "mind [their] own business" when they question him.
ReplyDeleteSome of you miss the point, the boat, the ship everything.
ReplyDeleteThis is not about the commission this is about a rouge couple of staff members and the city manager taking care of his friends. This is about your tax dollars been giving out to a few of the CM friend's because he had a big pen and didn't think they would ever get caught! Well they got caught.
I don't want my tax dollars to be spent this way.
I don't care if Kuhn talks on a blog, or McDonald talks in the paper, or Smith makes a phone call, or Warren talks at a party, or even if Snell got a bullhorn and yelled from the street corner, I want the wastefull spending of my tax dollars stopped. Your tax dollars and mine were given to a select few friends and they laughed all the way to bank.
But they got caught!