Don’t Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out
This email is making the rounds today. Debbie Russell makes the case for an even earlier Futrell exit…and maybe even a strong mayor form of government?
The email in its entirety after the jump:
First Thing’s First: Steps to a Healthy Democracy
By Debbie Russell
Toby Futrell must go. Now.
We have some work to do before we can even begin to search for her replacement, and her continued tenure will inhibit our tasks at hand.
Before searching for a new City Manager (“CM”); before crafting a profile of the candidate’s qualities, we need to collectively agree on the qualities we DON’T want to see repeated.
But even before we get there, we MUST, absolutely, first address the inherent structural deficiencies of our government that allow for the “conflicts of interests and dubious deals”* to occur in that office.
It’s a broken system that allows for way too many behind closed doors CM-driven negotiations that result in detrimental policies, some of which are white-washed with claims of public sanctioning by too-little/too-late hearings after deals are sealed. Harmful zoning variances to thug-developers, conflicts around the water treatment plant, questionable hirings and firings, police overtime that merely catered to union interests, corporate giveaways (to which even the League of Women Voters is now calling for investigation)…there are plenty of reasons that she shouldn’t be allowed to continue one more day to negotiate deals on behalf of the City that have long-reaching effects.
Our “council/manager” system has been corrupted so much so that the implied hierarchy has seemingly reversed itself; too much concentrated power lies with the CM. Too many top tier staff and key citizen liaison positions (like the Citizen Review Panelists) are appointed by, and accountable only to, the CM vs. by/to the mayor and council who are accountable-at-the-ballot. The CM, not council or better yet an independent body, oversees the auditor’s office (that’s like asking polluters to self monitor their output). Her tight-fisted control over the City’s police meet and confer process is really the poster-child of the need for a restructuring of power.
The mayor’s assertion that our increasingly unpopular CM needs to train the new hire shows how wracked our system really is. Do we really want her holding the new hire’s hand during the next budget process, effectively leading it? Should she even be involved in THIS budget process in its last stages? Such hand-holding would undercut the new hire’s authority to assume leadership within the department.
We didn’t ask Stan Knee to stick around to “train” Art Acevedo! A true leader DOESN’T need the help (or the interference).
We need to place an interim/acting CM immediately and that person can pass the reigns to the new hire. How can we in good faith call for a new City leader that is committed to “endless democracy” when, in fact, we have failed to launch an investigation and seek judicial or administrative resolution?
The Mayor’s statement that the community’s role in the search will be “diminished” (in comparison to the police chief search) is an insult to the City he represents that has suffered under her tenure and due to his failure to hold her accountable. It would seem he and Council need the community’s support now more than ever.
If we don’t stand tough, together, in times of change and make the hard calls when conflicts arise, then we are not the City -not the democracy- we claim to be.
So, in summary, the steps to a healthy democracy:
1–End Toby Futrell’s reign NOW. Appoint an interim CM who can’t be connected to “conflicts of interests and dubious deals.”
2–Encourage and take seriously public input on possible creative structural changes we can make to improve the office of the CM.
3–Look at the qualities in the current CM that were a detriment to “endless democracy” in Austin and create a profile for the candidate that reflects otherwise.
4–Search away!
*Wells Dunbar, A-Chron
Posted on August 27, 2007 – 5:58 pm by APR