SLT council can’t even agree on firm to find city manager
By Kathryn Reed
Along familiar lines, it was a 3-2 vote by the South Lake Tahoe City Council to pick the firm to handle the search for the next city manager.
With Dave Jinkens calling it quits when his contract expires in August, the council needs someone to replace him. The group had previously agreed to spend no more than $15,000 to hire a headhunter to whittle the applicants to a manageable pool.
Two firms made presentations Tuesday, with Bob Murray & Associates wining out over Peckham/McKenney.
Councilmen Jerry Birdwell and Bill Crawford cast the dissenting votes.
“I don’t think we interviewed enough people. I didn’t see the necessity to rush in (to a contract),” Birdwell said.
He would have preferred having time to digest what the candidates said instead of making a decision on the spot.
Crawford is less than thrilled with the job Murray has done in the past. Murray brought Jinkens and former City Manager Dave Childs to the forefront for consideration.
“Murray is too slick,” Crawford said.
During his presentation Murray said he would try to meet that day’s deadline for the May issue of “Western Cities” trade publication to get an ad out for the city manager job.
Crawford questions the need to have someone else do it when the city handled the ad in the same publication when it sought two city attorneys without the assistance of a headhunter.
Murray said it’s possible the council could be interviewing candidates in 90 days, with someone seated a month later.
They need a “head hunter” so if the new manager stinks, it’s not their fault and they can furlough more employees to cover the cost.
Ahhh, another Consultant to pay!! More taxpayer money for them to waste! Two honest Council people with no hidden agendas! You’d think those other three would at least once make an attempt to reach out to them!
But Hold It! This firm brought them Jinkens, who clearly does their bidding! Just look at the recent Greco matter, let alone the past Lovell matters!! Now I see why the three so badly want to use this firm again!!
The only thing they alway agree on is: “recess,eating lunch,leaving town”.
The question that needs to be resolved is not who should get the head-hunter job. The real issue is , if you were a qualified city manager, would you want to work in South Lake Tahoe.
The SLT city council if going to need all the professional help it can get to find a city mamager now, and maybe a Ring Master to run the Circus. With the way the council treats each other there is no way a good manager would want to be associated with them.
Thank God there is an election coming up. Hopefully the voters will make some major changes and someone new will throw
hat into the ring. I will bet you the attendance goes way up for the meetings