South Tahoe city manager on the road interviewing for jobs
By Kathryn Reed
Halfway into his three-year contract with South Lake Tahoe, Tony O’Rourke is looking for another job.
He has been out of the office quite a bit in a quest to move on. He says the decision has more to do with his family than it does professional reasons.
Tony O'Rourke
“For the long term I need to find a solution to this personal issue,” O’Rourke, 57, told Lake Tahoe News.
Today and Wednesday he is in Medford interviewing to be city manager of that Southern Oregon town. He is one of four finalists for the job.
O’Rourke started with South Tahoe in August 2010 with a salary of $175,000.
The Medford job pays between $138,000 and $152,000 a year, plus benefits.
O’Rourke has informed the entire South Lake Tahoe City Council about his need to move someplace else. He said a number of cities have approached him about leading their community, but geographically they don’t all meet his family’s needs.
Mayor Claire Fortier said the council would prefer O’Rourke stays, but understands the reasons he wants to move on.
“Tony has been a very, very effective city manager; doing the things we needed done,” Fortier said.
While O’Rourke’s review has been on the closed session agenda since last fall, this council has yet to formally critique him. Fortier said the council individually reviewed him, she gathered their input and that O’Rourke then did a self-analysis. She said the council has been waiting to all be together to go over the review with O’Rourke, which could be at the April 17 meeting. However, by then it might not matter because he could be submitting his resignation letter.
While he is out of town, Nancy Kerry does his job — despite not having the title of assistant city manager — just the responsibility.
And we are paying him while he is out looking for another job? Just fire him.
It pays less and he still wants the job? Shows we overpay and O’Rourke must really hate it here! Yeah just let him go now!
Oh, for CRYING OUT LOUD!!!!!! Am I the only one who saw this coming months ago?? This is his M.O., come to a small town, screw it all up, fire the people that make up the infrastructure, and get paid $#itloads of money to do it, then bail out to another place to do the same thing all over again..NO SOUL, NO HEART, NO CONSCIENCE….Stupid City Council Members who do not listen to the people in this town, you ALL are to blame for this situation, but then I am sure you got your cash, and perks…how you all sleep at night is beyond me……..
Catlapper, have you ever had to balance a budget for a business before? Where was the city supposed to get the money to pay salaries?
Just tells you how bad this Screwed up city really is.
No one wants to work for agencies that want the cake ,eat it to!
Place is so covered up in ligation and old screws they don’t want be part of it.
Let the Retreads take the blame.HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU SEEN THIS?
Impossible to improve this town while working in a vacuum with bunch ignorant know it all creating more problems they can fix.
They need to fix the last 10 years of ideas let the eggs hatch on their own with all the plans for the future Super Tahoe South ideology BS.
Wishing for a breeze………….wow, so much negativity! Less pay generally means a lower cost of living. Tahoe is an expensive place and in order to attract good talent you have to compensate at the going market rate for your area. Don’t forget, Tony didn’t get a chance to create much because he inherited much that needed fixing………just saying…..here’s my question….why are the same guys who got us into the “hole in the ground” mess now working on it ….. again….here’s wishing for that breeze
He said “He has been out of the office quite a bit in a quest to move on. He says the decision has more to do with his family than it does professional reasons.” You all know I’m not one of his biggest fans but- You know family comes first lets give him a chance to explain.
Dear “John”, You ask “where was the city supposed to get the money to pay salaries?” Well, they could have begun, by not having such high salaries for the upper management. High salaries, expense accounts, travel allotments, etc. The employees that really run the city are the ones that get paid the least..the cutbacks that were done were in the wrong departments and to the wrong people. It’s not “Rocket Science” to balance a budget, just Common Sense and no bull$#it, back door kickbacks and closed door sessions. Listening to creative ideas from the community would be a big help to the City–contrary to what some believe we are not stupid sheep out here…
catlapper,
interesting name…
You are right balancing a budget isn’t rocket science, especially a government budget compared to a private business budget where you also have to please the customer while living within your budget.
k9, those of us in the private sector are willing to make less so we can live in Tahoe! And even with overpaying, our City government’s structural problems clearly illustrates that we haven’t brought in ‘good talent’!
This shows how much Tahoe sucks and ignorant you people are for staying there. These people could care less about any of you. If they had it there way, you would all be in their jail on trumped up charges. You should have listened to me over the years. Tahoe is doomed because of all the corruption. Watch out corrupt idiots. The time is coming for your downfall.
SLT will look really bad on his resume. That’s why he’s trying to get out NOW before it gets even worse. And it probably will.
So in the meantime, does he have to give back all the money we gave him to move himself and his family here, all the other little percs and time away from the office searching for greener pastures? I thought not. Our city attorney isn’t smart enough to write up a contract that actually benefits the city and its residents.
Come to think of it, why do we even HAVE contracts? Nobody honors theirs anymore. A man’s promise used to mean something, even if it caused him some discomfort. No longer. No honor.
So. Tahoe job will look great on his resume. Less gov’t people will Love this guy. He’ll sell out your town Too. According to our Mayor, “Tony has been a very, very effective city manager; doing the things we needed done,” He came, He saw, He fired…Privatize everything and eliminate gov’t and everything will be swell. “Me the People” personal responsibility. Ron Paul/Bachman ’12 and Good Luck Tony in your next libertarian conquest!
Serious and sober thought should be given to dissolving the city at this time. Turn everything over to the county. End all the unnecessary city duplicity and higher city taxes. Tahoe City and Incline Village do just fine managed by their respective counties. One can only imagine Nancy “Snow Globe” Kerry being in charge.
Hopefully, this is the end of a year-and-a-half blunder made by our City Council by selecting O’Rourke. Irrepairable damage to the city has occurred under his leadership. Now we can look forward to the next Council election to replace some of the architects of this blunder. Condolences to Medford.
Will be interesting to see how this ends up after he leaves. Does he have some sort of golden parachute financial arrangement? Will the city deduct from his pay for time spent searching for a new job and not doing SLT’s business?
This all gives me more than a “slight headache” Tony. Hasta la vista baby.
And sam, you should learn the difference between ‘there’ and ‘their’ before calling other people ignorant.
p.s. Steve,
Nancy Kerry was the one who had to take the heat for SnowGlobe while Tony boy was ‘out of town’. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Nancy and know her to be a very competent, compassionate public servant. SLT would be lucky to have her take O’Rourkes place.
ONE LOUD MUSIC EVENT HAS NO BEARING ON THIS COMMUNITY REALITY ,BLUNDERS.
IT’S IT OWN WORSE ENEMY.
Steve, the county wouldn’t want this place back.
You have to deal with too many layers of government agencies ,that’s the real problem.A real morphodite of political characters that can’t tell one from the other.
Medford had a population on July 1, 2011 of 75,180 – more than 3 times that of South Lake Tahoe. Why, then does South Lake Tahoe pay a salary so much higher than the same position in Medford.
This city’s residents have been duped by its politicians into one debacle after another.
City attorney, head of TRPA, Lahonton,Chief of Police, two City Managers, Sheriff, Fire Chiefs…etc.
Anyone that can read a budget knows the game is up. Get out now try for early retirement before the BK.
Steve,
“If ignorance is a crime, I guess this town guilty, “I would have to argue you get what you pay for”.
Our town will not go after misapprobation of funds; citizen has a right to ask public agencies for an accounting of their taxpayer-funded salaries and other compensation. That goes for any public employee—from the city manager and council members to any teacher or librarian.
When money was moved from the general fund for garage I have to put that in the same category as thief of the residents, SOMEONE knew all too well what they were doing and knew they had to keep it secret. And if anyone was bold enough to uncover it, it was some of our folks, but little old community just” Trust” little old Whomever and the taxes payers don’t seem to mind.
They won’t recall anyone for the sake of embarrassment being” Exposed”.
Do we really need this costly extra layer of government? The city formed in 1965, in part to build sidewalks on Highway 50. We can all see how successful they have been at that. Honestly, except for city fees, taxes and bureaucracy, what does the City provide that El Dorado County can’t?
Gus, you answered your own question: What does the city provide that the county can’t?
That extra layer of government. (and expense)
First thing that comes to mind is the college president whatever his name was, “oh, I’ll be here for the long term.”
Leaves within months of being hired.
Now, O’ Take$$$andRun says “a number of cities have approached him about leading their community, but geographically they don’t all meet his family’s needs.”
Really?
He just now realized Tahoe is in the mountains?
And who lines up and clamors to get a guy who signs a contract and bails 1/2 into it? Where do I sign up for these jobs?
Either this area has problems WAY deeper than I will ever know, or, the people in charge of hiring really have no clue what they are doing. Possibly both and it’s a pity.
PLEASE DON’T LET NANCY KERRY BE THE NEXT CM!
While City Attorney, I routinely advised that the salary structure here was significantly higher than other cities, as well as comparable areas of the private sector where I had worked (A small law firm in Del Mar California hired a fifth year attorney for less than the Legal Assistant at CLST was paid). Yet, Human Resources kept referring to a “study” that justified the salaries paid here. O’Rourke refused to come unless the City Council agreed to a much higher salary than advertised, which, for some reason the Council did fully knowing the state of the budget. Yet, shortly thereafter, the same budget was referred to in order to justify laying off many long-time public servants while granting raises to those they kept, along with raises to the City Attorney and a car allowance. There’s money there if they want to use it. There’s not, if they do not. The one effort to privitize caused huge financial impacts to the City because noone paid attention to bond covenants. It is as bad as you think, and worse when you really know what actually goes on.
It appears the city’s hired hatchet man is looking for a new town to gut. Good riddance.
If he has problems at home it’s not going to help moving. There’s nowhere to run from a bad marriage Tony.
The Reno person doing Nancy Kerry’s job, makes half the salary Nancy does. Do we really need to give a raise to an unqualified interim person who is already complaining? It would be interesting to add up the city’s debt that Mr. O’Rourke has added to while getting rid of so many employees and chopping away at it’s health care and retirement benefits. It would also be interesting to add up his monthly city credit card charges that are paid by the city, just so we will have a true picture of the actual cost of this manager and what we might like to trim down on for the next one. Why don’t we start at the top for these next cuts? I think it would also be interesting to see how many pay raises Nancy Kerry has had since Tony O’Rourke took office and what they amount to. I just can’t believe she is complaining.
I’ve never read a complaint from Nancy. What are you talking about? Do you know how many job titles that woman has? Do you know she took over the airport and IT responsibilities when Vuletich left? Do you know she does the job of ACM but without the title or pay?
The speculative comments that individuals post to this site as fact are truly astounding. I’d be willing to bet there isn’t a single poster who is actually privy to what the real circumstance is with Mr. O’Rourke’s family that has precipitated his need to leave SLT. Not liking the man is one thing; posting uninformed, untruths as fact is something else entirely different, but that practice is commonplace for many posters on this site. My hope is that the venomous uniformed who post here comprise a very small percentage of people in our community.
OK folks, feel free to take your pot shots at me now too.
4-mer-usmc….. You’re right. Too many comments without real information. Not just on this topic but most of them. In this case, the public doesn’t have the right to know about a city employees personal situation. The city council, his employer, sounds like they are informed and dealing with his and their problem appropriately.
Here’s what we do know from this story-#1 Our city over pays its management. And yet always cries that it’s broke!
#2 Our current City Manager isn’t looking to go home to Colorado to be with his family. He’s looking to be anywhere but here! That’s his free choice! But if Mr. O’Rourke doesn’t want to be here anymore, he should no longer be in a position to make any decisions about our City’s future. And, if he’s not willing to honor his end of the contract, why should our City feel obligated to honor its end?
Parker,
One would need to believe that this story contains 100% of every germane detail related to this matter. I don’t think that O’Rourke would share every private detail of his personal circumstances with a journalistic acquaintance, and your comment that O’Rourke “isn’t looking to go home to Colorado to be with his family” further demonstrates my point regarding unfounded assumptions frequently peppered with venomous annotations.
Parker, you need to put the heat on the city council. Other than Fortier’s generic political comments, what does the rest of them have to say. The silence is deafening. Where are Cole, Greggo, Swanson and Davis’s thoughts.
I suspect that you are right and he wants out of here. He is not a stupid guy and probably figures implementing menaingful change from here forward will like pushing a 1 ton ball uphill.
All the people bashing him need to remember that he takes direction from the city council. All the orginizatinal changes could not have been made without their blessing. No one should be mad at him. He did what this current council wanted done. I am sure he is as frustrated as everyone in town is with our lack of progress.
If O’Rourke doesn’t get the Medford job, does he get to stay on the payroll while he continues his job search?
You’re ok with that?
Mr. O’Rourke is the best thing to happen to South Lake Tahoe in a long time. The community’s rudeness, feeling of entitlement and the inability to change has made Mr.O’Rourke wanting to find a community who feels the glass is half full, not empty.
You’re kidding, right?
I agree with Joy.
But it is kind of ironic that Tony was going to lead the ad hock committee when they told the lenders on the hole to get their act together.
4mer & advocate— Right on!
Now is the time for the City Council too be rescued and redeemed. It’s Miller Time bring back Kerry.
that was one heck of a party the good old gang thru.
4-mer, I’m not being venomous! Note I’m not commenting positively or negatively on the CM’s job performance. And I didn’t say we know every detail the CM’s desire to leave! If you believe the facts that are in the story (and if you don’t, complain to LTN!), we know the CM is looking to leave. But to no place in particular. When someone’s heart is no longer in their job, they should leave it! Especially at the CM’s very high and taxpayer funded!, salary!
Parker,
The City Manager’s job performance was not the issue. You said “Our current City Manager isn’t looking to go home to Colorado to be with his family” inferring that either he didn’t want to be with them or they didn’t want him there. That is a negative and venomous assumption and comment. (Venemous: Full of or containing venom; malicious; spiteful.) And if you choose to believe everything you read without question that is your prerogative. I however choose not to believe what I read until I’ve performed my own due diligence, since often what is written is subjective.
yo Sarge 99% of the town does not like old Tony
5 people do and they sit on the city council
I personaly thought that David Jenkins got the job done
but it seems people didn’t like that either
Yo Slow:
People don’t have to like O’Rourke, but my comments aren’t regarding a City Manager popularity contest. I don’t think people should get away with dispensing unsubstantiated comments as fact, and as far as David Jinkens goes, his tenure with the City ended because of venomous untruths by certain Councilmembers who wanted him out of the City Manager job. That my friend is what can happen when people dispense venomous untruths and get away with it.
Not a Sarge.
Again no venom in the comment! You’re not a mind reader 4-mer! I’m just using logic! The CM is not looking to move to be with a particular family member, or since his family is not here, to get away from one. Just like one shouldn’t believe everything they read, they shouldn’t insert info. in a story unless they have facts otherwise.
If what I just said was inaccurate, please come forth with your info! I’ll comment on the info. in the story and other known facts! And our City shouldn’t be treated like some cheap date, and allow the CM to shop around while we pay him. And then let him ditch us when he finds what he’s looking for!
Parker,
Direct quote from the above reported article by Ms. Reed:
“O’Rourke has informed the entire South Lake Tahoe City Council about his need to move someplace else. He said a number of cities have approached him about leading their community, but geographically they don’t all meet his family’s needs.”
I think the comment about other cities not geographically meeting his family’s needs speaks volumes. This type of comment might make me wonder if there may be a health issue involved requiring living at a lower elevation. But that’s just how my logic operates.
Speaking mind reading abilities, how do you know that “The CM is not looking to move to be with a particular family member, or since his family is not here, to get away from one.” Was that logic, inserting information, or mind reading?
Well Mr. O’Rourke came here from the Vail, Co area. And his family stayed there when he came here. So not mind reading or inserting information, just using logic-There can’t be an altitude (or snow problem) with a family member!
What’s also known is, he wants out. I’m not saying that’s good or bad for the town. Just saying the taxpayers shouldn’t pay his generous while he goes on a search and isn’t into doing the job here!
That’s a taxpayer commenting without personal ‘venom’. Just looking out for my tax dollars!
Since Tony is leaving before he has met his contractual obligation, how much money does he get as a severance? I would hope the City Attorney was savvy enough to make sure that he doesn’t get a dime as severance unless he meets his commitment in full expecially since he is job shopping (hopefully not on the clock).
We need to make sure that our next city manager is truly a leader and is committed to working together with this community so we can move forward. Our town is in serious trouble and we can’t waste time on him. Let’s focus on being positive and working together and get this town going – we need to get rid of the silo’s and all work together towards being a community.
jm
GOOD LUCK MEDFORD!
The City Manager is leaving for personal reasons? What sort of personal reasons? Perhaps it is because his wife and family have NEVER lived here during the entire time he has been destroying our town!!! Or is it because he refers to our town as a “crappy little town that he would never live in!!”
Odds are he will run out of here with a fat severance that he gets whether he leaves on his own or is fired! How can he possibly go wrong???
He gets rid of a majority of the city workforce, spends lavishly on things such as unneeded lighted Christmas trees (while people are being laid off), garage doors at the airport so he can hide his personal vehicle from being vandalized and it looks like his current salary is off the charts! I’d LOVE to see that salary schedule!!
How long exactly has he been looking for a new job??? Since the day he accepted the position here??? Good Riddance O’Rourke!!
That is what is wrong with our government today. There is no real leadership! People need to honor their commitments!!
Parker,
Actually O’Rourke’s family did come to Tahoe but his spouse left behind an established, successful business in Vail and had no success in establishing a new business in Tahoe so she returned to Vail and her business and I would assume their child returned to the former school they attended. His comment that other cities did not geographically meet his family’s needs specifies his family, not just him, thus my assumption (yes, assumption) that he’s considering his family in this decision. And just because someone’s had no problem with altitude at one time in their life doesn’t mean it doesn’t bother them at a later time—especially as they get older. O’Rourke is leaving a position where he makes considerably more money than Medford, OR is willing to pay, the really hard part of his job in Tahoe is fairly much behind him, plus, have you ever been to Medford, OR—it isn’t Tahoe!
When looking for a new job people use up their vacation time when they’re away from the office interviewing and when they come back they go back to their existing job, and get paid to do their work until they’re hired elsewhere, then they give their notice and leave their position. That’s just how things are done.
My impression of O’Rourke is that he’s a pragmatic person who’s not afraid to do the unpleasant job, he’s not a quitter, and he’s not a coward. He knew going into it that this job in SLT would be a dirty mess and he’d likely be the most unpopular person in town—but he had the guts to do the job he’d accepted and was being paid to do.
Parker, this is something on which you and I will just have to agree to disagree.
Everyone should respect Mr. O’Rourke for his ability to not give a rush about any of his actions here in town? It takes a certain sociopathic personality to be a “Me the People” tool. Pragmatic? I would say more like corporate whore.
Medford…The mayor and council members are not paid, but are reimbursed for expenses.
Why don’t we try that?
What we have on display, unfortunately, once again, is the demonstration of what is inherently destructive about this community. Personal attacks about a person’s family or reasons about one’s personal choice are all dished about as fodder for a few resentful people. What are we resentful of?
Who among us could withstand these types of venomous writings? Whom among us could withstand the peering in into our lives and our personal choices about why we took a job or didn’t or our family or personal reasons. Unfortunately, the kind of behavior in these postings is all too common in the community.
We’ve attacked with descriptive ridicule the head of chambers, business groups, every government organization or quasi government (plenty of those). We “go after” those people with distain, most having never personally met many of them. We “go after” any cracks in a character or personality. And when there is an obvious character flaw or weakness, forget about it, plenty will stand up to throw all they got to take the person out.
Who would come to work for us then? What kind of public employees do we get when we act and behave as if we OWN them or they OWE us every ounce of something. I wouldn’t let my customers talk to my employees like this, what are we trying to accomplish here?
Why don’t we instead provide ideas and solutions that will move our community forward (Agree with JM on that). Devour the policy documents that control our ability to build our houses and businesses and maintain our services so we’re more informed and educated on the real issues.
I don’t know who would take the jobs in our public agencies the way they are treated, but I’ve met quite a few that work very hard and are courteous and helpful. I’ve worked along side business owners who are far worse in character than the public agency employees.
Is it a big deal the guy took a job that brought him to Tahoe, did what his bosses told him to do and is looking to move on? I don’t think so. Maybe he doesn’t like Tahoe, so many don’t make it here more than a couple of years the way we (don’t) welcome people it’s no wonder. Maybe he just likes something else. We do still live in America don’t we? Isn’t this a free country? Is he the only guy over there so if he leaves ? If that is the case, how then could be doing a bad job? Illogical.
It’s time we look at ourselves and find out if we’re a community WORTH someone’s effort to manage all this b.s. they have to endure. If he wants to quit early, who can blame the guy after all these bloggers are saying about him, bordering quite close on conduct unbecoming of anyone.
Cast not the first stone, stand up to bullies, don’t be one. Bullies come in all types, including ourselves.
Maybe next time, we’ll help someone succeed instead of piling on more b.s. they have to deal with on top of the TRPA, the league, STPUD and everyone else.
I wish this forum wasn’t exemplary of the attitude and behavior of others in our community > somehow, we have to find a way to become a community of character and this kind of chatter isn’t the pathway to greatness, it is flat-out embarassing to say I live here among it.
You don’t get it. He doesn’t care. He won’t care on the next job. I’m sure he’s well aware of the vitriol headed his way in Medford or wherever. There won’t ever be community here in Tahoe again because the “haves” want to be serviced by a docile, subservient, invisible working class they can pay nothing.
I bet Orourke Has a deal with Vail corp, swindled his covert profits, set up future investments and is outta here.. Now he can sit back, watch this place fall apart, vail take over and make some coin. He doesn’t give a rats donkey about this town, you, I or majority of his future ex employees. In and out… Watching this house of cards fall… People are mad and rightfully so. The next city manager should be local so we don’t have to deal with yet another failure that’s making bank and missing his family..
4-mer, as I repeatedly have stated, I have made no critique of the CM’s job performance!! I am not saying we are better or worse off because he was originally hired. And I am not saying we will be better or worse off if he’s no longer in the position. I am merely of the opinion that since he’s looking to leave, he should leave immediately! My opinion as a taxpayer.
I’ll let you now get any last word in. But my only point is, not that he’s a good or bad CM. But for that salary he shouldn’t just be “warming the CM chair”!
Well, I like what catlapper has to say, sounds like someone I knew once and the comment by The Council Documents Tell All sounds like someone I knew too. After my layoff in April 2011 after nearly 11 years of faithful devotion to the job I have not been able to bounce back with a single income. The folks that have been let down by Mr. O’Rourke have basically been told “we don’t care”, but the fact remains that the job that I’m currently occupying doesn’t pay me enough to cover what basic needs my children have and myself so we have no medical insurance, no extra time or $ to take vacation (had to use paid out vacation hours for rent) and try to exist on less than a fraction of the income. Having to start all over again is rather difficult and I have a lot of animosity towards anyone that says public employees aren’t worth the money they make. They’re worth every penny because unbenownst to the vast majoroity of you neysayers public employees regularly do more than their job descriptions require and ensure the funds that pay their salaries are used to their full potential. The only way that doesn’t apply is when someone from say Florida is hired to do a job that an obvious candidate from the local area that knows the community is overlooked, and stepped over. It’s actually criminal and should be looked at in depth. Over, done. Good riddance to Mr. O. Hopefully the folks of Medford don’t do any google searches for his name.
Parker,
Duly noted. We shall agree to be of our own opinions on this matter, but let us both hope for improved economic times and greater prosperity. These busted economic times are getting tiresome.
Regards,
4-mer-usmc
I may have overlooked somebody else similar comment so excuse me if I have.
That said.
An above commenter asked where the money to avoid layoffs could possible come from? How about the TOT tax that was never collected over the past decade.
Malfeasance in spades by the city council. Could have set up a volunteer corps of citizen to monitor vacation rentals at minimal cost.
Tom Wendell: you think Ms. Kerry is compasionate? She’s as bad as Tony O’Rourke. She knew full well what was going to happen with SnowGlobe. Tony flew her to Colorado, onthe City’s dime, to check out the “phenomenon”. Honestly, get with the program. She got a new job title, without benefit of going through the proper chanels, to “Assistant to the City Manager’. Why did he (Tony) get rid of the Assistant City Manager then? Wake up people. It’s not difficult.
OMG…THIS GOOD STUFF!
KEEP IT UP!
Well said Red Dog…couldn’t have said it better myself!
The last line of this article is troubling to me.
“While he is out of town, Nancy Kerry does his job — despite not having the title of assistant city manager — just the responsibility.”
All government employees are doing more with less — Nancy Kerry is not unique.
If Nancy Kerry decides to apply for the City Manager position when Mr. O’Rourke leaves,she needs to stand or fall on her own merits. In my opinion, it is not appropriate for this publication to give her a leg up.