O’Rourke packing bags for Washington
By Kathryn Reed
South Lake Tahoe City Manager Tony O’Rourke expects to be on the city’s payroll through July 1, with his first day as city manager of Yakima, Wash., the following day.
“It’s difficult to depart, but I’m looking forward to the opportunities and challenges,” O’Rourke told Lake Tahoe News.
Tony O'Rourke
The Yakima council on May 8 voted 5-1 to approve O’Rourke’s contract. He will be making $175,000 – the same salary he has in Tahoe.
According to the Yakima Herald-Republic, the councilman who voted no to the contract supports O’Rourke, just not the six months of severance pay he would get if voters approve a switch to a strong mayor form of government. O’Rourke had a nine month severance clause in his contract here.
O’Rourke said he has vacation time left on the books so it’s possible he will not be at his desk through June.
At the May 15 City Council meeting the Tahoe electeds are expected to appoint an interim city manager and discuss the recruitment process for a permanent leader.
“The headhunter approach has been put out there, but I’m not sure that’s the best way, but I also don’t know,” Mayor Claire Fortier told Lake Tahoe News.
She said the discussion next Tuesday will be in open session. Fortier said the council wants someone on board sooner rather than later.
Another component to the hiring is that the terms for Councilmen Bruce Grego and Hal Cole are up in December after the Nov. 6 election. Grego has indicated he plans to seek another term, while Cole has not decided.
Do we really need a city manager? I get that we needed someone to make the tough calls and lay off people, instead of council members, who are regular citizens, but what does a city manager do when the work has already been done?
Yea yeah yeah good riddance. Evil moves to an uglier city than what he described South Lake Tahoe as. Don’t let the $7k garage door hit your Infiniti on the way out of the tunnel at the end of your final day.
The comments here will reflect that you can’t please all of the people all of the time. Isn’t it special to get to listen to folks who think they know how to do a job better when they’ve never stood in the shoes of the individual they criticize? And what in the world does a man’s garage door and vehicle have to do with his job performance?
Good luck Mr. O’Rourke.
Woo Hoo!!
He still has Vacation Time??? He has only been here for less than 2 years, and you only get 12 day’s a year Vacation!
What about all the time that he has spent looking and interviewing for a job?? or has that been business for the City??
The Mayor said
“The headhunter approach has been put out there, but I’m not sure that’s the best way, but I also don’t know,”????
THAT’S A GOOD WAY TO PICK UP THE MORAL in the City Work force, let them know that your still looking for some one to come in and fire more people for the City Council.
If there is a brain left in our City we will replace Councilman DAVIS and Councilman COLE. That will be the start of the re-building of the Community. If we keep them then you can look forward to more of the same poor decisions that we have had for the past 10 years. WAKE UP TAHOE, WAKE UP.
Let me get this straight, he’s saying he will no longer be working at his position from now forward, but will be getting what amounts to some 11 months pay. I’d say the joke’s on us, to the tune of about 150k. Tony did some good things here, necessary things, but this severance pay / vacation time nonsense is outrageous and compromises the man and what he has done here. You’re ripping us off Tony, your ‘severance/vacation’ package would have meant a few more jobs for the city…good luck Yakima-
Tony O’Rourke would have been entitled to the severance pay had the council wanted to fire him. He is not getting paid the nine months. He will get paid through June to be city manager.
Kathryn Reed, LTN publisher
Thanks Kathryn, that clarification will allow me to see straight now -was starting to see double there….how about this weather eh?
Good riddance! Hopefully the City Council won’t be stupid enough to give the next CM such a lucrative package they really can’t afford. South Lake Tahoe is SMALL – not a major metro area. With the 1-dimensional income source, tourism, things aren’t going to get better any time soon, if ever.
BTW Kathryn, what’s the big hurry for Tony, what has he said as to the reason for his hasty departure?
Worth noting Mr. O’Rourke is getting the same pay in Yakima that he has here in Tahoe, with less severance, even though Yakima is four times larger than South Lake Tahoe!
Instead of overpaying for another City Manager, time to consolidate with the County!
Further worth noting is that the reason the CM pay is so high is due to the comparison city that is used for wages in SLT. It is usually Monterey, CA. Much different environment. But, by using more expensive cities to compare, the wages can be justified, supposedly.
Makes one wonder though. If the wages are the same, why the move? And so quickly.
I’m with Parker, why not get rid of the city and merge with the county? As far as an interim CM, Nancy Kerry would be an excellent choice. Long-term city employee and knowledgeable about city management.
Cost of living is lower in Yakima than here?
An interesting idea – given there will be a city, with the hope we can get an adept city council – make the city council positions more time intensive with some of the responsibilities that the CM had , give the council an extra $1000 a month for their time and effort and do not hire a city manager. Net result we save over a $100k and perhaps the additional compensation will attract better people to run.
The Council should have hired Sue Schlerf when they had the chance.
So they go out searching the alleys again for another thug or do they stay inside and promote Ms Wannabe Wisheshewuz?