Understated Dramatic Tension

Looking back at the workshop where the council talked about the process for hiring a new city manager, I have been meaning to expand on the observations of my esteemed colleague, drawnLeftward. I did find one interesting undercurrent in a meeting that never quite rose to the level of drama we might have expected (or secretly hoped for, those of us in the snark business).

The fascinating tension to me was a sort of dialogue playing out between Diana and herself. On the one hand, she was drawn time and again to agree with the idea of hiring a search firm to help find qualified candidates for the city manager position. "Rational," she called it. On the other hand, it kept coming up that this is how Fursman was chosen, and in fact Fursman is the only city manager that Maplewood has chosen by this method. And, to be honest, the fact that this method resulted in the choice of Fursman is in itself a solid endorsement for the approach. She seemed time and again to stray perilously close to acknowledging that, but Diana would veer away at the last moment, for the obvious reason that it would credit Fursman and cast doubt on Diana and her triumvirate's decision to terminate him.