Sink or Swim
Another experienced deckhand has decided to grab a life preserver and risk the cold waters rather than get sucked down by our foundering Good Ship Maplewood and the incompetents at its helm: MaplewoodVoices is reporting that Parks & Rec Director Bruce Anderson has resigned.
Don't worry. I'm sure the anti-heroic trio have some unemployed pal waiting in the wings who can do the job almost as well as this long-time veteran public servant. If not holding a job in a decade qualifies you to be city manager, a lower managerial position like this probably doesn't even require a G.E.D.
Don't worry. I'm sure the anti-heroic trio have some unemployed pal waiting in the wings who can do the job almost as well as this long-time veteran public servant. If not holding a job in a decade qualifies you to be city manager, a lower managerial position like this probably doesn't even require a G.E.D.
posted by Frostbrand @ 2:35 PM
9 Comments:
At 5:30 PM,
Anonymous said…
It's a sad day in Maplewood. This council has taken the city back to when the mayor was 'seeing' the city clerk. Needless to say her job was safe! It appears the tweedle-de-dum threesome have the maturity of early elementary students.
In order to avoid circumventing the state's Open Meeting Law, I would guess they have a 'passing notes between class' action going on among the fireman, fireman 2's wife, and the good buddy with the Longries relationship.
Does anyone know how much longer the Mayor gets to keep her seat? The 2 - 3 vote might swing the other way in another year. Unfortunately there will be a dearth of professionals willing to apply to work on this ship of fools.
At 5:51 PM,
Frostbrand said…
As I understand it, Rossbach and Cave's seats are up for election this coming fall (Nov. 2007); the other three (mayor, Hjelle, Jueneman) will come up in 2009.
At 6:05 PM,
Anonymous said…
Thanks, Frostbrand.
If Rebecca Cave loses her seat in 2007, the 2 - 3 vote could still swing to reality based governance as opposed to the current 'my way or the highway' ethic currently in vogue.
At 9:54 AM,
Frostbrand said…
Yep. If Rossbach keeps his seat (assuming he runs for re-election -- it would be hard to blame him for retiring in disgust after the past year), and Cave were ousted, it would swing the balance. This is a weak-mayor city structure, and a 3-person majority could, for example, remove Copeland, and install a professional manager rather than a mayoral sock puppet.
As the election in question is now less than a year away, now is the time for candidates (singular if Rossbach wants reelection, otherwise plural) to be recruited and for the groundwork to be laid.
It would be really nice if the triumvirate's reign of terror could be limited to two years rather than four.
At 10:51 AM,
Anonymous said…
I will write the first check and knock the first door for Rossbach and anyone who takes on Cave. I have many friends who will do the same, I raised 8,000 (personally) for one metro council candidate in the last election cycle, so Diana (you frreekin' nut job), get ready to close your damn pie hole. -Mysterio
At 3:14 PM,
Anonymous said…
The city is firing(reorganizing) people who make a lot of money. That's the only reason these people are now longer with the city. You make too much money(in their opinions) you're out.
At 4:13 PM,
Frostbrand said…
I'm going to have to disagree with that. Part of it may be the hope to save money by hiring someone cheaper -- but I don't think Fursman was primarily fired because of his salary, nor Sherrie Le, etc. According to the thing Copeland wrote in the city newsletter, our IT department is paid better than average; are there rumors about firing the computer geeks? I haven't heard any.
I think they want most to rule City Hall with an iron fist, for the mayor to be able to micromanage anything she likes, from the furniture in city hall's lobby, to reviewing unredacted information in the city clerk's office, to which charities city employees can donate to via their paychecks. Anyone who resists that control (by asserting their legal right to organize, or publicly suggesting that the law and the city's own ordinances be obeyed in contradiction to the trio's will, etc.) is facing their wrath.
All the talk about how over-paid the city staff are is a smokescreen, in my view, an effort to turn the citizens against the staff (why do you think they handed out copies of Copeland's article at the meeting where so many citizens turned out to protest the Xcel tax increase?), and a thin excuse for the naked exercise of power.
As I've said before, the way this council has been pursuing their self-serving agenda is going to cost us a lot more money than the status quo ante.
At 4:55 PM,
drawnLeftward said…
then there is the self-esteem angle. People reporting to him making more than Copeland? Ouch!
They are saying the new layer's salaries will be $85000, same as Copeland's.
At 5:49 PM,
Anonymous said…
If you look at municipal employees from similar cities across the metropolitan suburban areas, Maplewood's employee salaries are not out of the average. Longevity increases the payroll to the top of the pay scale, but that also comes with history which is invaluable to any city.
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