What's Left of Maplewood (MN)

We can't draw, so we are left with verbal cartoons about Maplewood city politics.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

When will you apply?


What more is there to say?

posted by drawnLeftward @ 8:26 PM  

12 Comments:

  • At 1:03 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    How is this saving us money again? I forget.

     

  • At 3:20 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I put my bet in that 30 will apply.

     

  • At 10:05 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Can I apply? I am probably no more insane than Copleand......

    Extraditionally Yours,

    Dr. Jack Shepard, DDS
    Rome, Italy

     

  • At 10:05 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hi Jack, sorry you didn't do better than Betty Boop in the last election.

     

  • At 10:21 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Why even post an ad? I'm sure the Mayor, Berglund, Hjelle or Copeland have some unemployed, under qualified and a convicted felon friend or relative that is perfect for the job.

     

  • At 10:33 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I've read in earlier stories about cities filling their Finance Director position that the pool of experienced candidates is quite small. Filling her position (at least with someone talented enough to run everything listed there) may be very difficult.

     

  • At 11:20 AM, Blogger Mr. Brilliant said…

    I would agree with Jackson, in that about 90% of the cities this would be true.

    Where Maplewood differs is that it is considered one of the most generous paid government finance jobs in the state. The math simply points to a lot of applicants putting theieir resumes in for this job.

    We probably have 500 finance directors working for cities in Minnesota. Since Maplewood is around the 20th largest city in the state, that makes most of the finance directors as working in smaller cities. Smaller cities pay smaller salaries. For probably 400 of these finance directors, this will be a significant step up in pay and responsibility.

    Then add in those working for other levels of government. There are a lot of county, state, and school district finance people working out there.

    I agree with anonymous' 30 number as the minimum. I figure 50 applicants.

     

  • At 9:00 AM, Blogger Frostbrand said…

    This position is advertised as having a salary "up to" (i.e., no greater than) $85,000.

    According to Copeland's article last fall, the 2006 salary of the city's Assistant Finance Director was $89,294. The salary of the Finance Director was $108,347. In the same document, Copeland claimed that our Finance Director was paid 7% more than the metro average (however he calculated that). This means the metro average for Finance Directors last year was $101,259.

    If the AVERAGE Finance Director salary is $101,259 -- and keep in mind this new position is higher than "Finance Director," since it's one of the three über-manager spots with added responsibilities; plus that is last year's average, not updated for inflation and raises in 2007 -- then whatever may have been the case in the past, it doesn't seem reasonable to call $85,000 "one of the most generous paid government finance jobs." At best, it is 16% below average.

    Maybe we'll get lots of applicants. But how likely are we to attract the best and brightest to a city hall in turmoil by offering a double-digit pay cut from the going rate?

     

  • At 1:53 PM, Blogger Mr. Brilliant said…

    Maybe it's just me, but I personally think that if you can't get someone decent to work for you at $85,000 a year, with a day shift job, every holiday off, weekends off, guaranteed pension that won't disappear in a bankruptcy court, and other perks, there is a problem.

    Personally I could care less if the metro average was $500,000. You look a little bit outside the metro and you will probably find a lot of people who would consider $85,000 a good bump in pay. I'm more interested in what the average salary is in Minnesota. I bet it is way below $100,000.

    Lets cut this crap about getting the "best and brightest". That phrase is way overused in government. We are looking for someone who can do the job, not the next Nobel Peace prize winner in economics.

    It is funny, only in government do we hear these claims that we can't be satisified with someone who can just simply do the job, we need a superstar. In the real world, the private sector, I think the name of the game is simply hiring someone who can just simply do the job.

    Will turmoil affect applications? Yes! Just the same as job location, salary, perks, and just about everything else that affects job applications. But on the other hand, you do have people out there who are looking for challenges, people who want to move back to the Twin Cities from elsewhere, etc. Read the roseville review online and you will see that their new manager partially took the job because he wanted to move back here. I hope that the turmoil does weed out a few applicants. We don't need any spineless people applying.

     

  • At 2:10 PM, Blogger LookingNorth said…

    Mr. Brilliant:

    First things first. So much for your creativity. You couldn't think up a better name than one that I coined some time ago to represent someone who was a long time unemployed individual who was appointed thru some sort of smooch-fest? Then again, if the shoe fits...

    On to business.

    "It is funny, only in government do we hear these claims that we can't be satisified with someone who can just simply do the job, we need a superstar. In the real world, the private sector, I think the name of the game is simply hiring someone who can just simply do the job."

    Mr. Brilliant, (er, is that the troll? They sure sound the same so far...) I am not sure what color the sky is in your world. Let me give you a clue. It's blue where I am standing. (A fine shade of purple where you are?) I have never been involved in a private sector business that wanted someone less than the best. And I am not sure why it shouldn't apply to government as well. In fact, I personally would want it to apply in every facet of life that affected me. Reason being that if I surround myself with the best, then that is less for me to worry about. If I owned a business, I would want nothing but the best working for me. Then I can let my employees do what they need to do and get out of the way. Less babysitting.

    And, since I pay taxes in the city and am worried about what might be getting wasted, I would want nothing but the best employees working at City Hall. Then I wouldn't have to waste my time watching Council meetings to keep up on what kind of tomfoolery is going on.

    I think we have a fine example of what happens when you go with something less than the best. Before, we had umpteen years of awards for budgeting in the City. I wonder when we might get that award again. Certainly not this year with the crap that has been put before us.

    Shall we talk about lawsuits?

    How may lawsuits has the city had over the last 5 years. I really don't know. I can guess that we probably have or will exceed that total just counting the last year.

    So dear Mr. Brilliant, please explain to me again why we wouldn't want the best?

     

  • At 1:18 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    you'd have to be an AstroNUT to want to work for the circus of Maplewood. thank God we didn't buy a house there.

     

  • At 11:14 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I have heard that less than 10 people applied for this job.

     

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