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City was wrong to skip search for manager
A Times Editorial
Published February 10, 2008
Picking a city manager should go beyond name recognition and a popularity contest among the peers. Most importantly, a public dialogue needs to be a key component of the selection process.
That wasn't the case in New Port Richey, where council members this week voted unanimously - with minimal public discussion - to offer the job to interim city manager Tom O'Neill absent a search for other candidates.
O'Neill may well be a solid choice. He is personable and held in high regard after spending his entire career with the city, including 19 years as public works director. But his lack of postsecondary education means he couldn't meet the minimum application requirements a previous council set in 2004 when it last had a vacancy.
The current council had established no such criteria for potential applicants because members previously indicated the selection would wait until after the April municipal election. That was an appropriate course of action and the council was remiss in deviating from its stated plan.
Failing to conduct a search beyond the temporary administrator denied the public the opportunity to judge O'Neill against a wide field of applicants. That stymied any conversation of contrasting a known entity with a background exclusive to New Port Richey against a need for fresh ideas from an outside perspective.
Council members rationalized the quick action in post-meeting interviews with Times staff writer Jodie Tillman. Deputy Mayor Ginny Miller said it was a no-brainer to try to keep O'Neill and said residents and city workers offered a collective sigh of relief when he took the job on an interim basis.
Frankly, after 35 years, it is unlikely he would depart if not offered the top job and Miller's charge is to pick the best available candidate, not to placate city workers.
With O'Neill, Mayor Dan Tipton noted, the council could count on stability. "We don't have to worry about him running off to another city," the mayor said.
True. But the logic rings hollow considering Miller and Tipton are both departing the council in April to run for county-wide offices. Why is it they can attempt to advance their political careers, but then worry a future city administrator might do likewise?
The drawn-out city manager searches in other Pasco cities also shouldn't have played a role considering the mitigating factors of each municipality. Both Dade City and Port Richey have compensation limits tens of thousands of dollars below the salary earned by New Port Richey's departed city manager, Scott Miller. Port Richey also had to overcome its reputation for an unstable political climate.
This isn't the first time the council acted abruptly to fill a vacancy. When council member Matthew McCaffery resigned in 2006, the council filled the vacancy prematurely, allowing McCaffery to help pick his successor before he left town for Philadelphia. Miller and Tipton have now repeated the pattern of helping to choose a person to guide the city on their way out the door.
We wish no ill will toward O'Neill. He must try to advance multiple redevelopment projects in an economic downturn, figure out what will replace the departing HCA Community Hospital when it moves to Trinity, and confront permanent spending limitations from the Legislature and the property tax changes from Amendment 1. He's also getting two new bosses in April.
It is a big agenda, and whether someone else is better suited to help navigate it will remain unknown.
[Last modified February 9, 2008, 20:41:37]
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