To our Mayor and Commission: What’s the holdup?

EXECUTIVE BRIEF:

1. The process for selecting a new City Manager has not yet started.
2. The process will take at least nine months.
3. An interim City Manager looks likely.
4. You can help speed the process by sending an email to our Commission (below).

To our Mayor and Commission: What’s the holdup?

At a Fort Lauderdale Commission meeting last November, our Commission decided 3-2 to NOT renew our City Manager’s contract for another 3-year term. Mayor Seiler and Commissioners Charlotte Rodstrom and Bruce Roberts agreed that our City could no longer afford a divisive City Manager who receives more compensation than the Vice President of the United States, and who has created and maintained oversized budgets that taxpayers can no longer afford.

This means that on July 31st (six months from now), Gretsas’ current contract will expire. What has the Commission been doing over the last two months to prepare for this transition? Have they started looking for a new City Manager? Have they even discussed it at a Commission meeting?

The answer: They’ve done nothing on this issue. No search started, not even any discussion about how to start the process. We should give our Commission some slack, however. The Holidays were in there and nothing much gets done during that period of time. But to not even discuss how to prepare for a transition process by now is starting to look like a failure of leadership.

Let’s be clear. Selecting a new (and qualified) City Manager is not something that is done overnight. The process can easily take 8 to 9 months. So even if the process is started now, we will likely need an “interim” City Manager starting on August 1.

Let me show you the steps that could be involved:

1. The Commission starts discussion on a process and decides to form a “Transition Advisory Committee” that would suggest qualifications and compensation. (A final report to the Commission would take at least two months).

2. The Commission would also ask the City Attorney to draft an “RFP” (Request for Proposal), to seek out and select a recruiting firm. The process would take at least three months. This time frame could be shortened considerably however, if we contacted Broward County. (They have recently gone through a similar process of “vetting” recruiting firms. We could select one of the firms they have used and save weeks of time.)

3. With guidance from the Advisory Committee and the Recruiting Firm, our City Attorney could put together the job posting. Unlike the previous Commission, (who let City Manager George Gretsas write his own employment contract with the help of his pal Robert Bates), this Commission should have the contract pre-written. Another month for this task.

So a minimum of four months has elapsed and only then would we be able to post the job opening.

4. The process to post the position and receive resumes would be at least six weeks.

5. Once the resumes are in, the Advisory Committee and the Recruiting Firm could analyze the resumes and select the best 5-10 possibilities. Another month.

6. Then come the interviews. Figure at least two months for initial and follow on interviews, as Commissioners need to participate.

7. The Commission will make the final selection and present an offer. If the selected candidate accepts right away, figure at least a month for that person to get his/her affairs in order to make the transition. But if that person wants to negotiate, or if the person declines the offer, then the Commission needs to go to the next person. This could add several more weeks or months to the time line.

So you see, even if our Commission started the discussion at tonight’s Commission meeting (which won’t happen), the earliest we could see a new City Manager would be October, three months after Gretsas’ contract expires.

Realistically though, we won’t be seeing a new City Manager until 2011. What will happen between now and then?

1.     Our Commission could allow Gretsas to stay for another year after July 31. Most residents and City employees won’t want this.

2.     Gretsas could leave on July 31 (at the end of his contract), and we would have to find an interim City Manager.

3.     Gretsas could quit before July 31. Again, we would have to find an interim City Manager.

So this means our Mayor and Commission need to get this process started! Here’s what you can do to help:  Below are the email addresses of our Mayor and Commission:

jack.seiler@fortlauderdale.gov, broberts@fortlauderdale.gov, crodstrom@fortlauderdale.gov, bdubose@fortlauderdale.gov, rrogers@fortlauderdale.gov

Put those addresses in the “to” box of your email. Cut and paste the attached message:

To our Commission: Please get started in finding a new City Manager for our City right away. It is your responsibility to insure that our City is professionally managed at all times, that employee morale is high and that our tax money is being efficiently utilized. It will take many months to find a new and qualified City Manager. The longer you delay, the longer our City will be without that much needed managerial expertise. Please don’t delay any longer and get this process started now. Thank you!

And thank you, to the Fort Lauderdale resident!

Earl Rynerson