Sometimes we can’t fit it all in the paper… Here’s a story Eagle reporter Deb Gruver wrote to accompany The Eagle’s Sunday story about city manager candidate Pat Salerno, who is currently negotiating a contract with the city.
The city of Wichita spent about $4,100 on travel, food, beverages and other expenses for meetings regarding and receptions for city manager candidate Pat Salerno during April and May, records show.
Charges from April 10 to May 19 include a party at the Wichita Art Museum where the city ordered canapes (appetizers) and dessert from the museum’s cafe for $16.50 per person. The charges also include a $342.42 tab at Southwinds for steaks, salads and drinks enjoyed by the candidate and his wife, Wichita’s interim city manager and his wife, and Steve Martens and his wife.
The city also paid for Salerno’s $297 stay at the city-owned Hyatt and flew City Council members Sue Schlapp and Carl Brewer to Sunrise, Fla., at a cost of $691 each. Salerno paid for his plane ticket to come to Wichita; the city will reimburse him later.
In April and May the city also paid $7,000 to The Mercer Group for its role as a search consultant. Mercer billed the city $5,000 on April 8 for supplying the names of four additional candidates for the city manager search. On May 5, Mercer billed the city $2,000 for essentially a finder’s fee because Salerno had been recommended as a candidate to the council.
About four months ago, Mayor Carl Brewer accepted former city manager George Kolb’s resignation, citing “philosophical differences.” This week, he told www.newsobserver.com, that he would recommend Kolb for the city manager position in Durham, N.C., where Kolb is one of three finalists.
“He was passionate about his direction, and we were passionate about ours, and he decided to go his way, and we went our way,” Brewer told The News and Observer Monday.
Former Mayor Carlos Mayans was not so kind. “He’s a very charming person, but very, very divisive,” Mayans told the North Carolina newspaper.
In something of a switcheroo, former City Manager George Kolb is now teaching a class that used to be taught by the man who replaced Kolb — Ed Flentje. Here’s why: When Flentje stepped down as director of Wichita State University’s Hugo Wall School of Urban and Public Affairs, that left a void at the school. John Wong, a WSU professor and specialist in state and local government finance, took over at Hugo Wall just weeks before the semester started. But Public Administration 825: State and Local Government Administration still needed a teacher. “Literally, there’s not a whole lot of people around that you could get to do that, especially with the short notice we had,” Wong said Thursday. So he called Kolb. “He’s basically switched places with Ed Flentje,” Wong said. It was an easy choice, Wong said. “That’s what he (Kolb) has been doing, that’s his career,” he said.
Kolb said he hasn’t taught in years — since he got out of college, in fact. He said he digs teaching again, but wants to get back into municipal management. He’s just not sure where that may be yet. “Teaching is like standing on the sidelines,” Kolb said in a brief chat with Wichitopekington. “It’s sort of like a spectator sport. You observe what’s going on, you analyze and you make judgments. If you’re in the game yourself, you have to react.”
After two weeks off, the Wichita City Council returns to its Tuesday meetings next week. So what’s up?
They’ll vote on a city manager profile package — AKA what they want in the next big boss. Here’s a peak:
10 years experience in a local government management position or closely related line of work, and a bachelors degree in public administration or related field from an accredited university. That said, they prefer 15 years in the trenches and a master’s degree.
The rest of it is fairly routine stuff about having communication skills to deal with a city council, citizen groups and media. We note this quote because it will probably be the trickiest to find in a candidate who’s been under the microscope for 15 years: “Unblemished record of personal integrity and ethical conduct.”
City Council will also vote on an Arkansas River Access plan that includes some 20 new places to drop a canoe between Hutchinson and Oklahoma. That includes at least three sets of rapids that are created by damns and other obstructions along the way. The city will need other local governments to go along with the plan to make it work, and most of the preliminary discussions appear to have gone well, judging from the council’s agenda reports.
And, once again, the public agenda is stacked with people who want to debate a smoking ban. This week, there will be a presentation of a survey that tells what non-profit groups say about the ban. We’ve already heard concerns that a total ban could hurt non-profits that rely on Bingo contests and other smoker-friendly events for their fund-raising. But other non-profits will likely be concerned about the public health components outlined in medical studies. Council members Jeff Longwell and Lavonta Williams have been working on a compromise. It could be another month before a solid draft emerges.
Wichita City Council members have yet to agree on how they will screen, interview and hire a new city manager. And they’re already working at a slower pace than council members were four years ago when they sought a replacement for Chris Cherches. Here’s a comparison:
In 2003, the city waited only five days after Cherches’ resignation to request proposals from headhunting firms. This time around, it took them 20 days.
In 2003, the city gave search firms just nine days to submit a proposal. This year it’s 44 days. (Proposals are due Jan. 31.)
The city may not be in such a hurry this time because it has Wichita State University professor Ed Flentje filling in. He’s widely viewed as a cautious and competent manager, and many of the city’s top officials finished their public administration masters degrees with Flentje’s final class. Flentje also is spearheading an “environmental assessment” of City Hall, which is supposed to identify any major problems and suggest ways to do things more efficiently.
It’s probably worth noting that in the city’s request for a search firm, it said “while cost of service will be evaluated and considered, more attention will be given to the search firm’s past experience and service in recruiting for City Managers and the amount of time needed to complete the recruitment.”
In 2004, the city hired Slavin Management Consultants for $21,000. It’s unclear what Wichita may pay this year. But late last year, the city of Austin, which is significantly larger than Wichita, hired Arcus Public for $25,000 to produce candidates for a city manager vacancy there.
Wichita City Council members will discuss the screening and interview process again before creating a complete hiring outline. Their next meeting is Feb. 5.
Sometimes we can’t fit it all in the paper… Here’s a story Eagle reporter Deb Gruver wrote to accompany The Eagle’s Sunday story about city manager candidate Pat Salerno, who is currently negotiating a contract with the city.
