WE Blog

If we the citizens keep this bunch on — we are the fools. UNelect them all! We can’t do worse and there is a chance for improvement with anyone else.

Salerno actually saved a bunch of taxpayer money by looking at this situation objectively and not waiting until we had to pay out the severance fee included in his contract. I applaud him for being honest. Who would want to work for our City Council and Mayor? He might have had better sense than I gave him credit for.

Pat Salerno probably was a great city manager in his 13 years ?? in Sunrise, Florida. He managed to improve a suburb located directly in the path of rapid development fanning out from Miami/Ft. Lauderdale on southeast Florida’s Atlantic coast. Good catch Pat.

But Wichita is “not located on the waters” as Humphrey Bogart said about Casablanca. Wichita is located some 1,800 miles northwest in south central Kansas in an area that generally only grows when a family or business moves out to Maize or down to Derby to avoid dust from an ill-advised overpriced white elephant downtown ice hockey arena.

Wichita is a different kind of challenge better suited to a person with knowledge of Kansas politics and the Wichita culture.

But thanks Pat Salerno for remembering us here in Casablanca, oh, I mean Wichita.

The council is now reportedly going to place its trust in yet another high-priced consultant who has no clue about the real people of Wichita.
Either that, or they’re going to ask the same failed committee to fail again.
Insanity=doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results; see Wichita City Council.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe now we can hire someone local who knows the area, promote an admistrative assistant, or hire someone from one of our great KS colleges? They can’t do any worse and they would also understand what young people and their grandparents think, instead of just self promotion. They would also already have ‘free’ advising from their professors, people who think in ‘facts’ not ‘what can I get out of this’.

Will they never learn….we’ll we never learn.
They’re all crackpots.

. . . or, he wanted a $6 million loan, and wanted the first 5 years interest free, and the second 5 years at 1.25% interest, and our great, fiscally conservative city council denied it. Good for them . . . wait . . . O, never mind!

Thirty applications were reviewed and several people was interviewed by the search committee. Salerno was quickly advanced because it was clearly recognized he was the most qualified and attractive to other jurisdictions. (Not now though. Who would hire him after this stunt?)
His family may have simply not wanted to move to Kansas from Florida. Many Kansans can understand that.
Scott Moore has been quietly solving city issues before they become problems for some time. He’s local and he’s good.

Mayor Brewer City Manager Statement

Date: July 7, 2008
Contact: Communications Team
Phone: (316) 268-4351

I’m deeply disappointed to announce that this morning I received a phone call from Pat Salerno. He informed me that he was rejecting the Wichita City Manager job, almost four weeks after he eagerly accepted it.

Of course, I asked why? Pat said: “It just doesn’t feel right.” I inquired further but he would not elaborate. Our phone call ended after only a few minutes.

Until our phone call, Pat gave no indication that he had second thoughts about accepting the job. He has visited our city in recent days. He had begun the search for a home. He had engaged in our budget process. In fact, he had daily phone conversations with our Finance Staff and other key staffers as late as Friday. He had even received a draft of the Proposed Budget.

Pat was the overwhelming choice of the Citizens Selection Committee and the unanimous choice of the Council. His references were thoroughly checked. The Vice Mayor and I made a visit to Sunrise, Florida. There were follow-up visits and phone calls with people who knew him. There were even clarifying conversations with Pat himself.

His unfortunate and unprofessional decision does not reflect the high standards of our citizens, our organization or the International City Managers Association. His decision to renege on a signed employment contract is a violation of ICMA’s code of ethics. We will explore the City’s legal options to ensure we are good stewards of taxpayers’ dollars.

This is a missed opportunity for him but another opportunity for us to fill one of the best City Manager jobs in this nation.

What’s next? This City Council and this community must move forward. We will swiftly engage the services of a national search firm. We are committed to finding the best professional manager for this three-time, All-America City.

Interim City Manager Ed Flentje is under contract through Friday, July 11. We are exploring options for interim city leadership. Meanwhile, we have professional staffers who have demonstrated a strong work ethic and an eagerness to move forward with the policies set by elected officials.

Before taking a few questions, I want to thank the community for its patience and the search committee for its hard work. But their job is not done.

It is difficult to find candidates for this demanding and high profile job due to relocation concerns, family matters, desired experience and other factors.

But make no mistake. We will find that person. And he or she will demonstrate the commitment and vision to lead this community to further growth and prosperity.

Scott Moore - perhaps with advice and assistence from Ed Flentje - might be the best choice all the way down the line for a number of reasons. He seems to know his stuff and he knows Wichita. Why do we have to get someone from a city elsewhere who does not have experience with Wichita’s kind of situation?

believe this ‘citizen committee’ needs to bear some of the blame for this fiasco—of course, the committee was appointed by the council….

Raptor, you nailed it for me. Look at the list of the citizen committee. Same “old boys” that have been running this town for years. Maybe Salerno backed out because what “didn’t feel right” was a big town with small ideas controlled by a select few. Not something I would walk into.

City Manager’s Citizens Selection Committee Named

Date: January 20, 2004

The Wichita City Council has appointed the members of the community that will assist in choosing Wichita’s next City Manager. The Citizens Selection Committee will consist of the following individuals:

Wess Galyon, Wichita Area Builders Association

Dr. Ron Waln, Wichita Independent Business Association

Ed Wolverton, Wichita Downtown Development Corporation

Charlie Rivera, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Dr. Donald Beggs, Wichita State University

Bob Wine, Wichita Independent Neighborhoods, Inc.

Bryan Derreberry, Wichita Chamber of Commerce

Mohan Kambampati, Indo-Chinese Cultural Center

Dr. Biff Green, Friends University

Aidan Dunleavy, Newman University

Winston Brooks, Wichita Public Schools

Bill Buchanan, Sedgwick County

Steve Martens, Greater Wichita Economic Development Council

Kevin Myles, NAACP

Doug Pickard, appointed by Mayor Carlos Mayans

Joan Cole, appointed by Vice Mayor Sharon Fearey

Rev. Lincoln Montgomery, appointed by Council Member Carl Brewer

Jim Skelton, appointed by Council Member Phil Lambke

Dr. Joe Pisciotte, appointed by Council Member Sue Schlapp

* Bill Warren, appointed by Council Member Paul Gray

Jim Holt, appointed by Council Member Bob Martz

* Ed Flentje, appointed to be chairman of the committee

* Appointments will be formalized at the next City Council meeting.

http://www.wichitagov.org/News/Announcements/2004/01-20-2004a.htm

IIRC, didnt Moore intern under Chris Churches?

I know the people in Ellsworth LOVED him, and they were damn sorry to see him go.

He’s got impeccable credentials, and is easy to work with.

Wichita is lucky to have him. Try to keep him!

Scott Moore Appointed Interim City Manager

Date: July 9, 2008
Contact: Communications Team
Phone: (316) 268-4351

Former Assistant City Manager to assume interim duties July 14

Scott Moore, an Assistant City Manager for the City of Wichita since June 2005, was named Wichita’s interim City Manager on Tuesday. Mayor Carl Brewer and the Wichita City Council announced Moore’s appointment following a late afternoon City Council meeting.

Brewer said though the City’s search continues for a City Manager, Moore brings a wealth of city government knowledge and broad experience as a public administrator.

“Scott’s in-house,” Brewer said. “He’s well-rounded. He has demonstrated that he can build strong relationships with staff. He works diligently with Council members. His skills will serve us well as we search for a City Manager.”

Moore will oversee 3,100 employees, a $500 million operating budget and a $2 billion Capital Improvement Budget. The city’s ongoing budget process concludes on Aug. 12 when the City Council, by state law, must adopt the 2009 budget.

“I’m excited and eager to work with staff to advance the vision of the City Council,” Moore, 37, said. “This appointment represents a powerful opportunity to grow professionally and to help this city further prosper.”

Moore’s annual salary is $108,000. The Council is expected to approve his contract as interim City Manager at its meeting next Tuesday. Moore’s appointment comes a day after City officials learned that Pat Salerno rejected the job as Wichita’s City Manager. Salerno had accepted the top administrator post in early June and was scheduled to begin work on Monday.

Moore was the top administrator for the City of Ellsworth from June 1997 to June 2005 when he became Wichita’s Assistant City Manager of Operations. Cathy Holdeman is the Assistant City Manager of Administration.

Moore is a native of Bastrop, Texas. He attended college at Southwest Texas State (known now as Texas State), where he earned a business administration degree in 1994. He played wide receiver for the Division I Bobcats. In May 1999, Moore earned a masters degree in public administration from Wichita State University while serving as the top administrator for Ellsworth. Moore’s achievements in Ellsworth include uncovering a high-profile embezzlement case, negotiating an $800,000 legal agreement with the Kansas Department of Transportation and securing future financial commitments to assist the city-owned visitor center.

His honors include being named Ellsworth’s Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year in 2003. In 1999, Gov. Bill Graves presented him with a certificate of recognition for becoming Kansas’ first African-American city administrator. He also coached middle school basketball in Ellsworth. In 2007, the Wichita Business Journal selected him as member of its coveted “40 Under 40” honorees. Moore currently sits on the board of the Boy’s & Girl’s Club of South Central, Kansas. His resume is attached.

Before Ellsworth, Moore worked four years as a budget analyst for the City of Austin, Texas, which is near his hometown. He is married to Tammy, a native Lyons; they have two daughters.

Moore succeeds Dr. Ed Flentje, who has served as interim City Manager since early January. Flentje will assist with duties throughout the budget process, after his final day on Friday, July 11. He is returning to WSU as a professor of public administration in the Hugo Wall School of Urban and Public Affairs.

The Wichita City Council has named the appointees charged with screening applicants for the Wichita City Manager position. The Citizens Committee is chaired by businessman Steve Martens. The members are:

* Joe Johnson
* Kathy Dittmer
* Cindy Claycomb
* Austin Kinzle
* Frank Bergquist
* Ray Frederick
* Ben Sciortino
* Peter Salmeron
* Kevin Myles
* Greg Ferris
* George Laham
* Jon Rolph
* Bill Warren
* Wess Galyon
* Susan Pompeo
* Alicia Martinez-Newell