Dear Readers …. After reading the lifetime contract the Town Manager received without the knowledge of at least 2 former Commissioners …. it will really be something to see if we the taxpayers are truly being watched out for at the upcoming Commission round table meeting on Sept. 10, 2009 … Will the Commission look into whether this is a legally binding contract or whether it was voted on under false pretenses…just as the $200,000 3 year audit was in 2008 (prev. post) …. How will the “2-Hats” answer to whether they knew what was contained? …If they knew, shame on them for allowing such a contract to award a lifetime of employment including a clause that provides for all legal expenses for the Manager being paid for by the taxpayers if she wants to fight her termination! ….If they didn’t know even more shame on them if they choose turn a blind eye to “justification” (just one of them) for terminating the Manager…Remember these are the same guys that asked for a hourly contract for the Town law firm and shortened the contract for waste provider services…both of which they said were enacted so the Town did not find itself stuck with either one for inferior service!…
Recently the Manager spoke of quality and qualifications on the dais when addressing Comm. Dodd about the 2008 audit and the audit firm…This writer found it rather amusing that she would justify the audit company in such a manner that she herself does not address or follow…We have heard from the “Gang of 6” the Town Manager section concerning her duties…but they have chosen to overlook (from the get-go) the section concerning her appointment (previously posted on this site and below)….Wonder why?…Take a look!…
Sec. 5.3. Town Manager–Appointment, qualifications and compensation.
The Town Commission shall appoint a Town Manager who shall be the administrative head of the municipal government under the direction and supervision of the Town Commission. The Town Manager shall hold office at the pleasure of the Town Commission. The Town Manager shall receive such compensation as determined by the Town Commission through the adoption of an appropriate resolution. The Town Manager shall be appointed by resolution approving an employment contract between the Town and the Town Manager. The Town Manager SHALL BE APPOINTED SOLELY ON THE BASIS OF EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE in the accepted competencies and practices of local public management including, a GRADUATE DEGREE with a concentration in public administration, public affairs, public policy, or public finance and TWO (2) YEARS’ EXPERIENCE AS AN APPOINTED CITY MANAGER or county manager, or FOUR (4) YEARS’ EXPERIENCE AS AN ASSISTANT or DEPUTY CITY MANAGER or ASSISTANT or deputy county manager. http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=14431&sid=9
This writer has been unsuccessful in getting a copy of the Manager’s resume despite putting in 2 public records requests…(the latest request was over 1 month ago)….I found this rather disturbing and even more so if you listened the the Manager at her last dais diatribe over her position when she cleverly phrased her contract’s contents…..authoritatively announced its legally binding effect…and inserted that she has been an “assistant Town Manager” for so long she could hardly remember…(before and after Assistant Town Clerk Laura Ward )…But we have no verification that added up to the required 4 years along with the educational requirements that the Charter says are the SOLE BASIS for the appointment!…
For a woman who is often touting everything is black or white, she follows the code…what happens when it comes to herself and her department heads qualifications?…Hmmmm…..
Lately we have seen a woman ramping up her role…and her form of rule…No doubt it is due in large part for being one of the few who was armed with full knowledge she was sitting on a contract that allowed for her to act in the manner she has…. defying the Citizen- Commissioner- Town Manager type of government we have in this Town….She has made it all personal lashing out ultimatums and diverting away from the points needing to be addressed….Many insiders say it is also difficult within her administration much the same as we have seen with residents…taxpayers….media and certain Commissioners….She plays with semantics with such zeal it’s like a sport and has produced anything but a transparent town government…with unanswered public records requests…charging extra staff hour time for requests which severely curtails those who would ask for information…..unilaterally deciding when to use the proper consultants…whether the Town Atty. or engineers…Nothing it is said from those inside is done without her knowledge and she expends much paid by the taxpayer staff time trying to distort and thwart information in order to cover her tracks (in my opinion)…such as the pavilion… and recently with the Baldwin compensation…and the RFP bids being opened but not read ……
We are constantly reminded of her financial acumen and how this qualifies her the utmost to be Town Manager…BUT that is not what the charter says…..That too is questionable since we have had the same handpicked auditors for so long…and we had no forensic audit which many of the current Commission ran on and promised to the voters… so what do we really know? We know that the Town Manager went to the GFOA training workshop alone last week leaving the LBTS Finance Director here…thus not letting her department head learn what she did. Did her previous boss TM Baldwin do this?…(Can’t imagine that was the case)….Public requests for penalties clauses that might be attached to some of our present and prior loans have been ignored….along with where certain monies are being kept….Our infrastructure is falling apart and ideas that counter her chosen piecemeal method are summarily dismissed… Departments are seriously devoid of qualified directors following in her footsteps. …. and here we are in the last few months of the 2009 budget year with lots of leftover revenue…that can be used in any manner she desires…no questions asked and a guaranteed “Gang of 3” pass on the dais…and last but not least we hear she has said she wants to be fired…and walk away with up to approx. $250,000 in compensation from a contract that was anything BUT the same of her predecessor’s!…
So as we face the onslaught of calls for “CASH FOR CLUNKERS”…should we follow suit and call for “CASH FOR COLON”?…
Too much you say?…
Well, there’s always the LEMON LAW!…
more to come….
Scroll down or check the scoops cat. for the Colon contract/ online BTSFuture …http://www.bytheseafuture.org/
Tags: cash for clunkers, lemon laws, local government, Local Politics, Scoops, Town Manager Esther Colon
