Seriously, going back to the Linda Miles issue, what stands out in today’s N&R article is City Council member Robbie Perkins’ concern that City Manager Mitchell Johnson be inside the loop:
Perkins said what was a “personnel issue is now political.”
“I thought that was stuff we talked about behind the scenes,” Perkins said. “I didn’t think it was something to bring to the forefront without talking to the (city) manager. You can’t run an organization based on what looks good in the newspaper.”
Constrast this situation with the departure of assistant City Manager Ben Brown, as reported (unposted) in this week’s Rhino:
…Brown is going to walk across Phill G. McDonald Plaza at the beginning of next month, not for a meeting but to report to his new job as assistant Guilford County manager.
It’s a pretty unusual move, and at least some Greensboro city councilmembers are not happy about the way they found out, which was from Guilford County commissioners and not from City Manager Mitch Johnson.
….City Councilmember Mike Barber said that he found out about Brown’s move from a county employee. He said the county commissioners were notified of Brown’s hiring at least 48 hours before the City Council was notified by the city.
Barber said, “I’ve commented before on our poor communications and this is just another example of it.”
You see what’s going on here: A council member is concerned about keeping the city manager in the loop while the city manager doesn’t bother to notify the city council about a key personnel change. We saw this over and over again with the former city council. The city manager pretty much does what he wants and the city council stands around scratching its collective head.
Promises were made during the last council election. I realize the new council hasn’t been in session very long, and perhaps we see a true effort to oversee and question moves made by career bureaucrats. I can’t say it looks promising so far, though.
All that said, this is a bold move for newcomer Zack Matheny. I can’t say I was all that impressed with his demeanor at the last city council meeting. It will be interesting to see how he performs in the future.
