Is anyone else totally appalled by the City Manager candidates? (Savannah: credit, salary)

[gentlearts]

..and to think they paid a company to come up with these candidates. No offense to any candidate who is not unbondable, was not fired from his last job, or who plays well with others.
Are they trying to tell me that there is no qualified candidate in Savannah? Unbelievable.

[912]

The only candidate that seems worth a darn is that Pat Di(whatever) from San Antonio. He appears to have his stuff together. The current interim City Manager needs to be removed from office immediately!

[Padgett2]

When you look at the date that they left doing the city manager type job, you just have to wonder what they have been doing lately to earn a living.

[ellie]

It's pretty bad, isn't it? I also am terribly aggravated that the whole thing is becoming a racially poisoned trap. Once that starts, no one, regardless of qualifications, will ever be free of a a cloud of scandal.

[912]

Originally Posted by ellie

It's pretty bad, isn't it? I also am terribly aggravated that the whole thing is becoming a racially poisoned trap. Once that starts, no one, regardless of qualifications, will ever be free of a a cloud of scandal.

Mayor Otis "Don't go there" Johnson will see that race is injected into this race. I hate to say that, but it's painfully evident.

Watch this video: City of Savannah announces city manager finalists - WTOC, Savannah, Georgia, news, weather and sports |

[bellhead]

Reading between the lines the other day in the paper you could tell he was more than a little upset his favorite Rochell Small-Toney's credit problem was released. There are reasons why people who are in charge of finances need to have good personal credit and show personal reliability. Johnson said whoever leaked the "personal info" would be fired immediately. It would be pretty funny if it was a council member who "leaked" the info.

Whatever the outcome though there needs to be an investigation into why the law was broken and she wasn't removed within the 3 month grace period which was the time frame given to her to be bonded. If you cannot be bonded for 50k when the salary is 190k you have some serious skeletons in her closet which are pretty glaring. If the mayor made the decision to keep her in the position and keep it quiet then he made the decision to break the law and he needs to be removed. Also criminal charges should be explored based upon which laws were broken.

[gentlearts]

Originally Posted by 912

The only candidate that seems worth a darn is that Pat Di(whatever) from San Antonio. He appears to have his stuff together. The current interim City Manager needs to be removed from office immediately!

As if a "yankee" could get the job.

[DanielAvery]

It was obvious from the start (to me, anyway) that the mayor had already decided whom he wanted in the job, and frankly I was not really paying attention to the "selection process" for that reason. Did it matter who the others being considered for the job were, their qualifications, etc, when the fix was already in? My first indication of trouble on the horizon was when the mayor disclosed the races of the five (now four) finalists days before their actual names. Part of me couldn't help wincing, since it seemed to indicate what was foremost in the mind of the mayor.

I was genuinely shocked at the mayor's pissy reaction to the reporter's justifiable questions about Ms. Small-Toney's bonding problem. If he genuinely believes that her bonding situation is none of our business--well, then he needs to re-read the City Charter. Heck, he needs to take Civics 101. That's not how an elected official should behave, and I'm sure he is privately kicking himself for acting like a bully on camera like that. One thing for sure: if I were one of the other potential candidates, I would likely drop out of the running, since that snippy little display made it crystal clear that the mayor and his buds have already made their choice. Even if I were to miraculously be hired, I would have to deal with the knowledge that I was not "really" wanted, and every little move I made would be scrutinized by a mayor eager to fire me and say "I told you so" to the voters.

Would the mayor have been so willing to look like a jerk defending one of the other potential candidates if they had been discovered to have such a glaring stumbling-block toward being hired? Please! I'm sure the search firm used lesser issues than this bonding thing to weed out others who had applied.

I'm not the first to say it, but I think the reason we have the pool of choices that we do (all of whom have certain strikes against them) is because they wanted to stack the deck in Ms. Small-Toney's favor. The best way to look best is to surround yourself with ugly people! They didn't count on someone leaking the information about her inability to be bonded, and the mayor's pathetic display showed only an anger at the whistle blower, not the person who has been working in an extremely sensitive position without proper paperwork.

The voters deserved to know a top city official was basically ineligible for her position and continuing in the position anyway. For the mayor to adopt a "kill the messenger" attitude without offering to address the interim CM's ineligibility issues was insulting to the electorate. It smelled of "we're above the law".

And if they do ever find out who blew the whistle, I hope this person will adopt an "I dare you to fire me" attitude and goes public. There are whistle-blower laws in place just for these types of situations.

[912]

Originally Posted by gentlearts

As if a "yankee" could get the job.

You mean white man?

[ellie]

Or the Italian guy from Texas?

You know, I'm sorry to say this now, but I voted for Otis Johnson the first time he ran for office. I was behind him 100% and felt confident he would work to keep Savannah moving forward. Yes, people didn't seem to be nearly as biased before Johnson. I really believed that we were becoming a modern Southern city where people tried hard not to pre-judge one another based on their skin color. I was proud of it, in fact.

I'm disgusted and discouraged that we've lost so much ground.