CityofBlanchard.com
February 3, 2012
Not a Good Beginning for New City Manager by Waite N. See
At the council meeting last week, the first order of business for the new city manager was to have a city ordinance changed that will allow him to move out of Blanchard -- within 10 miles of the school district. If you think about how big our school district is, this is really quite a bit away from our city limits. Do you think he already doesn’t like having to put up with the problems we live with daily? I’ve been told he assured everyone he has no intention of moving out of Blanchard; but if that is true, why was he in such a hurry to have that ordinance changed? I guess we’ll see how good his word is soon enough, but actions speak louder than words.
Second order of business was he wants to hire the previous interim city manager (the one who actually is responsible for finding him for the city) and pay him $22,000 to do what is part of the city manager‘s job. My question is why didn‘t the interim city manager do this job while he was working for the city and we were paying him a big chunk of money -- wasn‘t it $7,000 a month? He worked for the city for at least three months. Does it sound like there is something not quite right about this?
The new city manager has only been on his job for less
than a month and he is already seeking help? I don’t think anyone in Blanchard expects him to have everything done within a month, and I certainly object to wasting money paying someone to do the job we are already paying our city manager to do. This has been something that has waited this long, and it can wait a little bit longer until he has the time to do his job. Take a drive around Blanchard and look at some of the roads … this money would be better spent on them.
Also, it has come to my attention that the new city manager is still under contract to consult with his last job in Coos Bay, Oregon, at his regular monthly pay rate there for three months. Could this be one of the reasons he does not have the time to do his job here? Did the city council know this? Does it sound right that we have to hire someone to help him do his job here while he is still helping them do his old job there?
One thing found on the internet (I do not believe everything I read on it) that concerns me is a Fred Kirby, on March 29, 2011, on MGX website for Coos Bay, says: "What in the holy hell does Bishop do that enables him to make an annual salary with auto and other perks that approaches the salary of deFazio or the governor? How much revenue has Bishop generated for you? How many jobs has he created (that were absolutely required) -- not jobs that he filled after he alone decided they were
required? With so many staff members doing his job, what does he do?" With the new city manager already wanting to hire someone to do what is part of his job after less than a month, makes me wonder if he plans on doing the same here? Our city cannot afford this.
Whatever his reasons are for taking a 50% pay cut to come here, for our town the amount he is being paid is considered an outrageous amount with outrageous benefits, and what our town really can’t afford. That the two councilman who voted to hire him at such an outrageous sum and now voted to hire someone to do part of his job for him seems totally irresponsible and excessively wasteful to me, especially with him still "consulting" for his old job. But, the money these councilmen have been so generous with isn’t theirs … it is ours, the taxpayers!
This is not an attack on the new city manager, it is just pointing out some things that the citizens of Blanchard should have been told and need to watch. Believing everyone should have a chance to prove themselves, I will watch to see what other things the new city manager is going to do or change …. especially those things that benefit only him. I still have hope that he will do a good job for our city and will help to make it an even better place for people to live and start businesses.
But right now, it is not a good beginning.
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