Tag Archives: Amarillo City Council

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Our city’s mayor needs to pound the bully pulpit

Amarillo has a curious form of government.

It invests a lot of power in its city manager. That’s not so curious. Strong-manager governments prosper all over the country.

The curiousness is derived in the City Council. All five of them are elected at-large. That includes the mayor, who under the city charter has little actual greater power than the rest of the council members.

They all represent the same citywide constituency. They all get paid the same whopping $10 per meeting.

The mayor cannot appoint anyone by himself or herself. He or she can’t issue executive edicts. The charter ties the mayor’s hands.

The mayor, though, does preside over the weekly council meetings and, better still, can become the face and the voice for the city — if he or she chooses to exercise that role. The mayor’s power is more or less implied.

I’ve watched several mayors up front in my 22 years living in Amarillo. They’ve all acted with varying degrees of effectiveness in using the office as a bully pulpit.

Kel Seliger didn’t strike me as being that out front on municipal issues; Trent Sisemore came along after Seliger and he was even less vocal in espousing city policies; Debra McCartt elevated the office’s profile quite a bit by (a) seeming to be everywhere at once and (b) promoting the city’s initiative to install red-light cameras at intersections to prevent motor vehicle accidents; Paul Harpole also has used the office to promote downtown revitalization and graffiti abatement.

Harpole more than likely is going to call it a career by declining to run for re-election this May. He hasn’t said so publicly, but the presence of a particular individual in the still-developing field of possible mayor candidates tells me Harpole has given his blessing to someone else.

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Which brings me to Ginger Nelson, a lawyer and downtown redevelopment advocate. She currently is one of three individuals declaring their intention to run for mayor. The other two are businessman Jeremy Taylor and photo archivist Renea Dauntes. I don’t know the latter two and I only recently met Nelson, who I have determined to be a most impressive and engaging individual. She also has earned her civic involvement chops by virtue of her service on the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation board. My friends in the business community cannot speak highly enough of her commitment to the city and her experience in furthering Amarillo’s future.

What kind of trait should the next mayor exhibit, given the relatively weak nature of the office? To my way of thinking, it should be in the willingness to pound the bully pulpit and to speak eloquently — even loudly, when needed — about the direction the city is headed.

I recently heard Nelson make a pitch for the Amarillo Building, which she owns with her husband, Kevin. I was blown away, to be candid, by her enthusiasm for that project and the eloquence with which she spoke about the city’s future.

Do the other two candidates bring that kind of gravitas to the race? We’ll learn that in due course, correct?

The city has been through a relatively rough period in the past year or so. The city manager has quit; we welcomed an interim manager who, we found out, has a big mouth and he used it inappropriately a couple of times before he, too, quit abruptly; the council has selected five finalists for the permanent manager’s job and will present them to the public quite soon.

Voters elected three fellows to the council in May and June 2015. Their performance has presented a mixed bag of success and some grimace-producing embarrassments as they’ve clashed with the current mayor, Harpole.

The next mayor has to present a strong public profile and must be willing and able to make the office an even greater instrument for the city’s growth. I think Ginger Nelson would fill that need … but I will wait to hear also from any of the others who are willing to make the commitment to public service.

Every election cycle is important; that’s what they always say. This one, though, appears to be even more important than most.

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Getting to know a possible mayor

I shook the hand of a most engaging young woman today.

She is a candidate for Amarillo mayor. I had heard from friends of mine around the city that she’s the real article: smart, articulate, dedicated to the city’s well-being.

I am a believer.

Ginger Nelson spoke to the Rotary Club of Amarillo today at noon. She wasn’t there to talk about her mayoral candidacy. She spoke to us about her ownership of the Amarillo Building, which she and her husband Kevin have owned for the past several years.

A mutual friend of ours introduced me to her when I arrived at our meeting venue.

I believe she would do a marvelous job as the city mayor. The first impression I got was, well, impressive.

https://highplainsblogger.com/2016/12/welcome-to-the-fray-mayoral-candidate-nelson/

I was impressed by the passion with which she spoke about the Amarillo Building, which has a remarkable history. Nelson — a lawyer and a former member of the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation — offers a vision of how our past shapes our future. She seems to believe the Amarillo Building’s past is just a prologue to whatever comes along.

To hear her deliver the message and to hear the love she has in that piece of downtown Amarillo property is to get a brief preview of how this person could use the mayor’s office as the bulliest of pulpits.

My strongest sense, given her commitment to economic development and the need for the city to pull together as one, is that she will use that pulpit with great wisdom.

Ginger Nelson looks — at first glance — like the real deal.

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Get this one right, City Council

Amarillo’s city charter gives the City Council the power to make precisely one hiring decision: the council hires the city manager.

The five individuals who comprise the council, therefore, have to get this one right. There shouldn’t be any do-overs. They cannot foist it onto someone else. The strong-manager form of government for Amarillo gives the manager the authority to hire all other department heads.

The first hiring decision that the council makes, though, involves the individual who will grab the levers of government and implement council policy. The council is blessed — surprisingly so — with a strong stable of finalists from which to choose.

Thus, the council has only one thing it ought to consider as it ponders the choices for the city manager job: Which one of the five men selected as finalists is the best individual for the post.

The council, though, is getting a bit side-tracked. Imagine that. It’s arguing over how to structure the salary it will pay the manager.

Forget that stuff, council members!

The city paid its previous city manager and the guy who served as interim a handsome salary of more than $200,000 annually. Whoever gets the job next presumably will be the most qualified of the individuals who are competing for the job as chief municipal administrator.

Settle on that matter exclusively, council members. Don’t get caught up in some nickel-and-dime dickering over whether to negotiate a salary package based on an individual’s qualifications.

This is a huge deal, council members.

Get … it … right!

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Wrong again … for the right reasons

I am not too proud to admit being mistaken and heaven knows I’ve had plenty of opportunities during the recent election season to acknowledge as much.

For instance, Donald J. Trump is going to become president of the United States over my intense belief that he didn’t have a prayer of defeating Hillary Rodham Clinton.

What do I know?

Accordingly, I was mistaken in fearing that Amarillo’s City Hall turmoil would make it next to impossible for the city to attract top-drawer candidates for the job of city manager. One critic of my blog sought to put words in my mouth by asserting I said the city would fail miserably in that effort. I actually didn’t make that prediction.

My fear was aimed at the potential for failure.

https://highplainsblogger.com/2016/11/atkinson-lands-on-his-feet-amarillo-still-on-the-deck/

This is a case — unlike the presidential election example — where I am glad to have been wrong in my speculation.

Amarillo had drawn a candidate pool of around 30 applicants. The City Council then culled that pool down to five finalists, whose names were announced this week.

I’ve had a chance to pore through the resumes that were posted at Amarillo.gov and I find these individuals to be — to a man — seemingly qualified to become Amarillo’s chief administrator.

The council has been debating among its members about how it will decide on a salary for whomever council members select. Do they offer a salary or do they negotiate with the individual chosen based on the person’s experience? I’ll wait for another day to possibly offer a comment.

Today, though, I want to offer an ever-so-humble mea culpa.

My optimism is being restored a little bit at a time that the council will find someone who can do the tough job of shepherding the city through its myriad changes and challenges.

I don’t like being wrong about the city’s ability to find a good crop of candidates. Liking it is far different from acknowledging it — and I acknowledge my error with a healthy dose of hope that Amarillo can continue its journey toward a brighter future.

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City manager slate looks solid, competent

Amarillo City Council members might have delivered their constituents an early Christmas present.

It comes in the form of a slate of five finalists for city manager, each of whom appears qualified, competent and able to lead the administration of a city on the move.

To be totally candid, the on-paper quality of the finalists surprises me, given the tempest, turmoil and tumult that’s been City Hall’s curse for the past year. Councilman Mark Nair believes the quality of the finalists is a testament to the perception beyond the city limits that Amarillo is a fine place to work and do business.

One of the finalists, interestingly, is Bob Cowell, the current interim city manager. It’s interesting to me because Cowell didn’t apply for the permanent job when it came open after City Manager Jarrett Atkinson quit shortly after the City Council — with its three new members — took office in the summer of 2015. He thinks City Hall has achieved a level of stability that makes the manager’s job more attractive.

The finalists comprise a number of individuals — all of whom are white males, by the way — with many years of municipal government experience. Some have been city managers; others have county government exposure. Four of the finalists have extensive experience in Texas local government, which in itself is a positive element to bring to this job.

Who’s the favorite? I haven’t a clue. I won’t go there, given my abysmal track record of predicting such things.

Check out the link below. It contains the resumes of all five finalists.

http://amarillo.com/local-news/2016-12-23/amarillo-city-council-selects-city-manager-finalists

I do, though, want to restate an earlier comment about who should make this selection. I believe the current council needs to move on this; it need not wait for the May 2017 election and hand this task off to the next City Council. The city charter gives the council the authority to make this hiring decision, which is the only one the council makes under our strong-manager form of government.

I get that the city has gone too long as it is without a permanent chief administrator. The former interim city manager, Terry Childers, was supposed to stay on the job until after the next election. Then he exhibited some profoundly bad form by mouthing off with a profane epithet to a constituent during a City Council meeting.

Childers submitted his letter of resignation, cleared out his office and hit the road.

He’s a goner.

Amarillo’s future — with a big downtown redevelopment project already underway, along with initiatives throughout the city — awaits the next city manager, whoever he is.

Merry Christmas, y’all.

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Go ahead, City Council, and pick a city manager

The question has been raised publicly in Amarillo: Should the current City Council select the next city manager or should it hold off until after the May 2017 municipal election?

The city’s daily newspaper, the Globe-News, editorialized today that the council needs to wait for the election and let the next council make the call. Its reason is that the council has dragged its feet for more than a year in finding a permanent successor to Jarrett Atkinson, who resigned and who since has been hired as city manager in Lubbock. So what’s the rush now?

http://amarillo.com/editorial/2016-12-21/editorial-new-council-should-select-city-manager

I’ll take issue with my former employer on this one.

The current council has the authority to act under the city charter. Why not, then, go ahead and make the call?

The council recently announced plans to cull the list of applicants down to 10 or so semi-finalists. From that shortened list, it will select a crop of finalists and then present them to the public. Then it will make the only direct hiring decision the charter allows the council to deliver.

Look at it this way: The council’s authority to make the decision doesn’t diminish just because an election is just six months away. The council’s power to select a city manager is as valid as, say, the power vested in the president of the United States to make an appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Recall that Barack Obama recommended Merrick Garland to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put the brakes on that process by declaring the president is a “lame duck” and that the next president needs to make the appointment. McConnell played pure partisan politics by stonewalling this appointment process.

A City Council delay in naming a city manager could smell just as rank.

The city needs a permanent hand at the municipal till. Yes, the city has a competent interim manager in Bob Cowell, who well might be among the finalists selected by the council when it makes that critical decision.

If the city was to wait until after the May election, then it would just be another two years before the next election, in 2019. One might argue that a two-year window between elections is too brief as it is.

The current council well might face a stout challenge at the ballot box this spring. There are rumblings all over the city that Mayor Paul Harpole is going to step aside. What about the rest of them?

So, my own feeling is that the current council ought to proceed and do what it should have done months ago. It should pick a competent, strong and fair-minded chief city administrator who exhibits the potential to work well with whomever takes office after the next municipal election.

There is no compelling reason to wait. The city charter gives the current council the authority to act.

And it should.

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A new Amarillo city manager on the horizon?

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Amarillo might not be wallowing in the administrative darkness much longer, according to Mayor Paul Harpole.

Good deal? Let’s hope so.

The City Council reportedly has culled a list of 30 or so city manager applicants to around 10 … give or take an undisclosed number. Harpole said the council will announce a list of finalists quite soon, maybe next week.

Then the city will interview the finalists in a sort of public audition, Harpole explained.

http://amarillo.com/local-news/2016-12-20/amarillo-city-council-narrows-hunt-city-manager

This public audition more or less falls in line with what has been done at Amarillo College as it has sought to select college presidents. It’s a good way to go. It enables the public to size up the individuals who are competing for a chance to assume a highly public office.

In the case of the city manager, we’re talking about someone who would oversee a significant government bureaucracy. He or she will command a budget of several hundred million dollars, which pay for services for a city comprising around 200,000 residents.

Amarillo City Hall has been through a pretty rough spell for the past year or so.

City Manager Jarrett Atkinson quit more than a year ago. The City Council hired an interim manager, Terry Childers, who immediately got into a significant public relations kerfuffle involving a misplaced briefcase and the Amarillo Emergency Communications Center. The council commenced a search, then called it off. Childers then popped off to a constituent and called him a “stupid son of a b****.” Childers then quit and went back to Oklahoma City.

This is the backdrop that the crop of finalists will confront.

The winner of this contest then will get to steady the municipal ship.

Let’s all hope for the best as the council proceeds with the only hiring decision the City Charter empowers it to make.

The City Council needs to get this one right.

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Two candidates for mayor … with likely more to declare

amarillo

Jeremy Bryant has joined Ginger Nelson in the race for Amarillo mayor.

The filing season opens officially Jan. 18 and concludes on Feb. 17. So it is not yet a lead-pipe cinch that these two individuals are going to actually be on the May municipal ballot. They say they will, so we’ll take them at their word.

Bryant is a businessman; Nelson is a lawyer. Both are pledging to restore “unity” to City Hall.

This is possibly shaping up as a most lively Amarillo City Council ballot. Good deal!

http://amarillo.com/local-news/2016-12-18/second-candidate-emerges-amarillo-mayor

Mayor Paul Harpole hasn’t yet declared his intention; we don’t know if he’ll seek a fourth term or hang it up. My guess is that he’ll call it a public service career … but it’s just a guess.

With two candidates already declaring their intention to run for mayor so early in the election cycle, it stands to reason to believe that more are on their way to City Hall to file their campaign papers.

And that’s just for the mayor’s office!

I’m wondering now what the future holds for the rest of the council. Three seats are occupied by individuals who were elected in May 2015 promising to be the agents of “change” for a city they contended had grown stale and too secretive.

They brought change, all right. The city manager and city attorney quit. They hired an interim city manager who served for a whole year before he decided to bail, but only after he muttered a profane epithet at a constituent.

What will the ballot challenge hold for those guys. One of them, Elisha Demerson, might run for mayor; another one, Mark Nair, is reported to be considering whether he wants to seek a second term; still another council member, Randy Burkett, appears the most likely incumbent to run again.

Then we have the fifth council member, Lisa Blake, who was appointed to fill the vacancy created when Brian Eades quit and left the city. Blake is untouched by the dysfunction that’s been demonstrated during the past two years.

I do hope we get a full ballot in 2017. Amarillo voters would be well-served by being given the chance to hear from a lot of candidates who believe they can do better than those who are already on the job.

I am looking forward to seeing if my wish comes true.

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Amarillo mayor’s race produces a fascinating dynamic

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Let’s focus for a moment on two individuals who might run against each other to become mayor of Amarillo.

One of them is Elisha Demerson, a member of the Amarillo City Council who is generating some community chatter about his apparent desire to be mayor. He might have a decision to make, given the announcement that came this week from the other individual I want to discuss.

That would be Ginger Nelson, who has announced her mayoral candidacy. Nelson is quitting her post on the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation to focus entirely on running for mayor.

Nelson also is producing a lot of buzz around the city. The business community appears to be rallying behind her. A banker friend of mine told me today that Nelson is the real deal: “She’s articulate, smart and has the city’s best interests at heart,” my friend said. Others with whom I am acquainted have said the very same thing about her.

Understand this, too. I don’t know Nelson. I haven’t met her. I’d like to visit with her at some point prior to the election. So, I just might do that.

Oh, and what about the current mayor, Paul Harpole? I’m hearing he’s going to call it a public service career and will make room for Nelson.

Where does all this political intrigue leave Demerson?

I believe it forces him to seek to retain his council seat rather than mounting a futile campaign to defeat someone with Nelson’s chops.

You see, much of the support for Nelson comes from those who believe the City Council’s dysfunction is unacceptable. That dysfunction began appearing immediately after three new council members took office after the May 2015 city election. The city manager and the city attorney quit. The assistant city manager retired.

One of the new council members was Elisha Demerson. Coincidence? I think not.

I know Demerson only a little. We’ve been acquainted for a number of years. His years on the Potter County Commissioners Court predate my arrival in Amarillo, but I’ve learned about the rocky time he had as county judge.

His brief tenure on the City Council also coincides with additional rockiness. Is there a pattern here … or what?

So, with the municipal election about six months away, we’re already getting set to view a bit of political drama.

As if we haven’t had enough of it already for the past two years.

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Welcome to the fray, mayoral candidate Nelson

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I do not know Ginger Nelson, other than what I’ve heard about her.

Solid citizen, seasoned lawyer, dedicated to Amarillo’s economic future, smart, idealistic, well-educated … and all the other good things one attaches to those who seek public office.

Nelson is running for Amarillo mayor. Hers is the first name on the municipal ballot that I expect will fill to the brim by the time registration closes for the May 2017 election.

The story I saw in the Amarillo Globe-News didn’t mention, though, a word about the current mayor, Paul Harpole.

http://amarillo.com/news/2016-12-14/it-s-official-amarillo-has-1st-mayoral-candidate

A little birdie or two has told me Harpole isn’t going to seek re-election. Officially, he’s undecided. My strong hunch is that he likely won’t run now that Nelson is running.

Nelson brings a good bit of civic involvement to this race, stemming mostly from her work on the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation, an organization near and dear to Harpole’s heart.

It stands to reason, therefore, that a candidate with strong AEDC ties likely could preclude the incumbent from seeking another term. Nelson said she’s quitting the AEDC to devote all her energy to winning the mayor’s seat.

I think this bodes well for a City Council that has been roiled in conflict since the May 2015 election. Harpole has been part of what former interim City Manager Terry Childers called the “dysfunction” at City Hall.

A fresh face and fresh ideas — along with a demonstrated commitment to economic growth and stability — might be just what the city needs at this juncture of its redevelopment. It’s been a rough ride at times during the past two years: the resignation of a city manager and the abrupt departure of his interim replacement; ongoing hiccups with downtown redevelopment and the relocation of a baseball franchise to Amarillo; occasional flaring of tempers among City Council members.

I’ll await along with the rest of the city’s residents Mayor Harpole’s decision on whether he intends to run. My grumbling gut tells me he’s out, paving the way for someone of Ginger Nelson’s leanings to seek to guide the city toward a bright future.