Tag Archives: city manager

local news

High expectation for city manager

Mike Mashburn became Princeton’s city manager after a lengthy interview process with the mayor and reportedly a few senior city staffers.

He was introduced to the City Council, which met him in executive session; the council came back into open session and approved his appointment unanimously.

OK. Then came a peculiar event. The council approved a contract that pays the first-time chief municipal administrator a base salary of $240,000 annually. Not bad for a chief executive rookie. Then came a decision to give the new guy a bump in salary and an extension on his contract.

Get this: The new man hasn’t done anything — yet! — that commends a pay bump and a contract extension.

Mayor Brianna Chacon appears to be so high on this fellow that she is willing to pitch a pay and benefit increase on the hope that he’ll be a huge success.

Mashburn came to Princeton from Farmers Branch, where he served as an assistant city manager with duties that emphasized park development.

I have shaken Mashburn’s hand a couple of times. We haven’t yet spoken about anything of substance. I am struck, however, by the speed with which the council acted in approving the pay increase and contract extension.

Wouldn’t he first have to demonstrate his value? Wouldn’t the new city manager have to prove he is worth the faith that his employers have placed in him? That’s how they seem to do it in the world of private employment.

local news

Wish granted: Atkinson quits manager post

ama city council

Amarillo’s three newest City CouncilĀ members took office this spring with guns blazing.

One of them, Mark Nair, took his hand off the Bible on which he swore to serve the city and called immediately for City Manager Jarrett Atkinson’s resignation.

Cooler heads prevailed. For a brief period.

Atkinson didn’t quit. He stayed on and declared he was happy the city was moving ahead. I guess he wasn’t as happy as he said.

Atkinson tendered his resignation late Monday. The council may decide today when he’ll serve his last day.

This is an unhappy development for our city.

I happen to be an Amarillo taxpayer who believes Atkinson received mistreatment at the hands of the new council majority.

Let’s look briefly at a few things.

  • Amarillo maintains a famously low municipal property tax rate.
  • The city continues to enjoy excellent credit ratings by associations that that make those determinations.
  • Construction is booming all over the city. Homes are being built. Commercial property is being developed. The city, working with state highway planners, is improving our traffic infrastructure.
  • And, yes, downtown’s rebirth is proceeding.

The city’s chief executive officer doesn’t deserve all the credit for these developments. Nor does he deserve the blame for the political unrest that produced a new City Council majority whose aim now appears to be to stall — if not stop — the city’s planned effort to revive its downtown district.

The new fellows — Nair, Randy Burkett and Elisha Demerson — all pledged to “change” the way things got done at City Hall.

Well, gentlemen, you’re about to get your wish.

City Attorney Marcus Norris resigned. Assistant City Manager Vicki Covey retired.

Now the city has lost its chief executive officer as the council argues among its members over whether to keep funding Downtown Amarillo Inc., which to date has been a vital component in the city’s effort to reshape its downtown district.

Let’s see how this plays out as the city now begins its search for a manager to take control of the municipal wheel.

Council members make precisely one hire. It’s the city manager.

Good luck, guys, in your search for someone willing to step into this maelstrom.

 

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What's up at Amarillo City Hall?

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I posted a blog recently about the Amarillo Animal Control Department troubles and suggested that the verdict may be in on the fate of the two top animal control officials who have been put on “administrative leave.”

Let them go, I argued.

Then I got a comment from someone who said the city manager should take the fall for what’s going on at City Hall.

I’ve been thinking about that and my critic may have opened a possible discussion point that’s worth examining.

What about City Manager Jarrett Atkinson’s time at the City Hall helm? It’s been a bit of a rocky ride over there. Let me stipulate that I’ve known Atkinson for a number of years. I respect his knowledge on key issues, such as water management.

However …

I can count four significant missteps on Atkinson’s watch.

* Airport manager Scott Carr quit his job suddenly in 2010. The circumstances of his departure were a bit mysterious. He left while Atkinson was serving as interim city manager after Alan Taylor had retired. The city paid Carr a substantial amount of money even after he left the city’s employment and Atkinson did not say at the time whether Carr was asked to quit. What gives with that?

* After Taylor Withrow retired in 2011 as city traffic engineer, Amarillo hired a new traffic man who, it turned out, had gotten into some serious trouble at his previous traffic engineer post in Florida. Jihad el-Eid didn’t tell the city about any of that and no one at the city apparently bothered to do its due diligence to check the individual’s work history. It turned out he was indicted in a bribery scandal and he fled Amarillo. The city fired el-Eid and then instituted a stricter vetting process for city employees.

* Amarillo sought in 2013 and early 2014 to develop a new logo. It paid a local public-relations firm to craft the design. The city then rejected the proposal submitted by the firm and turned to a city employee, who submitted a logo proposal. One problem emerged: The logo was a virtual copy of a logo already in use by a private company based in the United Arab Emirates. The firm threatened to sue for copyright infringement. The city, which wrote a letter of apology to the firm, scrapped the logo, then took part in a community-wide contest to produce a new design. Local artist Tyler Mitchell’s proposal was accepted. The city still hasn’t revealed the identity of the employee who turned in the copied logo.

* Animal control officials Mike McGee and Shannon Barlow were placed on administrative leave after officials revealed that abandoned/unwanted/stray animals were being euthanized improperly. The Randall County Criminal District Attorney’s Office is deciding whether to proceed with indictment proceedings in the case; a grand jury is expected to decide any day whether to issue criminal indictments. The city then disclosed that it has revamped its euthanasia policies.

That’s four significant items. All of them occurred while Atkinson has been running the city. Under the city charter, the city manager is in Big Man on Campus at City Hall. He runs everything. The city pays the manager handsomely to have his hands on all the levers, ensuring the city runs well.

These kinds of mistakes shouldn’t have occurred. Are they firing offenses?

Well, I’ll leave that to the City Council decide. The council hires one individual, the city manager, who it entrusts to make all other key personnel and administrative decisions. I do believe, though, that someone on the council needs to start asking the city manager some tough questions about how these mistakes keep occurring.

What’s more, I am trying to imagine these kinds of errors and embarrassments happening on, say, the late John Stiff’s watch. It’s been said Stiff ran an airtight operation at City Hall.

Has the place sprung some leaks?