18. C. Elliott- Req. City Council adopt a policy to require the City Manager to submit resumes of applicants for all Boards and Commissions that require City Council confirmation.
Finally City Councilor Rodney Elliot has brought forward a motion to settle the Resume Issue, hopefully once and for all.
I don’t think resume of unsuccessful candidates should be made public but I give Councilor Elliot credit for finally bringing forth a motion that will allow all Councilors to either publicly vote Yay or Nay and we can move on from this matter regardless of what the final vote is.
It is time for all 9 Councilors to either say Yes we want to see all Resume’s or NO we do not need to.
I hope the Councilor gets more specific and states WHEN the council should receive these resume, BEFORE or After the Manager submits a name? The final policy may clear up that question but at least we could see an ending to this issue so the Council can move on to far more important issues.
Thank You to City Clerk Michael Geary who emailed me a copy of the Agenda this morning and informed me he was having issues getting it posted to the website but says it should be up now.
I attached the complete Agenda as a PDF.
1) How is the Solicitor’s Oct. 28th response not clear on this point?
2) 18. C. Elliott- Req. City Council adopt a policy to require the City Manager to submit resumes of applicants for all Boards and Commissions that require City Council confirmation.
Why not every applicant? Why the limitation to “Boards and Commissions.” Didn’t we go around on the Treasurer’s position? Why only go half way on this?
3) If the Council gets the resumes, will they next want the interviews held publicly in the Council Chamber? Will they want to ask the applicants questions?
4) If we allow the Council to intrude upon the the codified responsibility of the CM, where will we finally “split the baby”? Why not just wrench control of this aspect of governance from the CM and lay it fully in the Council’s lap?
I would like to see the resumes required and provided to the Councilors before a vote is taken. If the applicants with ” connections” can’t stand the heat, they should get out of the kitchen.
According to Plan E government, these are not council appointments. The council should stick to what its members are supposed to be doing and not try to pull end-runs. I do not want appointments made based on councilors’ friends, family members, first-grade classmates, etc.
There are critics who say the Plan E form isn’t working. This is a perfect example. It is a city manager appointment NOT a council appointment. 3 applicants were provided by the Central Labor Council for the manager to choose from. He made a decision; now let him live with it. If a councilor wants to see resumes, he/she should go to city hall and peruse to his/her heat’s content but they should not be made public other than basic information.
Personally, the thought of my resume being printed in the Sun or online would prevent me from pursuing any board appointment. There are hoards of qualified people in the city who would love to volunteer their time on a board or commission but do not want to go through this troubling process.