ETHICS &
COMMON SENSE MANAGEMENT
"Ethics are about the choices you make when there are no cameras to play to and nobody's watching."
Brian Kennedy
Ethics... rooted in principles of integrity, honesty, accountability and fairness... guide the actions of elected officials to ensure the community and their constituents that they can trust their elected officials are working on their behalf. Private agendas, self-serving interests and drama give you critical personnel positions filled with dramatically unqualified people who don't have your interests ar heart based on patronage, cronyism, nepotism.
ABOUT THE CITY MANAGER...
The City Manager reports to City Council. It's up to the Council to keep things in check. They didn't.
We weren't holding the City Manager accountable. Quite the contrary! City Council basically abdicated their oversight responsibilities to the City Manager. The power of the City Manager had run rampant. Over the years... one small amendment at a time.,. the scope and powers of the City Manager creeped way beyond the original intent. On his last day, Tommy Gonzalez could transfer $1 million dollars of funds without anybody's approval
Ask yourself, “Why weren't we holding leadership accountable?” Drawing a blank? Me too.
THE GOOD NEWS
Tommy Gonzales was released from his contract with a vote taken on a motion made by Brian Kennedy.
Under the masterful hand of Interim City Manager, Cary Westin, we've gone from a fiefdom to a new attitude of trust and collaboration that has made it possible for Council to work closely with departments to find practical solutions to some of our most critical problems.
Interim City Manager's approval limits were reset to $50,000.
Through attrition an expensive extra layer of management created by Tommy Gonzales has been allowed to dissipate.
The Financial Oversight and Advisory Committee (FOAC), chaired by Brian Kennedy, started to brood out misuse of city funds. After an extensive review of audit data and video, FOAC sent their report to City Council who issued a reprimand to a Council member for misuse of City funds for personal benefit.
That's why it's important to have someone at the table that's committed to growth, understands compromise, looks for creative solutions and NEVER FORGETS they are there to represent your interest.
