June Column Winner

A Bubble Off Plumb

By Connie Burcham, Watonga Republican

The city council continues to consider whether to change interim city manager Karrie Beth Little back to city manager, no interim, or to seek another city man-ager. Her continued employment will pass, in my opinion. 

That’s wrong for the city. I’m opening a can of worms here because I’m writing about things we know but can’t prove, because people involved are loathe to go on the record for fear of retaliation.

The city is run on a prison mentality. It’s us against them. In this instance, them’ is every-one who is not in the inner circle of the city manager. The city government and employees are ruled, not led. More prison thinking.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Karrie Beth. She has been good for the city, but no more.

Here is my reasoning. She is an obstructionist. Everything must fit her agenda, or it doesn’t hap-pen. But the agenda is a secret. Secrecy isn’t for the good of the people, or the city. 

Code enforcement, for example. What is wrong with a council person asking for the definition of derelict? And asking to see that in person? But apparently it is so serious an infraction as to elicit a response from the city manager that included the threat of job loss.

And apparently that isn’t the only instance of this. There are long-time city employees who are walking on eggshells trying to get to retirement without evoking the wrath of Karrie. 

There have been employees who were hired for one position only to be rerouted to do entirely different work, in some instances because the city manager didn’t want to do it.

Good ideas and successes are all hers, and failures belong to someone else. 

By definition, personnel is the wheelhouse of a city manager. But the department heads should have serious input on who they have on their crews, who stays, who goes and who joins. 

The department heads should be left alone to do their jobs. There are whispers – tons of them – about micromanagement, looking over the shoulders of everyone and making sure that everything has the best face put on it before it goes to the council. For example, don’t write a report or complaint about a poorly performing police officer that goes into the personnel file, just talk to the cop, off the record. This subterfuge even goes so far as accusations that what the council sees as claims – basically the checkbook register – is not a true representation of what is paid to whom. 

And one council member was told if they wanted to know what a particular claim was for, have it broken out into particulars, they would have to file a Freedom of Information Act request so there was a paper trail, and that it might require the council member to have their lawyer write to the city attorney and force compliance. 

That should be a giant red flag. Do I think someone down at city hall is making off with the city coffers? No, I don’t. I don’t think any-one is padding their pockets. And at face value, requiring a records request isn’t always a bad thing. It leaves a paper trail of what was presented to whom for what reason. I’m ok with that.

But I do believe there is a giant shell game going on. Do what the city manager says and nothing more if you want to keep your job. Don’t ask too many questions or your tenure on the city council is going to be unhappy and unproductive.

Some of the council members are unaware, are blinded by loyalty, however misplaced, or have been charmed into complacency. But if the city is to move ahead and grow, a city manager with leadership skills is required, and that is not what we have today. The council has the chance to change direction. The question is whether it has the guts to take it.