Forgive me, folks. I was out of town for a few days on business.
Some catching-up now:
I leave town for a couple of days and find the City Manager has been ousted?
Holy cow.
Sure, there was no love between the Mayor, it was known,but thrown out, just like that?
I read the article in The Kansas City Star about this thing and it has flags all over it. Following are some questions:
1) Why did Mr. Cauthen have to go? What did he do? Was it just poor work or was there something(s) inappropriate? Or both? I can't believe nothing has been said on this--and there should be. The Star needs to step up to the table and report on this very question.
2) The replacement is from podunk Marengo, Iowa?? Population 2,500?? Are you kidding me? To run Kansas City, Missouri?
3) The replacement guy was also hired without a current resume' or an interview, according to the Star. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?? I can't get hired to walk dogs without both of these things. How did this hayseed from corn-country get hired to run a city of Kansas City's size without both of the above?? "Oh, you do your job okay so I guess you can run the city, at least for a while, if you will. And while you're at it, here's $3,600.00 a week. Will that do?"
4) This is the perfect story for the Star. Is the newspaper researching this stuff, to find the answers?
5) Was or is anything remotely inappropriate (read: illegal) about this done or involved in any way--either the ouster or the new-hire?
And, just like when we fire our School Superintendents, it looks as though this is going to cost us around $250,000.00 to pay Cauthen to go away. But what the heck, it's just money, right? And in the meantime, we'll be paying the new guy the equivalent of $187,200.00 a year to possibly learn the job. And do a good one, it's hoped.
There are more questions to be asked, for sure, but I'll stop here. That's plenty for right now.
Stay tuned.
Links to stories: http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics/story/1584137.html
http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics/story/1587348.html
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4 comments:
There are so many things wrong with this post I don't know if I can cover them, but here goes on a few points:
The City Manager did a LOUSY job. Our budget has been running at huge deficits for several years... that's HIS job and he takes the blame. He also transferred huge sums of money from one department to another without filing an ordinance, thereby breaking another city ordinance; he used tax dollars from the HEALTH LEVY to prop up one of his buddies in a worthless, yet highly compensated, job; he worked in cahoots with others in staff and on council to award no-bid big contracts; he illegally made a political contribution to an organization with a CITY CREDIT CARD, and he was listed on the MO Ethics financial filing as the donor; he hired staff at the demands of City Council, thereby violating the ethics rules; he took a lot of city "business" trips on weekend; he hired a CFO who is currently enrolled in Basic Accounting and couldn't account his way out of a wet paper bag; he essentially lied to a Council Committee on more than one occasion, despite there being written evidence to the contrary... these are just off the top of my head... there are plenty more.
Troy Schulte didn't need a resume because he has worked at the City's budget office for 11 years and EVERYONE (including Councilman Ford who has worked with him for eight of those 11 years) knows his education, skills and has worked with him on various financial/budget issues. He is also honest and a standup person.
Cauthen's severance package is huge because the Einsteins who extended his contract two years ago made it that way. AND, if Cauthen hadn't gone overbudget on the mowing budget by 300% and used $400,000 to mow private vacant lots in the third district, we'd have plenty of money to pay his severance.
Troy will do good work. Let him get to work.
Whoa, cowboy.
There aren't "so many things wrong with this post..." I didn't defend Mr. Cauthen once and didn't say Mr. Schulte wasn't worthy of the job.
What I DID say was that we need more information.
All the things you say hasn't been in the paper once, to date, and that's the kind of information, if it's true, that I'm saying the citizens of the city deserve. None of this has been in the news once.
Now, what I'd like to see is the Star--or somebody--research your accusations, see if they're true, and, if true, file legal charges. If not true, he deserves to have his name cleared. Personally, as a voter and taxpayer, I'm tired of politicians doing illegal things and then getting away with them. To repeat, if he's clear, let's see it. If he's dirty, let's see that.
And Troy Schulte does, in fact, need a resume' and the citizens of the city deserve to have had this position filled with someone who interviewed for it.
That's not much to ask for $187,200.00 per year.
Thanks for your note and information, whether merely accusations or true. Let's hope this all gets coverage.
MR
And if he did all these horrible things you say, the Mayor would have been wise to have flagged it publicly, before he pulled this last-minute ousting. That would have been a smart move on his part.
Not that we expect those of the Mayor.
If the Mayor is involved with this, then you know that there are "fishy" things going on behind the scenes. These questions need to be answered, and I agree that we need to have access to Schulte's job qualifications.
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