“We finally get together and lay out what we want; staff has come up with a plan and now we are throwing up road blocks,” said Councilwoman Francie Payne at the Holbrook City Council meeting on April 24 with regard to the strategic planning draft presented by Community Development Director Kathleen Smith. “If we only trust them for two weeks, then at least let us get started,” continued Payne, at a meeting that ended with the City Manager Randy Sullivan walking out, leaving the council with no choice but to table the discussion.
The discussion that created the walk-out started with Smith handing out a first draft of the strategic plan that had been created as a result of the planning session on April 17.
Smith reminded the council that the document was a work in progress that would grow with the ideas and input of both the council and staff. Within the document were outlined 10 goals, with the first five being the priority list the council had named in the planning session.
Smith noted that code enforcement and beautification were the top two items requested by the council and quickly stepped the council through how to read and understand the draft, taking the number one priority of code enforcement as her example.
“We have this strategic goal of code enforcement, which includes staffing, policy and procedures. It will require a full-time staff person to do the job and the department which will oversee that person still needs to be determined,” Smith said.
During the discussion after Smith’s presentation, it became clear that the council was concerned over the full cost of the projects as well as the expense of hiring a code enforcement officer. Payne requested that an estimated budget be added to the action items within the plan so it would be easier to determine whether it could be done right away or would need to wait for more funding.
Councilman C.J. Wischmann said that the anticipated man hours needed to be included, stating that it was prudent to know whether a job being done by someone getting $30 an hour could be done by someone receiving less.
Councilman Tim Dixon said he wanted to see a record of the volunteer hours given to each project, noting that it was the volunteers at the Holbrook Animal Shelter that made it what it currently is.
Then Wischmann asked Smith, “Do we need any additional employees to implement this plan?”
“At this point I don’t see the need,” Smith said. “If we see a need in the future, then we can discuss it.”
Looking at the portion of the document that talked about the code enforcement officer, Mayor Bobby Tyler asked Sullivan, “Is this going to be for this year or next, because we were told we didn’t have enough money in the budget for anything extra.”
Initially Sullivan responded, “We are going to try to plan to hire a code enforcement officer. For the last couple of years there has been a push for code enforcement. The best way to handle that is to hire an officer.” Sullivan went on to explain that when he first hired on to work with the city, there were two code enforcement officers, but in 2008 when the budget crunch took place, the number of officers was reduced to zero.
“Code enforcement goes hand-in-hand with beautification as well as zoning and grants,” noted Sullivan. “There is a process that after two or three violations it goes to the attorney. If there is a way we can save on professional service fees and get more one-on-one time with the folks who are breaking the code, then we might find greater resolution.”
“Have you hired or offered that position yet,” asked Dixon.
Sullivan admitted that he had started the hiring process, as the job had been posted on April 19, and that he was planning on hiring the only applicant who had applied, early next week. There was no salary listed with the posting, which was on the city website and at the library. (In a later interview with Director of Administration Pat Nichols as to the amount of salary being offered, Nichols said that Sullivan had not given him an amount, rather said it would depend on the experience the candidate offered.)
“There is a point where you hire me to do a job and you have to trust me to carry out your vision,” said Sullivan. “If you want code enforcement then I am going to carry out that vision and get a staff member who does that.”
Wischmann noted that the council is continually being told there is no money for this or that, and said, “I can understand asking for a code enforcement officer in the new budget and I see it happening, but I don’t see it happening past tense.”
“I have to stand with Councilman Wischmann, because a week ago, we didn’t have money and now we are hiring someone,” said Tyler.
“You are micromanaging me to death and this is ridiculous,” said Sullivan, as he stood up and walked out of the council meeting.
After a pause, Wischmann said, “Since the city manager has walked out, I move that we table this item.” The item was tabled with Councilman Earl Kester, Wischmann, Dixon and Tyler voting in favor of the tabling and Councilman Richard Peterson and Payne abstaining.
All council members were present at the meeting with exception of Vice Mayor Wade Carlisle.
