At this evening's Council Meeting, there is a good chance that Jerene Watson, Assistant Town Manager for more than 2 years will be promoted to Interim Town Manager.
We know Ms. Watson----not nearly as well as we know David Andrews, but feel she is a nice woman who does her job.
However, we really must ask about the wisdom of the possible action being proposed by Loomis.
Here's the scenario.
1) Loomis orchestrates the removal of David Andrews who for 18 years has served the community with class & dignity, and was so highly respected by the vast majority of the town employees and the town residents.His knowledge and experience are irreplaceable.
2) When asked, Loomis would only say, David was removed "for issues." Loomis & his 3 council "friends" didn't want to "hurt" David by divulging the "issues," so they thought it best that they just force him out and have him worry about getting another job, and trying to sell his house.
3) To accomplish his goal, Loomis & the 3 were obligated to give David a severance package of about $145,000.
4) Now, the proposal is to give Ms. Watson a substantial raise. If Watson accepts the post, she would be paid the equivalent of $152,967 per year. The contract includes deferred compensation of $1,000 per month into a retirement account.
Our readers MUST see the unbelievable financial irresponsibility that Loomis & these 3 plan on.
Firing David----and he was fired, although Loomis wants us to believe he resigned, at a cost of $145K to the taxpayers. Now they're about to give Watson a hefty raise, that will cost US even more.This is not only crazy,it's totally irresponsible.
We should also note that David Andrews did NOT receive any addition compensation when he was promoted from Assistant Manager to Manager. It was more than 2 years before David received a raise.
Vindictiveness is bad enough. Now we are about to see LUNACY prevail.
LOOMIS MUST GO! He has embarrassed us, disgraced us, and will kill us with his financial irresponsibility!
VOTE MIKE FOR MAYOR
Explorer article here.
http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2009/10/07/news/doc4acbca466f2fc511049063.txt
9 comments:
The problem with the Mayor is that his ego is sooooo large, that he thought he was the only boss that David Andrews had. He doesn't have much respect for the rest of the Town Council, so he felt that eventhough David Andrews had
SEVEN bosses to consider, they and their concerns were not as important as his.
From the way he treats his four "cronys", I bet you he has absolutely no RESPECT for them. He just uses them and they are probably not SMART enought to figure that one out.
The Mayor has shown that he has the tendency to spend the Citizen's money like a "drunken sailor". We the citizens of Oro Valley will remember this.....
When will this spending end?
andrews severance package is $145,000
replacing with new town manager requires cost to recruit, hire, move, signing bonus,legal fees to develop contract, training, etc adds another $50-100,000
increase for acting to become interim is $30,000.
then we will need to replace the interim which will cost $20,000 or so
Finally, the cost of the loss of an 18 year employee in terms of poor decisions, employee morale, etc. which while hard to define probably adds $100,000 to the cost.
Do the math-- the number approaches $400,000.
I thought we were in a financial crisis. Did anyone that voted to fire Andrews take into account these potential cost?
My guess is no. They talk the talk regarding fiscal restraint, it is time they walk the walk.
Chuck Davis
The severance package should never have been offered, and though it may cost more money they should look outside for a new town manager. Promoting Ms. Watson is not the answer. If the mayor and council(majority of) had issue with Dave Andrews I see nothing changing by installing his assistant who I gather, by comments on this blog, thought her boss was a wonderful dedicated 18 year employee. He resigned without a fight, isn't that an indication there may have been something really wrong? I also heard somewhere that it's not common to have an assistant to the town manager, eliminating that position would save money. Then they should look at all the directors who thought Mr Andrews was wonderful and question why? In the time I've been here in Oro Valley I haven't seen much to impress me with the way the town is run.
desertdweller,
If the council had cause to fire Mr. Andrews, he would not have been eligible for the severence package. The only way he could get that would be for him to be dismissed without cause. So LACK (Loomis, Abbott, Carter, and Kunisch) basically spent several hundred thousand of our tax dollars on a whim, a fancy, a vendetta, a lark, whatever you want to call it.
desertdweller--- Picking up on "OVmom's" comment, you may not be aware, but David was literally caught between the proverbial "rock and a hard place."
As an astute, intelligent person, David knew that Loomis doesn't take action unless he (Loomis) knows the outcome.
Loomis knew he had FOUR VOTES to fire David. You can be sure of that.
David knew that the council could terminate him with or WITHOUT CAUSE.
You suggest David should have put up a fight. The fact is, there was absolutely NOTHING David could do.
Loomis wanted him out Loomis got what he wanted. Nothing could have helped David once Loomis convinced Carter, Kunisch & Abbott.
Stooges do as they're told.
That is the bottom line!
All,
In such a challenging fiscal environment, exquisite prudence is desirable in a representative democracy. Such prudence would dictate that a responsible council would follow simple logic: if the town manager was no longer viable, by simply allowing his contract to lapse and thus not requiring the negotiation of a severance package, the town would not incur a considerable expense. The trade-off? Less than two score of days. Who gained what by not waiting this insignificant amount of time?
Christopher Fox
Chrisopher,
My understanding was that the contract was worded so that if it was not specifically terminated, it would automatically renew.
Christopher,
OV Mom is correct - the Town Manager's contract is a contract in perpetuity. Thus, it is my understanding that the ONLY ways for the Town Manager to have been terminated was either to 'fire' him, in which case he would have received severance if said firing was without just cause, or such position can be terminated by resignation; in this instance it appears that the Town Manager was put in a 'catch-22' position of forced resignation. So, monetarily we perhaps have a draw here. The real prudence would have been to have let the Town Manager remain in his position as was desired by most of the Town Staff as well as most of the Townspeople. Those Council Members who so deviously wanted him gone have still not answered the question - WHY?
OV Mom and Zev,
Thanks for your ellucidation. I was interpreting discussion of Mr. Andrews' contract as meaning that the council, at their discretion, could simply allow the contract to lapse, thus avoiding the need to negotiate a severance package. My cynical side failed me, on this. Probably a standard clause in all contracts for city/town/country managers. Would that all employment offered such niceties!
Christopher Fox
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