Lewiston City Manager Finalists Announced

Forgive me for being skeptical, but I am not impressed with "former" managers. They are former for a reason. Instead of sticking to the MMA retread pool, municipalities should broaden their searches to include business men.

A quick google finds this at the top. http://gardinermaineproblems.com/

That's quite some website. After reading some of the issues concerning Kobrock, it's small wonder he's seeking a new job.

You know those websites listing men who have cheated on their wives? The kind called "Don't Date Him, Girl!"

I think we need one for lousy town managers and officials - we could call it "Don't Hire Him, Town!"

Here's another website with allegations concerning Kobrock. Some of the comments are insterring, to say the least.
http://ourstory.com/thread.html?t=422325

TM - I recommend you keep your day job, since "marketing" probably wouldn't make a good lateral move for you.
lol

Jim Bennett was recently a panelist on a panel about Portland having an elected Mayor. The panel was put together by the charter commission as part of its fact finding process. Bennett spent most of his time promoting the International City/County Management Association which he is part of the leadership. His message was that cities and towns should have professional managers who are members of the organization. He claimed that the organization black balls bad managers.

I am not impressed with the list above and agree they should look at successful business people.

Steven Scharf
SCSMedia@aol.com

I doubt successful or otherwise business people were excluded from the short list. I suspect, but perhaps one of the local Lewistonians on the forum can correct, that the applicant pool didn't consist of too many business people...successful or any at all.

Of course not. That's because most towns and cities these days insist on some former municipal experience or specific education.

In other words, MMA-indoctrinated, and ready to play the game.

I understand that Barrett from Bangor is now in the game and a better choice than the other three. Don't know anyone except Phil Nadeau who has been taking care of the Somali issues for the city.

Really Naran? There are two active manager searches going on right now listed on the MMA Website here and Sabattus doesn't specify anything on the ad about prior municipal experience and Paris says "preferred" but goes on to state "other experience will be considered".

Search committees for such a position will definitely look for prior municipal experience or specific education.

After all, the MMA says that these days, all municipalities need "professionals" to run them right.

Matter of fact, TM, I seem to recall you writing the same thing your own self - more than once.

I would be recluctant to hire someone to run a municipality that size of Lewiston that has not had significant municipal experience. The public sector is significantly different than the private sector. Issues of chain of command, transparency, and public accountability are either not issues or much less of an issue in the private sector. Also, profit/loss is not the measure of success in the public sector.

I might consider someone with success in the private sector who has significant experience on a municpal Board like a council or a Board of Selectmen. A candidate needs to understand the public sector and the proper roles of elected folks and management. I could see lots of people who are great businesspeople being terrible municipal managers because they simply act without jumping through all the necessary hoops.

I agree, Dan. The municipal world has challenges vastly different from the private sector. A very experienced person in city government is a must for Lewiston.

A private sector company has much more stability at the board level. A well managed private sector has a 5 year strategic plan that is continually managed to and refreshed. A municipality is subject to the vagaries of the group that is currently in office. There are many stakeholders, most with differing needs and, especially, wants. Lewiston is about to swear in a new council with its own ideas about managing the small city. It may head in a completely different direction than the outgoing council. Intellect will vary from council to council as well.

I totally agree that running a municipality is very different than running a private business. Having followed local politics and the town's budgeting process for years, there is no way even the most savvy business person could make an instant transition if they had no municipal exposure or experience whatsoever. It's a very different process, with many different "moving parts." That's why it's recommended that candidates spend a stint on the budget board or other town committees before running for selectman, if they have no experience with how local government works.

On the other hand, there is no denying that a certain number of "professional" town officials do a lousy job, for whatever reason, and end up moving from town to town as a result.

Having read the information posted about Kobrock online (even if it's only 1/15th true), it would give me pause to consider, were I a member of a search committee.

I wouldn't get too worked up about Kobrock Naran. He is truly a fine person and would do well by any town or city. The crap you read is easy to put up as you very well know without any factual data to back it. When the city council let Kobrock go, the business community rallied hard to keep him. I think the true snakes over there sit on th city council and were not in the Manager's office. If you read the website you will notice that it wasn't only the Manager that was targeted, it was a lot of the dept. heads as well.

Nice try, but after reading the various sites, no stogie.

The photos of Gardiner city workers and officials participating in burying the homeowner's tools at the bottom of the foundation footings are priceless.

Was Kobrock the Manager in Gardiner while a large amount of money was stolen by a city employee?

Do you remember what year that was, Dan? I don't see it on the 2009 Crime thread, maybe it was on the 2008.

It was 2008. She was the wife of the police chief. She stole a large amount as I remember it.

According to the PDF file linked below, it was at least $190K, and it does appear to have occurred on Kobrock's watch.

PDF Report from Gardiner Finance Director

I'm 100% in agreement with Bob Stone and Dan Billings on qualifications for the town manager position.

I appreciate all the comments and thoughts, and can relate that without going into specific, much of this has been weighed in by the council as we move forward. We were blessed to find several candidates who might fit the bill and look forward to more deeply interviewing the finalists with the new councilors presetn to observe only. They can then share their thoughts after the interviewee has left the room. BY the end of the process we hope the new councilors will see the same answer we seek and will appreciate the chance to weigh in and be part of the process as they will spend the next 2 years working with him.

Robert, give Nadeau a shot... Keep the contract short and no golden parachute...

I am curious about city manager contracts. Do other Maine cities city managers have contracts? Portland's serves at the pleasure of the council. The charter commission discussed this last Thursday and whether they want to write something into the charter on it.

Steven Scharf
SCSMedia@aol.com

Steve, with the research we've done it's pretty commonplace and recommended by MMA I beleive (bo surprise there). With any job of this level a contract protects both sides and anyone wanting the job will request one as a matter of courtesy.

Steve,

I dont know if most do or do not have a contract. I'd say it is 50/50. Just read the law about how to fire a town manager if one does not have a contract. Many argue the contract protects the municipality more than the manager, but ofcourse, like everything else it comes down to the art of negotiations.

TM illustrates why a contract often makes sense for the municipality. If a municipal employee has an expectation of continued employment, they have a right to due process and can basically only be fired for cause. If there is a contract that can spell out how a manager can be let go without cause, which is often the situation that is faced when there is a new Board or a community is looking to head in a new direction. (This explanation greatly oversimplifies the law but gives one the general idea.)

And then there was one....

BARRETT MOVING TO LEWISTON

Clearly, the selection committee reads AMG.
lol

From the article linked above:

Barrett’s 22 years of experience was too good to pass up, Lewiston City Councilor Robert Reed said Tuesday night.
“He was just too good a candidate,” Reed said. “We had two good candidates, but Barrett really stood out.”

I truly enjoyed being part of what was a difficult and very important decision. I wish all the applicants not chosen and Mr. Bennett well in their future endeavours, but for me Mr. Barrett represented something that just felt right at the end of the day. That is not a knock on any other candidate, it's just something that cannot be described in words.

As to the Paris job - its become interesting for many reasons, including 2 selectmen who appear to want to bring back the fired TM, and 3 others who are leaning towards a former town manager....just a guess but this may all be for show. Sabattus might have the right idea with the marketing brochure.

You went with your gut in making the decision and there is nothing wrong with that. As to the Sabattus brochure it was exceptionally well done. Who thought of that anyway?