Memo to Mayor Ron Marsh: Any paper memo or e-mail you send to all Monroe aldermen, or to members of a specific committee regarding an item they might discuss, is a public document. It's accessible to any member of the public who might ask to see it.
Conceivably, it could be seen by everyone in Monroe, and many others outside of the city. So you might want to be more careful the next time you write a memorandum advising the Monroe Common Council on public matters. We're referring specifically to the July 13 memo to council members regarding "City Hall - New Position - Manager."
Certainly, there's nothing wrong with a mayor providing counsel on city matters. The mayor is an elected official, accountable to the voters, who has the ability to break 5-5 tie votes of the council. The knowledge gained from working part-time at City Hall also is valuable, particularly in this instance.
Obviously, your input should be considered - along with ideas and insight from the general public, department heads and municipal government experts and resources - as the council decides whether to hire an administrator and discusses how to define the position.
But there are some things you said in your memo that are alarming and, frankly, would have no place in a hiring process for a private-sector job, let alone a public government position.
We won't quibble with your thoughts on candidate qualifications to seek in the areas of economic development, finances and human resource skills. Those are your opinions. You're entitled to them. The council is free to give them whatever weight they wish in the discussion.
But when you wrote in your memo about the management and leadership skills desirable in a candidate, you said the city needs "someone who is ... a father-like figure." We hope you don't mean that a man is best-suited for the job. That would be discrimination.
You then wrote that "the individual should have a family." Does this mean that single people need not apply? What constitutes "a family?" Are children required? There are all kinds of legal sticky wickets those six words could get the city into.
Finally, your last bit of advice in the memo is: "You may want to know how they (the candidate) would prioritize the following: Job, God, Country, Family, Themselves."
Why is how a candidate prioritizes "God," "Country" and "Family" appropriate or even relevant? How would you discern those priorities? And, regarding "God," does it matter which "god?" Again, the directive is a legal minefield, to say the least.
One could easily read those parts of the memo and believe the city, or at least its mayor, is interested in hiring a religious family man. That would be a big problem for the City of Monroe. Not to mention, it would eliminate many excellent candidates.
This is why you must BE careful, Mayor Marsh, in the directives that you write. You must write them as if you're telling the entire City of Monroe, rather than just a few aldermen. Better yet, save the advice for public meetings, where the public can hear what you have to say, and aldermen have a chance to ask questions out in the open.
The public would be best served this way.
Conceivably, it could be seen by everyone in Monroe, and many others outside of the city. So you might want to be more careful the next time you write a memorandum advising the Monroe Common Council on public matters. We're referring specifically to the July 13 memo to council members regarding "City Hall - New Position - Manager."
Certainly, there's nothing wrong with a mayor providing counsel on city matters. The mayor is an elected official, accountable to the voters, who has the ability to break 5-5 tie votes of the council. The knowledge gained from working part-time at City Hall also is valuable, particularly in this instance.
Obviously, your input should be considered - along with ideas and insight from the general public, department heads and municipal government experts and resources - as the council decides whether to hire an administrator and discusses how to define the position.
But there are some things you said in your memo that are alarming and, frankly, would have no place in a hiring process for a private-sector job, let alone a public government position.
We won't quibble with your thoughts on candidate qualifications to seek in the areas of economic development, finances and human resource skills. Those are your opinions. You're entitled to them. The council is free to give them whatever weight they wish in the discussion.
But when you wrote in your memo about the management and leadership skills desirable in a candidate, you said the city needs "someone who is ... a father-like figure." We hope you don't mean that a man is best-suited for the job. That would be discrimination.
You then wrote that "the individual should have a family." Does this mean that single people need not apply? What constitutes "a family?" Are children required? There are all kinds of legal sticky wickets those six words could get the city into.
Finally, your last bit of advice in the memo is: "You may want to know how they (the candidate) would prioritize the following: Job, God, Country, Family, Themselves."
Why is how a candidate prioritizes "God," "Country" and "Family" appropriate or even relevant? How would you discern those priorities? And, regarding "God," does it matter which "god?" Again, the directive is a legal minefield, to say the least.
One could easily read those parts of the memo and believe the city, or at least its mayor, is interested in hiring a religious family man. That would be a big problem for the City of Monroe. Not to mention, it would eliminate many excellent candidates.
This is why you must BE careful, Mayor Marsh, in the directives that you write. You must write them as if you're telling the entire City of Monroe, rather than just a few aldermen. Better yet, save the advice for public meetings, where the public can hear what you have to say, and aldermen have a chance to ask questions out in the open.
The public would be best served this way.
