Last week's vote to reject offering a contract to Rex Ewald to be the city administrator was the final stumble in a series of missteps that ultimately landed the city back to where it started the process - without professional leadership of city government.
The council's specific decision Friday to reject the contract offer was the correct one. The terms were unacceptable. The salary was significantly higher than projected. The position would not have been "full-time" until next summer.
But the council's decision to wait and see how things work months into next year before reconsidering the administrator position is the wrong approach. Aldermen have determined professional leadership is needed at City Hall. They should continue their pursuit to provide that leadership.
The city's been without an administrator since May 2008. When the council decided earlier this year to revisit filling the position, we were encouraged. Since then, however, the council has bungled the process.
The first mistake was making legal duties the administrator's main emphasis. Essentially, the council decided to create an "administrator with legal duties" position to reduce the expense of paying City Attorney Rex Ewald and others for legal services on an as-needed basis.
Having an in-house attorney is a good idea, and probably would save the city significant money. But the administrator job description also includes the city's human resources functions, which if done right and well also should constitute a full-time, or nearly full-time, position.
What's really needed in Monroe from a city administrator are the professional and efficient coordination of the different departments' efforts, an adept handling of the budget, and involvement in creating economic development opportunities. None of that could be realistically expected from an administrator who also is an attorney and an HR professional at City Hall. The council really was looking for an attorney, not an administrator.
The next mistake was allowing Ewald to write the job description, potentially for himself. It was a conflict of interest the council never should have allowed, putting Ewald and the city into tough spots publicly.
The council also didn't handle the background checks process well, either, waiting until after the first round of interviews to do true checks, then having "site visits" done only by a police officer rather than a collection of city officials.
Even the final decision was botched, with confusion over what exactly the council was voting on Thursday night forcing a second special session Friday. That was more of a procedural snafu, but embarrassing nonetheless.
The city should have an in-house attorney to save money on legal services. It also should have an administrator run city government professionally and efficiently. Counting on an elected part-time mayor to work full-time at City Hall is no way to provide professional management. Aldermen already acknowledged that when they reopened the administrator search. Waiting won't make the situation any better.
The council's specific decision Friday to reject the contract offer was the correct one. The terms were unacceptable. The salary was significantly higher than projected. The position would not have been "full-time" until next summer.
But the council's decision to wait and see how things work months into next year before reconsidering the administrator position is the wrong approach. Aldermen have determined professional leadership is needed at City Hall. They should continue their pursuit to provide that leadership.
The city's been without an administrator since May 2008. When the council decided earlier this year to revisit filling the position, we were encouraged. Since then, however, the council has bungled the process.
The first mistake was making legal duties the administrator's main emphasis. Essentially, the council decided to create an "administrator with legal duties" position to reduce the expense of paying City Attorney Rex Ewald and others for legal services on an as-needed basis.
Having an in-house attorney is a good idea, and probably would save the city significant money. But the administrator job description also includes the city's human resources functions, which if done right and well also should constitute a full-time, or nearly full-time, position.
What's really needed in Monroe from a city administrator are the professional and efficient coordination of the different departments' efforts, an adept handling of the budget, and involvement in creating economic development opportunities. None of that could be realistically expected from an administrator who also is an attorney and an HR professional at City Hall. The council really was looking for an attorney, not an administrator.
The next mistake was allowing Ewald to write the job description, potentially for himself. It was a conflict of interest the council never should have allowed, putting Ewald and the city into tough spots publicly.
The council also didn't handle the background checks process well, either, waiting until after the first round of interviews to do true checks, then having "site visits" done only by a police officer rather than a collection of city officials.
Even the final decision was botched, with confusion over what exactly the council was voting on Thursday night forcing a second special session Friday. That was more of a procedural snafu, but embarrassing nonetheless.
The city should have an in-house attorney to save money on legal services. It also should have an administrator run city government professionally and efficiently. Counting on an elected part-time mayor to work full-time at City Hall is no way to provide professional management. Aldermen already acknowledged that when they reopened the administrator search. Waiting won't make the situation any better.
