Commissioner Steve Rideout
swrideout@aol.com
July 2, 2019
Dear Readers:
Attached is the proposed Resolution that will be on for first reading on July 8th. The proposed changes to the City Charter are underlined (pages 4 and 7). When the Charter establishing the City Manager form of government was passed, it included the right of the City Council to “Advise and Consent” on the hiring of Department Heads. This was a compromise that enabled our current form of government to be established, which has proved to be a very successful way to govern the City of Cambridge.
I oppose the proposed change because it will take away the ability of the city manager to effectively run the city and hire the most qualified people without political interference from the elected officials. The city currently has a very comprehensive and detailed mechanism for screening applicants that is aimed at us hiring the best person available.
If this resolution passes, there will be an effort to garner enough signatures on a petition to send the matter over to the November 2020 election for vote. If city council does not pass this Resolution, we will not need to go to the effort and expense to overturn this decision.
At the start of the July 8th meeting, you have the opportunity to speak briefly about anything including this proposal. At the next regular meeting, you will also have the opportunity to speak about it at the public hearing on the proposal. I urge you to attend both meetings and let the city council know what you think.
The reasons that I oppose the Resolution are these:
1. The current system was fully thought out and approved and has worked effectively.
2. The change will allow politics, cronyism, and discrimination to enter into a process that should avoid those issues.
3. When the staff vetting process is complete, the best candidate will be hired. If city council can “Advise and Consent” and refuses to hire that person, we will be opening the City to law suits based on a variety or real or perceived concerns of the candidate. At the very least, this will cause us to use taxpayer money to defend against law suits that will be filed.
4. There are other safeguards in the city charter for any dissatisfaction with the work of the city manager or department heads.
5. Personnel policies can be established without changing the Charter that can address the yet unknown concerns that the commissioners promoting this change seem to think exist.
6. Having City Council make the hiring decisions for all employees is like having the board of directors of a corporation make those decisions. In that instance and in ours, elected people who have little or no professional training or experience in employment law or appropriate hiring practices will be making these decisions when we should be leaving them up to the professional staff that has established the methods to properly screen applicants to find the best qualified person.
If you are unable to attend either of the meetings or even if you are, please think about sending an email to the Mayor and Commissioners providing your view about this proposed Resolution.
Thanks,
Steve