Bloomington City Council Members:

At this point, I have to trust that during the search and decision process for a new City Manager, you all garnered significantly more knowledge and capability, than any single citizen has, linked to selecting the best candidate for City Manager.

At this point your constituents can only hope that the future provides proof that your selection was right. A major part of my disappointment is linked to your failure to select a known talent.    

I  wonder, prior to the search beginning, was there a strong consensus as to the desired talents, qualifications, relevant experience, and leadership abilities – that were “must haves”?   Prior to your determination that there was a need to look beyond Steve, was there open discussion/ agreement as to what he lacked, that were top priorities for the next City Manager?  Have you addressed those perceived “Steve shortcomings” and much more with your Gleason hire?

No candidate is perfect. Did council members independently, perform due diligence on the soft spots in Gleason’s past city manager performance?  (particularly lack of balanced budget).  Or did you accept the word of a biased head-hunter?

I  wonder, why was there a long delay between the interview process and the hire decision?  Is the council continuing to struggle with being decisive leaders?  Steve used an effective process for leading the council that often struggles with tough decisions to a timely balanced budget.  I hear that some members of the council were not “comfy” with the “choice of motions” approach leading to a balanced budget.  I wonder why Decatur, approved a budget that failed to balance by $3 million?  What was the Gleason approach ?

I  wonder, was Mayor Renner’s description of Gleason as being a “street- level bureaucrat”, was intended to increase citizens confidence in the councils pick for City Manager?  Webster’s defines, bureaucrat as an official in a government department, in particular one perceived as being concerned with procedural correctness at the expense of people’s needs   OUCH

If not Steve, I would not be experiencing deep disappointment today if the entire council and Mayor Renner would be enthusiastically describing our new City Manager as …. She is an approachable and talented person with a solid record for leading effective and efficient government entities, based on early career experience with a noted customer service business.    

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