Onslow County Politics

JDNews is reporting that the City and Bauer are at a stalemate over the release.

The City Attorney says the release includes a clause that asks for too much.  In the release Bauer states:

“I specifically do not waive my right to privacy with regard to, or any right to seek recourse for, any false, malicious or slanderous comments from city officials or any cause of action that I may have or may arise from the actions of individual City Council members. ”

Frustrating.  It doesn’t seem necessary from either perspective.  Release the minutes from the closed sessions. Comments from city officials seem superfluous to that matter.

Because of the release of the text message (a rather unclassy move, in my opinion), I think we’re well into the realm where the records may be released because of a lack of public confidence without a release by Bauer.

Here’s how I would settle the matter:  I would find a release form recommended by the School of Government and used by another city in NC.  I think this is what the City Attorney is doing.

Why was Bauer fired?  That question brings up two intertwined problems.  First, was it for a good reason?  Second, why is it unknown?

We can begin to answer the first problem with a little conjecture.  By the terms of his contract Bauer is being paid 9 months severance pay.  The contract likely included provisions that he not be entitled to severance if his departure is due to something extreme (gross mismanagement or something illegal).  This process of elimination only gets us so far, as the second problem prohibits us from fully answering the first.

The councilpeople who voted for the firing cited personnel record laws as the reason they couldn’t talk at length about it.  It’s a relatively minor point I thought, until the JDNews, Thomas Brock and myself repeated it.  At some point I thought the minor ‘glossing over’ became larger by the mere fact that it was repeated several times over.  The fact is that personnel records are not absolutely protected.

There is a provision to allow the opening of personnel records when “the release is essential to maintaining public confidence in the administration of city services or to maintaining the level and quality of city services.”  This is not entirely uncommon, there was a case just recently where this was done [in Brunswick County, I think?].

In fact, I think it’s pretty clear that the City of Jacksonville is suffering from a lack of public confidence.  Then again, if the records indicate what I presume, releasing them may not regain the public confidence.

First, you’ll notice there’s a difference (separate posts) between my thoughts on Bauer and his firing.  This is with reason; I can disagree with a decision’s result but still be content with the decision making process.  That is not the case here.  Here I disagree with the decision and its process.

I only know of the decision process by way of the JDNews.  From there I learned the following:

1.  Williams, Thomas, Willingham, and Sullivan voted to fire him. Lazzara and Coleman voted against it. From his statements, presumably Mayor Phillips would have voted against it as well.

2.  Alva Williams voted to fire him and said “We had given him chance, after chance, after chance for the last year and it was time, it was just time.”  She also “said Bauer tried to “control council” and often presented information in a biased manner rather than neutrally allowing the council to make their own decisions.”

3.  The other three who voted to fire him could not be reached for comment.

4.  Lazarra said “I’m just extremely upset, I believe it’s a total abuse of power and it’s an absolute injustice to the citizens that we serve. There was no justification as far as I’m concerned. Kristoff Bauer has been an asset to the organization and to the citizens of Jacksonville.”  Phillips praised Bauer.

I don’t care for politicians who cannot be reached for comment on something like this.  I’d get over that if they subsequently shared their thought process, but letting it fade away aggravates me.

There is an implied history of failure; I don’t buy it.  If this is maintained then I want to see which actions he failed to perform.  I want to see which action the council had a majority vote for and Bauer failed to enact.

I can believe that a manager would not do everything Council asked of them–but those are usually things asked outside of meetings, without votes, inconsequential to the operation of government and principally for the benefit of the requesting councilmember.  In essence, it makes me question what exactly they were asking him to do that he refused?

I am left with dissatisfaction about this.  I want to know what the Council asked Bauer to do that he did not.  At this time I am forced to believe that any answer would reflect more poorly on the Council members who voted him out than on Bauer himself.

I didn’t know Bauer very well, but I worked with him occassionally. I liked him.  I disagree with the City Council’s firing.

Why I liked him:
1.  He was capable.  He understood government and how to get things done.  He got things done.  I sat in a meeting with him and former county manager Frank Clifton.  Bauer and Clifton each fought for their entities and were equals–a compliment to both.
2.  He knew what being progressive was.  I saw what he wanted to accomplish and what he wanted for Jacksonville.  I read his messages to listservs for county and city managers in NC; those messages further convinced me that he had a mind for progress.  Perhaps equally important is that I saw issues that I knew he wanted one path, but accepted local politics and did not push.
3.  He was a communicator.  He appeared comfortable on G10, which was good.  More importantly he managed a government that chose to divulge information rather than hide it.  When a sewage spill occured Jacksonville wrote up a report on it.  The report explained (in detail) what happened, why and what was going to be done about it.  The report did not just sit on filed away in the clerk’s office–it was posted on the city webpage and even presented to a roundtable of entities invested in the environmental protection of the New River.

I didn’t know Bauer well and do not think his management was perfect.  But I did like him and thought he was a good city manager.

Kristoff Bauer was fired as City Manager for Jacksonville.

JDNews article.