City Manager David Parrish announced on Tuesday, May 11 that he was resigning effective June 30, and it appears there is already a battle brewing over his replacement.
The controversy is not about who to hire to replace Parrish, who is 42 and has been city manager for three years, but on when to hire the new city manager and who gets to do the hiring.
City Councilmember Justin Outling on Tuesday said, “The next mayor and the next City Council should select the city manager they will be working with for the next four years.”
Outling, who is running for mayor, said that delaying the decision until after the November election would keep the decision from being “politicized” and would give the city adequate time to do a national search.
Outling said, “We need an administrator who is creative and knows how to get things done.”
Councilmember Marikay Abuzuaiter on Wednesday, April 12, took the exact opposite position on when the new city manager should be hired. Abuzuaiter said, “I think we would be remiss if we did not go ahead and try to get someone in place as soon as possible.”
Abuzuaiter said, “David is leaving during our tenure. I think we need replace him as soon as we are able.”
She said, “Ideally, I’d love to see someone in there by Sept. 1.”
She added that she thought that the city should do a national search and that timeline might be overly optimistic, but that she thought it was a good goal.
Abuzuaiter was adamant that the council move forward as quickly as possible to find a new city manager and said, “I don’t think we should consider doing anything else. We are here to serve the community and make sure things are running smoothly. I really don’t want to see that position vacant for any longer than necessary.”
Abuzuaiter said “Waiting for a new City Council would be another six months and I don’t think that would be fair to the residents.”
The City Council election will be held on Nov. 2 and the mayor and councilmembers elected to four-year terms will be sworn in December 2021. After the new City Council is sworn in, there is usually one regular City Council meeting before the end of the year.
Considering that it’s difficult to get much accomplished during the Christmas and New Year holiday season, that would mean the earliest a city manager could be hired by a new City Council would be the middle of January. If that is the timeline, Greensboro would operate with an interim city manager for over six months.
Under the Greensboro council-manager form of government, the City Council has two employees – the city manager and the city attorney. City employees work for the city manager, not the City Council.
A rush to judgment for Marikay Abuzuaiter. Simply put, her ego, and that of other council members, assume they will survive their next election.
The Council has no authority over the City Manager, why should they be the final judge of who that is?
And thus begins the search for the elusive Leprechaun, or its closely revered cousin the Unicorn. This group wouldn’t know either if it bit them on the arse. When you find one, be sure not to take its gold. Sadly for you liberals, the Leprechauns always identify true to form. Humans are the only creatures who think they can choose their gender irregardless of their bits at birth. Good luck with your search laddies.
The city manager should always reflect the diversity of their local council, so I do hope the presumptive candidate will be 8/9ths female.
Which ones are you speaking of there is 1 male 7 females and 1 we’re not sure about
As someone has already said, “No WHITE person need apply”.
That is for sure. Betcha $1,000.
Well, my observation is that people of various asexual identities have a tendency not to reproduce. That’s why there are varying degrees of sexuality. Some can’t wait to reproduce, some usually do, and some could care less. So nature makes the choice for us.
So what’s the big deal? As long as you don’t mess with me, I really don’t care how you want to live. Everyone is different; looks different, thinks different, behaves different. That’s great. How would you like to exist with everyone being just like you?