Who's in charge of this train wreck?
 By Mark ForsytheThe Kansas City Post Wayne Cauthen has one foot out the door of City Hall. It's the worst kept secret in Kansas City that his "vacation" is time off while he goes through final interviews for the Austin City Manager position. I don't fault him for pursuing other opportunities. No person in their right mind would want to stay in an organization openly feuding over your employment status. I do take note that "the chickens have come home to roost" to our leadership. In a complete lack of regard for their constituents, the City Council chose to blindly lash out at Mayor Funkhouser in what can only be described as childish retribution. What have their actions garnered us? While the kneejerk nine gained some momentary praise from Cauthen's avid supporters, they also created a lawsuit regarding the legality of their actions which will no doubt cost thousands of dollars of taxpayer funds. Think about that the next time your elected officials bemoan budget cuts and their effect on basic city services. Plenty of money to hire lawyers, but no money to clear the snow? Only now are they possibly realizing that they've turned over the helm of operations to a man who is openly trying to find work anywhere but here. In the latest development of our little mini-series, Wayne Cauthen has turned over his responsibilities to LaTrisha Underhill until January 10th. For those of you scoring at home, Ms. Underhill has resigned effective January 11th under what can at best be described as controversial circumstances. What kind of message is Mr. Cauthen trying to send? To every hard working City employee who hopes to one day better themselves and rise through the ranks, the City Manager has told them they don't even rate a close second to a lame duck employee who is probably spending more time packing her things than running the City. Once again Mr. Cauthen has proven that real leadership is not a shot in his bag. Or maybe he's just lashing out one last time before he heads to warmer climes. There's plenty of criticism to go around in this slowly unfolding train wreck at City Hall. There's the mayor's missteps, the council's reaction, the melodrama of the Cauthen supporters and the puzzling behavior of the City Manager himself. Is there not one rational voice at City Hall? |
posted by Mark at 1:19 PM
Comments on "Who's in charge of this train wreck?"
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post a commentThis post would certainly sound like sour grapes if it weren't completely true and City Hall more closely resembled a functional government than a bad episode of Kid Nation. It seems like every day I find myself shaking my head trying to figure out WTF is going on down there...
I won't defend Wayne, I don't like Wayne. But I will say I think Funk is a larger evil.
Regarding the lawsuit, no one had a gun to Funk's head telling him to take unilateral action; and no one has a gun to Bill Skaggs' head telling him to file the lawsuit.
The costs of the lawsuit bear blame on the cost-causer - which is Skaggs/Funk. It was their choice to initiate the lawsuit.
I think the rest of the council (the 9) are on firm ground given my read and interpretation of the charter (and I'm not a lawyer or experienced to say what I just said, but I'm right, I'm pretty sure).
Anyways, the council overreacted with the extension, and I'm siding with the lesser of two evils.(the 9)
Confused by all of this but nevertheless sincerely posted,
Hugh Janus
aka mainstream
How coincidental. The mayor has one and your name is Hugh Janus.
Charter grants power to the Mayor to fix compensation of City Manager.
Not to the Council.
If Skaggs/Winterowd had not sued the City, I know of at least one citizen's group that would. There are a few people in this backwater who want to uphold the rule of law against mob rule.
Mark
A little politics 101 Kansas City style.
First, under the weak mayor form of government that KC has the mayor has little real power. His power comes in his ability to lead and form governing coalitions. Besides cutting ribbons and making nice with the people, this is his only real job. In this the mayor has been a dismal failure. I'm not even sure he is talking to the council let alone putting together governing coalitions.
The sad thing for us is nobody on the council is stepping up to fill the vacume left by the Mayor. One would expect old timers like Deb Herman or Ed Ford to do so but it appears that they are too busy putting together their mayoral campaign committees. So what we are left with is one of the most useless beasts there is - a committee with no leadership.
Add to in the fact that most of the council are rookies and many came out of neighborhood organizations. They are more used to bitching and moaning than leading.
So, there is the mess we're in.
It is not Cauthens job to provide leadership for this city. His job is to manage the various departments and make sure the wishs of the council are carried out. Of course nobody knows what the fuck that is. So he might as well go on an extended vacation.
As for having someone else fill his shoes? Who would want to step in the middle of this mess. All you would do is make enemies and that is not good for the career.
Jack
Clarification on the Charter - the Charter says the Mayor "may". NOT "shall" or "will".
Also, and more importantly, the Mayor needs himself and 6 votes to do ANYTHING regarding the City Manager. And in some cases 9 councilpeople can act re the city manager without the mayor.
The mayor has some rights to introduce certain things but cannot do anything unilaterally regarding the City manager - that much is clear. However, regarding contract renewal the Charter is conspicuously silent and ambiguous....
"It is not Cauthens job to provide leadership for this city. His job is to manage the various departments and make sure the wishs of the council are carried out."
Jack,
There are managers and then there are leaders. The leadership I was referring to in reference to Mr. Cauthen is leadership of those who report to him, and leadership by example. While it may not be in his job description to "provide leadership for this city" in my opinion his position of power makes it incumbent upon him to set the tone and provide a standard of performance for others to aspire. (ie leadership)
Anybody can be a manager. All it takes is your name engraved on a piece of plastic and slid into a name slot on the door.
I for one demand "leadership" as well as "management skills" from our City Manager.
It's essential for Cauthen to be a leader, and I agree with you wholeheartedly, Mark.
(I'm thinking, NO SHIT, he's the true chief operating officer in this town, has the third largest workforce in the region reporting to him, of course he needs to be an effective leader.)
And unfortunately he has exhibited no management skills and zero leadership - unless you call commanding a huge budget leadership.
However, his boss ( and his wife/chief of staff) are even bigger jerks. That's the rub.
I don't get the Cauthen haters, I really don't. Is he perfect? Heck no, in fact there's a lot more I wish that he'd do.
But seriously, compare him to any City Manager we've had in the last 2 decades. It's a joke - Cauthen has been far better for the City than any of them.
Managing this City is no easy task - it's not Prairie Village, after all, but I think Cauthen has done a more than respectable job. We'll definitely miss him when he goes. And the slams on LaTrisha Underhill are just stupid - she's a very bright and talented individual - the kind of person we should want working for the City. God forbid anyone ever look at my emails...
I'm a strong Cauthen supporter. I have two comments. First, I'm appalled that he left Underhill in charge. That is either very poor judgement or he is just taunting the mayor and council.
Second, I don't really understand the comments regarding his leadership and management skills. I've have heard many people say that he has poor management skills. I don't get it. How does somebody with poor management skills accomplish so much? He may be a little hands on and somewhat of a ramrod but isn't that what the staff needs? City staff over time has grown safe abd complacent with their positions, salaries and responsibilities. They rather do little, get paid, and minimize their responsibilities. I think Cauthen changed all of that and wants people to perform. What is wrong with that?
Can somebody please enlighten me? And I will say that "I previous CM's would have been able to spend billions of dollars they would have accomplished a lot too" is not a good answer. The skill of the CM is to get his bosses (the council) to support his program. In this case, Cauthen got the Council to support spending billions of dollars. That requires some skill, not just dumb luck.
I posted asking critics to outline Cauthen's shortcomings as manager. I don't see any responses to my post.
I know for a fact that some of the old entrenched bureaucracy cannot say anything other than "worse manager ever." Why is that? Is it style? Did he hurt people's feelings? What?
Somebody please provide a sane response.
as a former retired city employee with 32 years i have seen and heard alot. wayne only purpose in hiring him was so he could be kay barnes henchmen. right now if you ask city empl what they think of wayne they will say that he is incapable of leading this city any further since his backing has left. maybe kay might hire him as a body guard.
as a former retired city employee with 32 years i have seen and heard alot. wayne only purpose in hiring him was so he could be kay barnes henchmen. right now if you ask city empl what they think of wayne they will say that he is incapable of leading this city any further since his backing has left. maybe kay might hire him as a body guard.