Don’t have to be a fly on no wall: Or, let me tell ya the REAL reasons why the Copperas Cove city council’s playing kick the can

Dear readers (who probably thought I’d forgotten to post an update, but it's summertime, y'all, in case you didn't notice - wink, wink) –

The Copperas Cove city council didn’t waffle on Tuesday night. Nope, they didn’t.


They had a rousing game of Kick The Can. As Councilman James Pierce Jr. put it so adeptly.

This is a ramblin' post, so brace yourselves, y'all! I published a post on Tuesday, but for some reason the subscriber feed that I use for delivery called Feedburner didn't publish it in time for my regular readers to see. :-(

Let me be plain: It’s clear there’s a struggle between those who supported former city manager Andrea Gardner and those whose mission was to send her packing and succeeded.

Did y'all miss what happened at the end of the meeting Tuesday night? Don't worry, if you did, you were not alone.

Evidently all news outlets that regularly follow the Copperas Cove city council did not  correctly report on the outcome of whether or not the council would hire a recruiting firm to find a city manager.

Except for one.

You can read the deets here:

https://www.coveleaderpress.com/news/council-tussles-choosing-city-manager-recruiting-firm

Or you can always watch it play out, again, on the city's website.

First the Copperas Cove city council voted to hire a firm – split vote  3 to 3 and Mayor Frank Seffrood casting the 4^th vote to “yes, let’s hire Springsted Waters” – and then right after an executive session which evidently no one in the public stayed around for but you could watch on TV later – they reversed it, thanks to Sorry-Charlie Youngs. 

Was anyone as surprised as me, to see Sorry-Charlie voting with Morris and Pierce? 

Sorry-Charlie told the newspaper, evidently in the above article link, that his first vote in favor of the firm was a “mistake.”

How does one do that? Is he incapacitated, somehow, that he doesn't understand what he is voting on? Or, was it a "play" vote out of sheer vindictiveness because he knew what would come later?

(Truthfully, a number of them seem confused about agenda items and topics that if they’d done their homework, shouldn’t be such a big deal. Anyhoo, back to the points I will make.)

Then there was a bunch of back ‘n forth between the two council members who wanted to go forward with what was proposed Morris and Pierce, and the others who’ve been balking since the beginning.

And evidently interim city manager Ryan Haverlah is doing a "good job." You're safe for now, Ryan, but be careful or you too could get kicked off the island!

Those who would like to be Copperas Cove city manager should read this:

Dear Future City Manager

The city manager and municipal management career field is a small one, even coast to coast. So it's not like these firms would find someone among the huddled masses to be queen! Um, I mean, city manager. Ha ha.

We’ve been dealing with this SILLINESS since April, y’all, APRIL!!! There were two firms out of a potential 19 that were invited to send a proposal with what they could do to hire a new city manager.

NOTHING HAS CHANGED SINCE APRIL, AND YET THIS “MOST IMPORTANT DECISION” as Dapper-Dan put it, the Copperas Cove city council has continued to drag its feet.

"Omigerd, whatever shall we do?" And then they proceed to have at least two executive sessions. I hope no city furniture was damaged during any internal broohaha.

THIS VOTE COULD HAVE TAKEN PLACE IN APRIL, Y’ALL!!

SO WHY ARE THEY DRAGGING THEIR FEET, IN THE PRETENSE OF BEING WHAT SOME COULD CALL "THOROUGH AND CAREFUL"?

Again, this is about as silly as the occasion which occurred earlier this year, when the council (i.e. Heartburn Manning didn't have enough information) couldn’t decide whether or not to hire a firm to help them collect more than $100,000 in unpaid EMS fees, even with all the information in front of them. I mean, doh!

Councilman Jay Heartburn Manning has balked and chafed and popped a bottle of TUMS over the RFQ (request for qualifications) that was sent to the 19 firms, from the very beginning. Then, toward the end of the meeting they are informed by councilman David Morris, that the city didn’t write the RFQ, but an outside firm did. 

So why didn’t the council just vote in the first place. Or, even after BOTH firms made more-than-adequate presentations? If they weren't comfortable, reject both and start over.

I’ll tell ya why not, dear readers. 

As Sorry-Charlie is wont to inform EVERYONE and ANYONE at meetings “there are two city council places and the mayor up for election.” 

UM – Pause for a moment and consider this:

Is Councilman Charlie Youngs trying to get people to RUN AGAINST POSSIBLE INCUMBENTS?

IS THAT LEGAL, FOR A SEATED COUNCILMAN TO NAME SPECIFIC ELECTED POSITIONS BY NAME, "PLACE 1, PLACE 2, AND THE MAYOR" AND ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO RUN?

We should encourage people to vote, but ISN’T HE CAMPAIGNING AGAINST councilmen David Morris and James Pierce Jr. and Mayor Frank Seffrood by encouraging people to run against them, should those men file?

Is he, in a sense, campaigning AGAINST THEM before they might even file for reelection?

I bet Sorry-Charlie would love nothing better.

Back to my point - 

Remember, Charlie Youngs has an axe to grind – I’ll bet he’s called Morris and Pierce all SORTS of names, disparaging and more, and he can’t STAND either of them, so let’s see about dragging this city manager selection process out so the ones he can't stand aren't involved in the selection process.

Curmudgeon estimates that the city manager selection process will continue to drag into 2019. We could even possibly be without a city manager until February 2019.

Basically, Sorry-Charlie (and I’m sure a few of the others) is thinking:

“Matter o’ fact, let’s wait until the next installment of the Good Old Boys Club runs and gets elected in November, so we can cut the ‘riff’raff’ off the council. Let's get a Dewald or someone else back up here to decide."

Nope, Curmudgeon does NOT need to be a fly on the wall for that.

The next BIG reason why the council is dragging their feet –

The Good Old Boys realize that in the end, they only had ONE ACCEPTABLE FIRM PROPOSING A RECRUITMENT PLAN, and that was CPS HR Consulting. Both proposals were very similar, and the presentations for those proposals can be found here (which you can peruse at your convenience, dear readers!):

Springsted Waters - - http://67.79.126.21:8085/docs/2018/CCW/20180515_1272/7952_Copperas%20Cove%20TX%20City%20Manager%20050818.pdf

CPS HR Consulting –

http://67.79.126.21:8085/docs/2018/CCW/20180515_1272/7952_Copperas%20Cove.pdf

(Pause with me a moment– why do I include links like above? Because I want you to see I’m not making this up. Curmudgeon doesn’t make things up. Other than nifty nicknames for our councilmen – wink, wink)

Okay!

So what’s the deal about Springsted Waters?
Why am I saying the council only had one proposal to choose from?

Well, dear readers, Springstead Waters was the firm which recruited to compile and glean through a pool of applicants for city manager candidates for the city of Watauga, Texas. The very city which selected She-who-shall-not-be-named Gardner to be their next city manager! (GASP!!)

 

So, by default, of COURSE this Good Old Boys Club didn’t want just ONE firm to choose from.

Springsted Waters, despite their excellent track record, eliminated themselves by default at the git-go BECAUSE they presented Andrea Gardner as one of the finalists for Watauga, and she ended up being hired by them. Ergo, if a company can’t weed through potential city manager candidates and see her for who she “really is”, their credibility is at stake. Therefore, the Copperas Cove city council does NOT want someone like her. 

Connect the dots and the last TWO MONTHS OF INACTION AND BALKING MAKE PERFECT SENSE!!

Nope, I’m not clairvoyant or a fly on the wall.

The Copperas Cove city council good old boys hate anything to do with Andrea Gardner. She changed things too much in our city. Enter a push to get her out, come hell or high water. And so, they did.

Curmudgeon finds it ironic that a former council member who pushed and promoted Marky-Marc Payne, Jay Heartburn Manning and Sorry Charlie Youngs as candidates during the last city council election has probably shot herself in the foot where the median project – her pet project – is concerned.

Ah, but I’ll leave that for another day and let y’all think about that one.

Thank you for reading. Love me, hate me, think I’m making this up? Paperwork and actions don’t lie.

Listen to what our council is NOT SAYING and watch what they are NOT DOING and that speaks more clearly than anything else they say.

Curmudgeon out. It’s Sunday. Maybe I’ll play a little kick the can myself! After I have waffles for breakfast.