Council/Ken Cohen/ City Manager

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Council/Ken Cohen/The New
City Manager

“Ken
Cohen, president of Cohen Brothers, said the city is facing a “critical
decision” as it selects its next city manager. City Manager Judy Gilleland is
retiring in early June and the city recently released the names of the 29
applicants. 

On
Wednesday, while visiting Greenville, S.C., Cohen said Middletown doesn’t need
another administrator, rather an innovator, someone who can “take the city
forward.” He also stressed that if none of the applicants fit the qualities the
city is seeking, more resumes should be accepted. “Do not hire the wrong
person,” he said. “Don’t settle.” “                                                                       
April 24,2014 –Middletown Journal 

Ken Cohen
and the Cohen family have been longtime and great supporters of the city of
Middletown. Additionally they have been very successful with their businesses
in Middletown and elsewhere. Ken Cohen is also the head of MMF or Moving
Middletown Forward and was on the trip that was taken to Greenville, South
Carolina. With his background and wide frame of reference anything he has to
say should be taken with great consideration by City Council.

In the
short list of candidates for City Manager, City Council has put Doug Adkins and
Les Landen on the list of five  potential
candidates. Ken Cohen says, “Middletown
doesn’t need another Administrator, rather an innovator, someone who can take
the city forward.” The years of   experience of Doug Adkins and Les Landen as
part of the administration demonstrate clearly, beyond debate, that they are
not innovators and they do not have the ability to “take the city forward”.   “He also stressed that if none of the
applicants fit the qualities the city is seeking, more resumes should be
accepted. “Do not hire the wrong person,” he said. “Don’t settle.””       

Council,
it was insulting to many tax-paying citizens that you put these two names on
the short list but please don’t insult Mr. Cohen by ignoring what he says, his
experience and the obvious deliberation he has given to the matter. This is an
important time in the history of Middletown. “Do not hire the wrong person.
Don’t settle.” 

The city
of Middletown needs the very best candidate it can find. If it has to spend the
necessary money to do so it should not hesitate. The qualifications for the
candidate for City Manager should include:

         1.  A Masters Degree in City Administration.

         2. 
Successful experience in city turn-around and revitalization.

         3.  The communication ability to truthfully
represent council to its citizens and citizens to council w/o 

              partiality.

         4. 
The goal of attracting new business and people to Middletown.

         5. 
Reducing taxes to attract new business.

         6. 
Improving the city’s credit rating to where it was before this
administration.

         7. 
Increase the Rainy Day Fund.

         8. 
Increase  support for improving
local education.

         9. 
All without cutting services.

This
requires professionalism not a superman!

City
Council has had limited vision. We are a city of huge economic decline. Council’s
vision has been limited growth.  Council wanted to reduce population and become
a campus/art community. Thus, the consequences have been a declining city and
extreme funding of downtown development which has had minor significant results
thus far.  It has always been axiomatic
that declining economy demands unlimited growth. Council has a moral as well as
a fiduciary responsibility at this time to expand its vision.  Council should now continue its forward
thrust downtown with putting more of the funding and responsibility on downtown
private shareholders. They have not been fair to the rest of the city. They now
need to expand their vision and put more emphasis, effort  and funding to the rest of the city. In
addition to education and art they need to attract light manufacturing,
research, more health facilities and schools, tech companies and others that
fit the best vision for the overall good of the city to provide jobs and better
the local economy.  With a City Manager
as described above and a united council and citizenry behind such an expanded
vision, all of the city will once again grow and prosper.  It will do so much faster than the
projections for downtown growth that are currently being proposed. Also, to
those who will say it is too late let me tell you that idea is contrary to the
American pioneer spirit and look around and you will see that cities turn
around all of the time throughout the country. If we only half succeed we will
be well ahead of where we are and where we are heading now. My motto is shoot
for the universe and if you only land on Mars you’ve done pretty good. After
all we are only human.

Mr. Cohen
made his comments while on the South Carolina trip. Those types of trips are
stimulating and not necessarily unreasonable. However, it might have been just
as good to have spent the same time in Hamilton, Fairfield and Westchester
which have had many recent successes attracting new businesses and citizen growth
right in our area and if they can do it so can we.

I have
been fortunate to have been chosen to be on the Committee to select the City
Manager. All that has been requested of the committee thus far has been to
fill  out a survey. The committee was not
asked to participate in creating a short list and as of yet have not been asked
to participate in interviewing candidates along with Council on May the 17^th.   Council, PLEASE consider Ken Cohen’s advice that
“if none of the applicants fit the qualities the city is seeking, more resumes
should be accepted. Do not hire the wrong person. Don’t settle.”        

I’ve
written this post because as deeply as I want to be in attendance Saturday, May
17^th for the interviewing of the City Manager Candidates  due to some serious circumstances it will be
impossible for me to attend but my heart will be there.

Thank you
for your consideration.

Paul
Nagy  

Council/Ken Cohen/ City Manager

City manager candidate sees ‘opportunities’ here