City manager getting $25,000 raise

hesitant to wade back in to this, because I communicate, run in to Mr.A occasionally, and loosely talk about a few issues. As I mentioned, I find him open, honest and somewhat inspirational towards steady long-term community improvement. We still have widely differing opinions on MANY MANY local concerns and direction, and he still views me as basically negative towards city admin. Hey--Mr.A, the school head and chamber head get well-paid to promote the sunshine daydream. They are here to lead optimism and hopefully get it done somehow. 

Now that Mr. Adkins has two plus years of experience as a city manager, is he receiving feelers about other opportunities in S.W. Ohio (most of which with higher salaries)?  The scuttle butt going around indicates that this could potentially be the case for the concern of the mayor and city council.  Only time will tell if he stays or leaves. It wasn't too many years ago that he was making much, much less working for the city.

Ok, Mr Adkins has invited a smaller contingent to his office for a talk rather than to take on a larger venue.  What say you frequent poster Vivian, Spiderjohn, VietVet, acclaro, Mike Presta, Analytical, Processor, others? Would you like to participate and if so, what time would be best for all of you? 

Well sign me up. Tell me where and when and I'll be there.

It would be nice if the real question could be answered by Mr Adkins. Which is why he now wants to change what was negotiated in his contract. Why should he receive $25,000 all at once. Why could he not receive some now, some later and some in the future. Maybe $15,000 now then $10,000 each year for four years. According to his accomplishments. JMO

ANALytical, don't be so uptight. I merely presented a fact, Mr. Adkins called you all out and the MUSA know-it- alls are predictably silent. NO  ONE has taken him up on his generous offer to meet with you all on his own time. NO ONE!!

What a surprise!!! Mr. Adkins opens his door anytime anywhere to the blowhards on this site and all we hear is crickets!

I am impressed by your willingness to entertain thoughts and ideas from the general citizenry. The venue? Evening hours in the 5PM to 9PM range would probably draw the largest audience of participants.  Has to be advertised well in advance to fit interested people's schedule. Word of mouth doesn't work. I would suspect the arena to be the council chambers or a larger venue perhaps offered by the Seniors Center and a banquet room. Beside yourself, I'd like to see the entire council attend and participate. As mentioned before, no rules adopted by the usual players such as Mr. Mulligan. Like to see another angle to the rules other than the controlled methods used in council meetings of a three minute time limit and then one gets shut off. Agree, this may go very slowly and may not gain alot of ground in one session. Almost certain to take several sessions to entertain all comments if the first goes well. 

Unfortunately, Gilleland's administration has ruined many city resident's trust in city government. Before her time, there wasn't an issue. Many of the points I made are a result of her guidance. IMO, her administrative plan for the city brought the city to it's knees. Her administration sponsored and grew exclusion for the citizens with their government representation. A lot of "behind the scenes" activities with the inner circle that seemed to operate in a secretive manner for the most part. Gilleland, nor did any of her inner circle, listened to the people and what they wanted for their city. It was her way or the highway. I was told that she operated the internal mechanism of the city building in the same way. Motivation by fear seemed to be the theme. Vindictiveness toward all who opposed her seemed to be the outcome. You are dealing with the aftermath of that time period to this day. Because of this created environment, the trust factor is still lacking for me.

Observation in your post......your words here.......(and I'm not trying to "ambush" you here but it is what it is in your own words.....clarification needed perhaps????

"We all have bad days and we all make mistakes, but I’ve worked hard the past two years to listen and to open lines of communication and to remove people from the organization who do not believe as I do"

Again, "to remove people from the organization who do not believe as I do". Did you mean for this to mean as it sounds? IMO, it sounds a tad bit vindictive, dictatorial and not open minded as you have espoused in other thoughts in your post here. Sounds like you could be a "my way or the highway" type manager. An open minded manager capable of digesting all points of view would entertain ALL types of thinking, wouldn't they? Your post tells me that you will crucify, to the point of termination, anyone who would offer a different point of view. If so, this re-enforces my distrust in a one on one. If you would consider doing this to an employee, you could call out your attack dogs on Joe Citizen with anything from police harassment, to placing a resident on a "do not provide service to this residence" order to a surveillance scenario singling out certain residents. It is not totally out of the question, especially with any government entity. Government, by reputation, has grown the distrust.

Now, to answer your question with an honest answer. No, I do not know anyone who has been retaliated against by the city but if I were a betting person, my money would be on the possibility that someone has, knowing past members of city government. Perhaps someone reading this could provide you with a specific event where retaliation was used toward a citizen. By the way, I had heard that an owner of rental properties was having an issue bordering on harassment by the city and that a lawsuit was in the works. Don't know if that is true or not. Just speculating here. Don't know if citing low income people for paint peeling and property issues when they can't afford to do the repairs borders on city harassment or not.

This "Middletown Way" sounds good. Many points where you and your government friends have a lot of work to do in convincing long time residents, who know the past, that it has any clout to it. We long timers have seen it all and have lived through the best of times.......and, since the 80's, the worst of times here.

Anger? Yep, got a lot of it as I've seen my city when there was prosperity and then taken to the trash heap since the 80's. It has never recovered as I see it and is overwhelmed with issues today.........many of the issues created by very poor decisions by people who came before you in your city building. Little common sense in government is a sad thing to watch, especially when you have seen it for three decades.

Now, how about that community meeting so that the public can overcome that feeling of distrust/retaliation in/from their government and where the people can get their thoughts across without the traditional roadblocks?

Well, let’s start with the trust issue and we’ll work towards the other issues. First, I’d like this to be a productive exchange, which in the past, has not always happened. Trust works both ways. If this is a good discussion where people may disagree, I’m all in. If this is an ambush to see how many people can scream and rant, then we probably won’t get far.

I’d like to start by asking a question. And I want an honest answer.   Are you aware of anyone that has been retaliated against since I took over as City Manager two years ago?   I’m not aware of anyone, so if there is someone who has been retaliated against by city employees for their views, I would like to and need to know about it.

A second question. If there has been retaliation that I am unaware of, does that person still work for the City? I’m not sure you all are aware how much we have turned over staff in the last two years.   You have a new Police Chief, Fire Chief, Assistant Fire Chief, Economic Development Director, Assistant Economic Development Director, Finance Director, Assistant Finance Director, City Planner, City Zoning Official, and we are working on hiring a new Tax Superintendent. Beyond the department heads, any employee who was not taking care of the public has been counseled and in some cases, dismissed from the organization.

We all have bad days and we all make mistakes, but I’ve worked hard the past two years to listen and to open lines of communication and to remove people from the organization who do not believe as I do. Our budget is online. Our quarterly reports from each department are online. Our checkbook is online. We have a robust social media outreach on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. If you haven’t seen my city manager blog yet, I post regularly on events going on in the city. I call it like I see it. You may not agree, but you’ll know what I feel and why I believe as I do.

In May, 2015, I rolled out to city employees, “The Middletown Way.” It’s a program that I instituted to instill a different culture regarding our interaction with the public. I cover some part of it at every employee meeting. This is “The Middletown Way:”

                           The Middletown Way
We Understand:
•     That we create the environment in which the citizens of Middletown live
•     That we are essential in creating a livable and vibrant urban environment that makes Middletown an attractive place to live, work and play
•     That positive energy is contagious
•     That we implement policy as developed by City Council, and guide the quality of the community
•     That we are responsible for delivering the public services that our residents seek and City Council deems appropriate
•     That we are only as strong as our weakest link
•     That the image of Middletown as a community is dramatically impacted by our work product and our attitude about the City
•     That we must all work together as a team to accomplish our goals     
We Are Committed:     
•     To providing quality public services in a positive and efficient manner
•     To treating the public and our co-workers in the manner in which we would like to be treated
•     To making Middletown a great place to live, an exciting place to do business and a pleasant, friendly place to visit
•     To representing Middletown in a positive way and projecting the community in a good light
•     To serving the public with dedication, integrity and responsibility in undertaking our roles as the caretakers of all things public in Middletown      

We Promise:
•     Our best effort every day to deliver quality public service to the citizens of Middletown
•     Our belief in and commitment to the values of the City
•     Our dedication to making Middletown a special place to live, work and play
•     Our resolve to present Middletown as a community with a “bright past” and a “brighter future”
•     Our unending realization that the work we do is very important and that our commitment is one of dedication and honor


We include this message as part of every new employee orientation and ask the employee to sign off that they received, understood and are ready to implement The Middletown Way in their daily work.

In February of this year, I rolled out an employee recognition program that identifies when employees meet this ideal. We cover both The Middletown Way and recognize employees meeting this standard at every meeting.

We’re not perfect by any means, but things have changed. I hope you’ll see that as we move forward.

spiderjohn wrote: Cool! Time to call everyone out, lay it all on the table and get on with things. Agree with mr.A or not, I have always found him open honest and transparent. This would be face to face with no hiding behind a screen name. You honestly can't ask for more than this. We shall move forward with a better understanding of everyone and everything(I hope!)

Cool!
Time to call everyone out, lay it all on the table and get on with things.
Agree with mr.A or not, I have always found him open honest and transparent.
This would be face to face with no hiding behind a screen name.
You honestly can't ask for more than this.

We shall move forward with a better understanding of everyone and everything(I hope!)