Budget woes blamed on former town manager by interim and his predecessor

It is pretty rare to see a town manager get blasted by both his predecessor and the interim manager that replaced him — but we have such a story today. One Texas city is apparently abolishing contracts for their executives, including their city administrator. A Massachusetts police department apparently used a search warrant to unmask a social media critic. And we also take a look at what appears to be one city manager’s attempt to repair his image after being ousted from his most recent position.

All that and more news after the job postings.

It is free to post all of your senior and executive level recruitments over at the AAME job board. If you would like to include them in this newsletter, select the $199 option.

I came across an article about a city manager that appears to be some sort of reputation management service that he purchased. This executive had an embarrassing separation that generated quite a few headlines so it is understandable.

Assuming I am correct and this article is some sort of pay for play reputation management, I wanted to share it with you for future reference. But more importantly, I wanted to use it as an opportunity to remind you that your reputation management should be a proactive endeavor. Do not wait for something bad to happen and then try to fix it by improving your online footprint.

Work now — proactively — to increase your “Google footprint” by writing opinion pieces or columns that demonstrate your thought leadership. Seek out opportunities to regularly appear on your local radio stations to talk about city issues, etc.

Recent news out of Conroe is that the council with the apparent blessing of executive staff is moving away from contracts. Each of the four executives received significant one-time payouts for accumulated leave time and it seems that the council will no longer offer up a contract with severance protections to any future administrator.

The payouts totaled $1.85 million.

Interim city manager Joseph Perkins says the budget put together by former town manager Jay McGrail has problems.

“I am not comfortable with the budget as presented. I believe it is out of balance and I believe it’s out of balance significantly and there is a deficit.’’

Bob Nunes, a former Taunton mayor and former Middleboro Town Manager who retired in 2022, described the situation in Middleboro as "scandalous."

"When I retired as town manager in the fall of 2022, we had a balanced budget, no structural deficit and adequate reserves. Now, three years later the town is in a financial meltdown," Nunes said.

McGrail says he has reached out to Perkins to discuss any questions or concerns…

Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan vetoed an effort by the Council to investigate why their police department used a search warrant to unmask an anonymous social media critic.

The council voted 7-0 on a resolution to investigate. It is unclear to me how the mayor can override a unanimous vote.

Turns out the critic is a police officer who used to be a member of the department.

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