Fake Facebook Profile Costs DCM His Job

Social media is a cancer and it can be destructive to your career. Such is the case for one deputy city manager in Arizona. What’s your take on the need for an annual review as a city manager? Well, a county manager in Florida will not get a review this year and he has never had a review since he was hired. And in North Carolina — the long knives are out for the former Cary town manager.

All that and more after the job listings.

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Benson Deputy City Manager Jay Howe will be departing the organization in February after a public information request revealed he had created a faked Facebook profile to argue with residents who opposed an aluminum plant. He posted under a pseudonym and coordinated at least one post with a manager at the company via his official work email account.

At times, Howe referred to those expressing concerns about the company’s planned recycling center as “morons” and “idiots.”

A local resident submitted a complaint to the city manager and the State Attorney General. The article states that “the attorney general’s office has statutory authority to investigate whether a public employee has used public-funded resources to promote the interests of a private entity.”

The Cary council unanimously approved $150,000 for a law firm to investigate Sean Stegall's expenditures and conduct while in office, and an additional $100,000 for an employee survey.

The law firm has already begun its review, which will cover three areas: “(1) procurement card usage, reimbursement of Town funds, and expenditures of Town funds to Stegall and his support staff, other senior staff, and the Council; (2) Stegall’s reporting of Town finances to the Council; and (3) the work environment created by Stegall with Town staff and the Council.”

Mayor Weinbrecht said he had asked Stegall to commission a staff satisfaction survey multiple times prior to his resignation, but it never happened. Multipler surveys occurred prior to Stegall’s arrival in 2016, but ceased under his watch.

Citrus County Administrator Steve Howard has not had an annual review since he was hired in 2022 and it looks like he won't be getting one any time soon.

Commissioner Kinnard said the administrator gets evaluated every two weeks during meetings and, if board members are not happy with his job performance, he can be “thrown out on the spot,” as long as three members agree.

He ain't lying -- especially in Florida. Ha!

I have mixed feelings about this story as I think it is beneficial for the executive to get an assessment "in writing" so to speak so that they are less likely to be blindsided by a termination. With that said, we have seen plenty of instances where a manager gets fired weeks or months after a solid performance review.