Council members explain quick city manager decision

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The Maricopa City Council moved so quickly on the city manager’s request to become an assistant city manager and to appoint a new interim manager because city code requires that Maricopa have a city manager, three councilmen said today.

At a 7:30 a.m. meeting on Monday, July 2 – a meeting that was posted late the previous Friday afternoon – council members unanimously appointed former intermim City Manager Rick Buss as assistant and chose Finance Director Roger Kolman as the new interim City Manager. There was no printed background material before or since the meeting. At the meeting, Council members did not discuss their decision with each other or the public, including why such a move was necessary or why it had to be done so quickly.

Council members Joe Estes, Kelly Haddad and Will Dunn said that when Buss originally was appointed interim city manager, he had an agreement that he could step back into the assistant’s role. When Buss said he wanted to exercise that option to spend more time with his family and do it immediately, the Council was required by the original employment deal to honor his request. And it was required by city code to have a designated city manager, they said, and that is why a new interim manager was appointed immediately.

None of the Council members knew what the consequence would be if Maricopa had no city manager. Estes speculated that the city could face state sanctions.

“The reason it was so fast was because Rick (Buss) asked to move to the assistant city manager position effective immediately,” Haddad said. “We have to keep the ship moving. We can’t stop for anything. It’s a business that needs to continue to run.”

Dunn also said that the letter from Buss and the original employment deal required the fast decision.

“Quite literally, he (Buss) didn’t want to do it anymore,” Dunn said. “What are you going to tell the guy? ‘Sorry.'”

Dunn added, “Rick wanted us to move fast. That’s only fair to him and his family, and we have complete confidence in Roger.”

All three council members understood that the employment deal with Buss allowed him to unilaterally and precipitiously exercise his option to drop to the assistant role, something Haddad said he would not approve in the future. (Estes was not on the Council when Buss was hired.)

“We’re not perfect,” Haddad said. “We’re still new as a council and we’re learning. We’ve made mistakes and we’ll press forward.”

The Council members said that the city will do a proper and comprehensive job recruiting a permanent city manager and that Kolman’s appointment is temporary. They also said that Kolman was the natural pick for interim city manager because, as finance director, he already had an intimate knowledge of all city departments and he did not want to be a candidate for the job.

“I saw it as a good fit for Roger without looking at anyone else because of his position with the city,” Estes said. “I see (Finance Director) as the No. 2 position in the city. He knows the ins and outs of every department; he works with them on budget.”

Dunn said that the “team approach” to running the city will mean a smooth transition to the new city manager. Kolman, Dunn said, was the most rounded department head who had the confidence of the Council. But, he added, “We could have put any of our directors in there, and they all would have done a fantastic job.”

At the special meeting, there was no background information prepared explaining why the action was required, as normally is available. None of the council members nor Mayor Kelly Anderson explained the background or why they voted as they did – also unusual in key city decisions.

In retrospect, all said the city could have done a better job explaining the council action to citizens.

“We’d probably do it differently if we had to do it again,” Dunn said. “We’re certainly not trying to hide anything.”

Haddad said the city will not continue to make big decisions so quickly.

“We have done numerous things in the past way too fast, and I think we all know it. For myself, I just think in the future you’re not going to see that happen anymore,” Haddad said. “As a council, we have to make sure we’re not doing things too quickly. This was done quickly but it was the right decision.”

Estes also said that Maricopa needs a city manager with more experience than Buss, whose resume on the city’s Web site does not include working for a city.

“I thought Rick was overwhelmed with the position,” Estes said. “He didn’t have the needed experience with how fast the city was growing. We need someone with experience in that position.”

An upside of the development, Estes said, is that Buss now will have the chance to work on more detailed issues that haven’t received sufficient attention.

“One area that Rick has a lot of knowledge on was Santa Cruz Wash,” he said. “We’re still working on a regional flood control solution for Santa Cruz Wash. I see that as a benefit for the city for Rick being there as assistant city manager, to focus his time and attention on those detail areas that we need to get something done on rather than big picture things.”

The Maricopa City Council is scheduled to meet again at 5 p.m. today at to make Kolman’s appointment immediate. The language appointing him interim city manager failed to declare the action as an emergency, which means he would not officially have the position for 30 days.

That meeting will be at City Hall, 45145 W. Madison Ave.

Editor’s note: Mayor Kelly Anderson, Vice-Mayor Brent Murphree and Council members Edward Farrell and Stephen Baker did not respond to inmaricopa.com’s request for comment prior to publication.

Photo by Aaron Thacker