Tags
city attorney, city council, city manager, Clay Adkinson, Clayton Adkinson, DeFuniak Springs City Council, Janie Griffith, Kermit Wright
If you didn’t make it to last night’s meeting regarding the city manager hiring process, it’s worth 47 minutes of your time to see your city government at work.
Some background:
- The City of DeFuniak Springs received 43 applications for city manager. After city staff applied its “matrix” designed to narrow the field, 33 candidates (or 77 percent) were disqualified. Twenty-five of those candidates had a bachelor’s degree or better.
- The committee designated to review the applications never saw those 33 applications. Only the 10 remaining applications were forwarded to the committee.
- The review committee narrowed the field to six, and then three of those candidates withdrew from consideration before interviews began.
- The review committee interviewed three candidates for city manager on July 25 and 26 and then recommended that two of the candidates advance to be interviewed by the city council.
- Citizens who attended the interviews claim that City Attorney Clay Adkinson told the three candidates they would be notified on Thursday or Friday (July 26 or 27) whether they were advancing to the next steps.
- After the interviews, on July 26, a special meeting was announced for July 30 to “consider scheduling interviews for the applicants for the position.”
- The two advancing candidates were not notified of their advancement on July 26 or July 27.
- One of the two candidates, Jim Hedges, withdrew his name from consideration on Saturday, July 28.
- On Monday, July 30, Mr. Hedges asked to be reinstated, presumably because he had not been notified on Thursday or Friday that he was advancing.
- At the special meeting, the city council was faced with the decision to start the entire process over again; to interview the remaining candidate; or to reinstate Mr. Hedges and interview both candidates.
- City Attorney Clay Adkinson recommended not reinstating candidates who withdraw, an answer consistent with the answer he gave to the committee during the interview process.
A few highlights from the July 30 special meeting:
“Our committee did what was asked of them. We need to take the recommendation of our committee because they did exactly what we asked them to do… If we don’t support the recommendation of our committee, we should not have formed a committee.”
Janie Griffith, arguing that the council should honor the remaining candidate by interviewing him. She later insisted on meeting times that would accommodate more of the public.
“They were not told that they would be notified by a specific time.”
City Attorney Clay Adkinson, regarding whether the candidates were told to expect a call on Thursday or Friday. (around 23:11 in the audio from July 30)
“Ms. Glenn… I don’t believe I specifically said you’ll be notified on Thursday or Friday. If I’m mistaken on that, then I apologize to the candidates and the council if that was the statement that was inferred from that…”
City Attorney Clay Adkinson, regarding whether the candidates were told to expect a call on Thursday or Friday. (around 27:54 in the audio from July 30)
“As Ms. Glenn stated, there’s no question, I told the committee, I told the candidates… that they would be notified of the next steps on either Thursday afternoon or Friday.”
City Attorney Clay Adkinson, regarding whether the candidates were told to expect a call on Thursday or Friday. (around 34:30 in the audio from July 30)
“Staff will contact immediately upon close of committee meeting tomorrow… All applicants advised what that is.”
What City Attorney Clay Adkinson actually said to Jim Hedges when Mr. Hedges specifically asked to be notified of the outcome by phone or email. (around 1:09:10 in the audio from July 25)
[Note how Clay alters his answers as the meeting goes on. Note, too, the final comment indicates what Clay actually did say to one of the candidates during the interview process.]
- City Attorney Clayton Adkinson spoke from the front row of the audience about the remaining candidate’s availability for interview. (around the 12:00 mark) There was another speaker at the podium, and the mayor never gave him permission to speak. He spoke directly to a council member rather than speaking directly to the mayor.
- Around the 28:00 mark, Clayton spoke about the candidate who withdrew, again from his chair. When the audience reminded him to speak from the microphone, he quipped, “Gimme that… I don’t mind going to the mic,” and then launched directly into an answer without stating his name.
- When citizens reminded Clayton to provide his name, City Attorney Clay Adkinson countered with “Clayton Adkinson, City Attorney. I believe the public knows his name.”
This conduct is noteworthy because the city attorney’s office introduced a document at the July 23 city council meeting titled Public Meeting Participation Procedure. Clayton Adkinson asked the city council to review the document and explained that it would help the council address issues of decorum in city council meetings.
A7 in the document says this:
No person, other than a member of the Council, and the person having the floor, may be permitted to enter into any discussion, either directly or through a member of the Council, without permission of the Mayor.
A5 in the document says this:
Speakers will be acknowledged by the Mayor in an orderly manner. Speakers will address the Council from the podium at the front of the room and begin their remarks by stating their name… and whether they reside in the City…
A8 in the document says this:
Speakers will be courteous in their language and presentation. Speakers must be respectful and courteous in their remarks.
They wrote the document. They claim to want decorum in the city council meetings. Perhaps they should lead by example.
“We’ve done this over and over and we’ve come to this end over and over and over.”
Kermit Wright, about the city council’s track record of hiring city managers
Editor’s Note: If you access the audio files directly from the city website, you will not likely have much functionality. If you right-click on the audio link on the city website, you can download the linked file and listen to it in a program that provides the ability to fast forward or rewind.