Town Conceals Cost of Job Search for New Manager
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
October 6, 2014
When Cape Charles Town Council approved a $10,000 employee wage study by Springsted Inc. last February, the Wave publicized the action — and a number of readers reacted negatively to the town’s decision. (CLICK to read letter from David Gay: “Town Paying $10,000 for Free Information.”)
Apparently wishing to avoid further bad publicity, when Town Council decided to hire the same firm again — this time to search for a new town manager — they did it behind closed doors. The official minutes following the July 31, 2014, executive session (CLICK) refer only to a motion “to hire Springsted Inc. per their proposal for executive search services for the Town Manager position as discussed.” The “as discussed” part will forever remain secret, as no minutes are recorded for executive sessions. There will be no explanation, for example, why Town Council chose Springsted or whether any other headhunter was even considered.
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State law requires public bodies such as Cape Charles Town Council to do their work in public, where concerned citizens have the opportunity to scrutinize their actions. Elected officials are not even allowed to discuss town business among themselves — all discussion must be in a public forum. The only exception is that two members may have a private conversation — but no more than two. Under the last administration, Council members would make almost daily pilgrimages to Sullivan’s Office Supply to confer one by one with the mayor, which was legal.
There are only a few instances when public bodies are allowed to close their doors, and one of them is to discuss personnel matters. But even then, only certain aspects can be kept private — in this case, “Discussion, consideration or interviews of prospective candidates for employment.” That’s the reason cited for the July 31 closed session. The reason was patently false, however, since there were no prospective candidates at that time.
Alan Gernhardt, staff attorney for the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council, confirmed to the Wave that Town Council’s secretive action was illegal: “The personnel exemption would not cover a discussion of the job position and/or hiring a search firm, as the personnel exemption only covers discussions concerning specific individuals,” Gernhardt said. He added that a different exemption might have been used (although it was not): “Discussion of the award of a public contract . . . where discussion in an open session would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body” (emphasis added). It is difficult to see how openly discussing the Springsted proposal could adversely affect the town’s negotiating strategy — especially if no competitor was under consideration. Although the town did not apply this exemption, it has improperly done so in the past, when it confused its own interests with those of J. David McCormack, developer of the Old School property. In that instance, Town Council met privately to avoid any adverse impact on the developer.
The Wave has learned that Town Council voted in closed session to pay Springsted Inc. up to $15,200 to find a new town manager. Although that information was concealed from the official minutes, the Clerk’s office did comply with the law by supplying a copy of the Springsted contract to the Wave when requested.
Springsted is advertising the position, reviewing applications submitted, and will recommend a “short list” for Town Council’s consideration. Applications are due to Springsted by October 31. The Wave checked the nation’s largest online recruitment provider, monster.com, to see if the town manager position was advertised there. It is not. Springsted has, however, advertised the position on its own website (CLICK).
Springsted has also privately recommended to Town Council a salary range for the town manager, which was omitted from the public presentation. Unable to learn what salary ranges other towns use for their managers, Springsted instead used eight towns’ or cities’ actual salaries — a methodology it had ruled out as misleading when conducting the rest of the salary survey. For a town or city manager, Springsted recorded a salary range from $59,400 up to $96,500 not including benefits. It then recommended a salary range for Cape Charles town manager of $70,000-$100,000, and this is what is being advertised.
It amazes me that the Cape Charles Town Council has elected to mimic the actions of the Federal Government. It’s obvious that the Council does not care to abide by the laws, or may feel that the citizens will do nothing. The entire Council should be removed from office immediately and the citizens should elect/replace with persons that have integrity, common sense, and a passion for the citizens and the Town of Cape Charles and not their own wallets! I wonder what else goes on that the citizens are not aware of? Two strikes, they’re out! Wake up, folks, and take a stand!
Pamela — This very problem has been an unending battle between the few honest people that attempted to get onto the Town Council and the people that played incredibly dirty during the last election. We tried to bring open, honest government to Cape Charles; however, the people voted against open, honest government FOR THE PEOPLE. The last mayor and Town Council, with the exception of Frank Wendell, met constantly behind closed doors illegally, sided with a few developers, and basically threw all of the rules out the door. Joan Natali contacted property owners in Bay Creek and had them change their voter status to Cape Charles so that they could vote in the election for no other reason than to keep the HONEST people from winning. This town is being run into debt by people that couldn’t care less what kind of debt is left because they will be “gone” by the time we have to pay the piper for their reckless mismanagement of our tax dollars. Believe me Pamela — we have tried to fight this problem. I am easy to find and would love to sit down with you sometime.
A wonderful piece of journalism! This goes on all over at every level and rarely, if ever, does a light shine into the darkness. We, the people, are paying and we don’t know who we are paying, how much we are paying, and what we are paying for.
All we do know is that we are paying trillions and that the “ruling class” and their friends live very well while we struggle with taxes and the prices for essentials.
What is concerning is that there are more comments for the vet, a great addition to the town, and the chicken vote, than for this very important issue. We focus our attention on immediate utilitarian issues, and ignore the illegal and wasteful management of our town. A city with substantial revenue can afford $15,000 for a job search. For a town that is essentially broke, incurring such a cost is nothing short of insane. The not-so-long-term prognosis is that taxes are going through the roof – they have to! Then you will have just another faltering retirement and weekender community, rather than a diverse vibrant town.
It is not in the interest of the town’s consulting firms to offer a clear picture of the town’s current situation. Can you please organize and invite an economist to explain this dire situation to you? Perhaps you can also invite a public-administration ethicist to address the topic of (un)representative government, and a psychologist who can help you understand why you are voting into office people who are unwilling to represent your interests.
Dana — It is pretty depressing that more people are worried about the chickens than are worried about their taxes going up, up, up! From what I understand, the people that wanted the chickens in the first place don’t even want them now. We have paid our town planner at least $25,000 to figure out the new law regarding the chickens and we even paid the town’s lawyer to think it over. I went to the “public forum” last night to voice my opinion and there were a total of 6 people in the audience. What a joke ! So for this we paid the planner and the lawyer?
Debbie and Dana, you are spot on. As Virginians, we understand what Jefferson meant when he said that first, they consolidate power by any means possible, and once that is secured, the free flow of information is strangled to allow for the free flow of corruption. In that regard, Cape Charles is indeed the quintessential Virginia Town.
Old School Freedom Fighters understand this, having witnessed the fraud, lies, and filthy backroom deals first hand. It was a thorough understanding of the illegality involved in almost every aspect of the dirty school deal that led us to the Eastville Court house to redress our grievances. Eastern Shore historians know this is not too far from old Hackes Field.
Watching Chelsea score a victory over Arsenal last night (soccer), it jarred a memory of Chelsea’s biggest fan, Salman Rushdie. Though he is talking about India, it doesn’t seem that far off from us: “There are two things in Indian history — one is the incredible optimism and potential of the place, and the other is the betrayal of that potential — for example, corruption. Those two strands intertwine through the whole of Indian history, and maybe not just Indian history.”
Mr. Creed, Salman Rushdie is a fan of Tottenham Hotspur, not Chelsea.
Paul, you are so, so correct….I think I transposed my love of both Chelsea and Rushdie onto each other, much to, I’m sure, the chagrin of the unfortunate Rushdie…I read years ago his essay ‘The People’s Game’, from his collection ‘Step Across this Line’, in which he wrote about his (as you corrected) his love for the Tottenham Hotspur.
I swear, I must be getting old; sittng there watching Chelsea with my son, “Look at that pass from André Schürrle! OMG Costa scored again!!! You know Joey, Chelsea was Rushdie’s team!!!” “Who? Who did Rushdie play for Dad?” “Nevermind, just watch the game!”