In a move that in my opinion will build confidence in the board of aldermen among members of the public, Platte City aldermen unanimously voted Tuesday night to terminate the contract of Marji Gehr, city administrator. In other words, they fired her.
It was the right move. It likely doesn’t sit well with Mayor Tony Paolillo, who was tight with Gehr and seemed to be her biggest fan. The mayor, as you know, does not get a vote in decisions like this. Which makes me curious as to why Gehr didn’t work harder to earn favor with the board instead of seemingly preferring a more direct–if not domineering–approach with aldermen.
Gehr and Paolillo in recent months had taken steps that seemed to indicate they wanted more power in the hands of city staff with less influence from aldermen. For example, Paolillo/Gehr did away with many of the monthly aldermen subcommittee meetings and started holding public “listening sessions” that featured staff members at the front of the room instead of aldermen.
It proved to be a bad move by Gehr and the mayor to alienate the aldermen, who held the power of Gehr’s employment in their hands. It seems clear that Paolillo and Gehr didn’t think the aldermen would ever develop the gumption to put an end to this attempted power shift.
Based on his history as mayor over the past four years, during which he has displayed virtually zero examples of leadership and even less public awareness on important topics (remember last fall when he said he didn’t know some folks at the county were proposing to move the courthouse out of Downtown Platte City even though the story had been a major topic of discussion for weeks and had been blasted throughout the media?) my guess is that the elimination of aldermen subcommittees and the format for public listening sessions were ideas that originated with Gehr, with a passive Paolillo following her lead.
After all, if Paolillo thought it was a great idea to eliminate aldermen subcommittees why hadn’t he done it during his first few years as mayor? It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that the move came shortly after Gehr took over as city administrator.
I had written in this column space recently it was my feeling from reading the tea leaves that Paolillo was the only elected official remaining who had confidence in Gehr. The unanimous vote among aldermen to dismiss her seems to validate that opinion.
I’ve criticized the board of aldermen at times over the past months for a perceived lack of leadership but they have stepped it up a notch with this move. Kudos to all six. It sends a message and firmly establishes the aldermen as the real point of power in city operations.
Let’s be honest, Gehr had even taken control of the conversations at the board’s legislative meetings, which should be meetings of the board having discussions of policy and decision-making among themselves with limited input from the city administrator during those discussions. Limited input means that after the topic is presented to the board for discussion the city administrator should stay virtually quiet unless asked a direct question by a board member. Gehr’s approach had become to dominate the conversation with non-stop talking at the speed of light, which I viewed as an attempt to intimidate and/or guide the board to her way of thinking.
I wasn’t at all a fan of her work in her role as city administrator but I do wish Gehr well in her future endeavors. Gehr seems well-versed in some topics and obviously has skills that she displayed in a finance officer role prior to moving up the chain at the city. But those skills would seem a better fit in the private sector and not in a high-level post in public service. As a city administrator, her personality needed some polishing and was not a good fit for answering to the public or responding to industry leaders looking to do business within the city.
There were multiple reports to this newspaper of Gehr using an angry approach with visitors who came to City Hall with legitimate questions, for instance. And if you inject them with truth serum, there are past and present staff members who will tell you stories of Gehr losing her cool in relatively short order. One past employee even told me that within the walls of City Hall Gehr was known to speak ill of a couple of longtime businesses in Platte City, which is never a good thing for a person serving in a high level position paid with taxpayer dollars.
Minsky’s near Zona Rosa has a pizza called The Kelceroni. I highly recommend.
As you’ll see elsewhere in this edition, The Bonefish Grill off of 64th Street in southern Platte County has closed. Long live the Bang Bang Shrimp.
More news for the foodies:
Word on the street is the On the Border, a Mexican restaurant on Barry Road, has closed.
Not surprising. It used to be a spot worth patronizing but things had fallen off in recent years. Some folks report walking in and never being acknowledged by a host/hostess or staff. So they left. Understandable.
I can share a personal story of walking in and seeing the tables so dirty that we left without ordering. Anyway, a dining option for Mexican food fans is gone.
If you’re looking for a recommendation, one of my go-to spots for Mexican cuisine has become the Jose Pepper’s restaurant at Liberty. The salsa is outstanding. I fill up on the chips and salsa at an impressive pace (think Joey Chestnut, that hot dog eating champion every July 4th) and often don’t have room once the entree arrives.
(Send your thoughts on food and city business to Foley at ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)