City officials in Platte City met Tuesday night and one of the topics that came up is the need for an interim city administrator. Mayor Tony Paolillo suggested two national firms as possible means to acquire an interim. Alderman John Higgins suggested another idea. How about reaching out to DJ Gehrt, former administrator for the city who had a very successful 12 year stint with Platte City before retiring effective July 1?
“It might streamline the process,” Higgins said. Higgins also said that if Gehrt is willing to come back on an interim basis he is already familiar with the intricacies of the city and its operation and it would “take less time to get him up to speed” than any other person who comes in as an interim.
Higgins is right about streamlining the process and he is also right about Gehrt being familiar with the city and able to step in and be productive from day one.
Though Higgins didn’t directly mention this part, it is also important to know that contracting directly with Gehrt rather than going through a national company would save the city some dollars. If you read last week’s Landmark story on the firing of controversial city administrator Marji Gehr–which was the right move–you know the city has to pay Gehr nine months worth of her salary and six months of benefits as a result of the termination. That was a sweet (for her) clause in Gehr’s employment contract. She’ll be getting more months of severance pay than months served on the job, where her biggest contribution seemed to be serving up helpings of drama.
One major benefit in bringing in Gehrt to serve as interim would be to try to salvage the Hwy. 92 widening project from I-29 east to Bethel Road. Due to some angst–mostly financial related–among the partnerships that Gehrt worked hard to develop in his time as city administrator that project is in danger of falling apart. This would be a major blow to the city from an economic development standpoint.
The city could really use Gehrt’s consensus building skills to ride in to try to save the project that was put together with MoDOT, MARC, and others. Those regional and state funding commitments aren’t likely to be available again in the future. That project needs to be seen to completion while the iron is hot. It’s my opinion that if it can be saved, Gehrt has the connections and negotiating skills to save it. No one else at the city has that skillset and no other interim city administrator is likely to have those regional connections. In her time, it seems Marji Gehr did not stay as engaged with agencies such as MoDOT and MARC and I’m not sure she had the personality to pull it off even if she had kept the city engaged with those agencies.
DJ Gehrt as interim city administrator makes by far the most sense for Platte City.
The big question is: when Gehrt retired he spoke of a laundry list of “honey do” projects his wife had for him, so would he even be willing to come back if asked? I called him Wednesday morning to present that very question. Would he be willing to come back on an interim basis?
“I would. Retirement is great but if I’m useful for the city, great. If I’m not, that’s fine too. If they ask me, I’ll do my best,” he told me.
“During my time the elected body made really good decisions for the right reasons. If they feel it’s in the best interest of the city to ask me back then I’m sure it’s for the right reasons,” he added.
Paolillo at Tuesday night’s meeting said there might be “heartburn both ways” between Gehrt and some staffers at the city. Maybe, but that’s the way professional life works. If you have a successful 12 year run in a management position it’s very likely you ruffled a feather or two along the way. If you’re doing your job that kind of thing is unavoidable. Elected officials should be focused on running the city for the benefit of the taxpaying public and not for the purpose of protecting every staff member’s feelings.
Alderman Vickie Atkins mentioned she likes the idea of “somebody coming from the outside with a fresh set of eyes.” That’s not a bad concept and I agree in general, but I’m not sure you want any interim city administrator coming in to make a bunch of changes in the three to six months they’ll be on the job.
Generally speaking, the job of an interim is to hold things together and provide support for department heads and ensure financial accountability at the city. With Gehrt, in addition to holding things together you’d be getting a proven local leader, someone who knows the city inside and out and someone with connections to the regional agencies who hold the keys to things like transportation funding.
You’d also be getting a veteran professional who has hundreds of contacts throughout the world of city managers and city administrators and he could greatly assist local elected officials in their search for a permanent administrator. In other words, his base of contacts could save city taxpayers considerable cash as opposed to going with a national search firm. With the advent of the internet and online information, cities can do a lot of their own recruiting for high level positions without using an expensive outside firm.
Next step in the process of acquiring an interim city administrator is a meeting of the mayor and board of aldermen set for next Wednesday, March 13 at 5:30 p.m. at the new City Hall.
It’s open to the public. And it will be an open session meeting.
(Not many things are truly permanent, so we’re all interims in some way. Contact Foley on an interim basis at ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)