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January 20th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Meehan wouldn’t take it. Too big a cut in pay and too much grunt work and no glamour. And can you see him meeting with City Council and dealing with their requests and “advice”? My short list is Panagiotakos, Murphy or TJ McCarthy.
January 20th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
And note every single one of them is a pol with no experience in muni management, except McCarthy, who has the same problems and baggage as Cox in my opinion.
January 20th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Why don’t you spend some time talking to these people and hearing what they have to say rather than just attacking with idle speculation?
January 20th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Most of my questions for the worst offenders are answered in their actions.
January 20th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Oh Shawn, Lynne really isn’t that far off the mark..
January 20th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Shawn:
What we want is the same thing Dracut has. A professional, policy-wonk, City Manager who is on the job for decades; free of the politics that surround he/she. We want the same thing you have.
If you lived in Lowell and watch all of last week’s City Council meeting, you would be as discouraged and disillusioned as I am. It isn’t that the City Council asked the CM to “communicate” better, that in itself is not a problem. It was the way he was chastised and treated by some CC members. For what?
January 21st, 2009 at 5:11 am
And as I said last week on the radio during this discussion, Dennis was called to task for lack of communication with the selectmen when a major event was happening in town and he was taking care of it.. yet had not notified the selectmen what was going on.
Same exact issue.. sometimes the managers forget that its more than running a “business,” its the “people’s business” and the people’s representatives need to be kept up to date on the key issues because they have to answer for them.
January 21st, 2009 at 7:39 am
Shawn:
I do not consider Zimmini’s outburst against Dennis in the same league as what happened in Lowell. Did the other selectmen pile on? Did the other selectmen accuse Dennis of having poor communication skills?
If you do not mind, I am going to interpret your analogy as there may be regret in some circles that the CC went further that they intended.
January 21st, 2009 at 8:43 am
I was not talking about the recent Zimini tirade.. there was an issue a couple years ago where the water department was detonating some blasting caps they found in an old safe.
Sounded like explosions going on all over town. The manager knew what was happening, but had not notified the selectmen and they were getting calls from all over.
The same discussion was held at the next selectmens meeting about keeping the board notified of key issues.
January 21st, 2009 at 8:49 am
its T.J. Mccarthy girls and boys BEWARE!!!
Keep your eyes on kaz and lenzi
January 21st, 2009 at 9:01 am
I’m gonna stand up for TJ, who is a hard worker and a good guy in my opinion. Certainly no dummy as has been thrown out there in there threads. His association with the former manager aside, he gets the job he has done, quite well. He’s not Lynch, but that doesn’t mean he’s not capable. Nobody is perfect.
As for the other names, I’m gonna pass if I can’t say anything nice.
I can’t see why Meehan would want the job, the money being a major reason just to start off. Wonder if he was riveted to the TV when he heard Teddy K collapsed yesterday?
January 21st, 2009 at 9:02 am
err …”these threads”
January 21st, 2009 at 9:08 am
Marty would never take that job. Too big a paycut. And, it’s a step down for him from Chancellor. Why would he want to waste his time? Being the City Manager of Lowell is a no-win job. Remember, Marty worked for the Secretary of State’s office, was a staffer for a State Senator, and was the Mayor’s Assistant early on in his career. He needs his three highest paid years in a MA retirement system and he’s getting it as Chancellor of UML. The only change Marty would make to his current situation is to run for any open Massachusetts US Senate seat. He wants to be a U.S. Senator. Why else would he be hoarding his warchest?
January 21st, 2009 at 9:18 am
RE: TJ, that would be why he was able to keep his current job under the new administration. But I’m pretty certain I wouldn’t want him as city manager, given his past associations, also, given the way I’ve seen him interact on occasion.
OMG, too funny, regarding your glued-to-TV remarks, tryin. But ghoulish!
The fact is, even the CM himself is NOT directly involved with negotiations with these bids, and the City Council even LESS so. Finding out via the paper like the rest of us is a perfectly reasonable process in some of these “communications” cases. It’s NOT Bernie’s fault Rita doesn’t get her paper until 4pm, and it’s not his fault they don’t want to join the goddamned 20th century (nevermind the 21st). There is NO WAY Bernie can do his job if every time a fairly minor development happened in every negotiation he was involved with or aware of, he had to stop and make 9 phone calls. Sorry, not reasonable expectations there.
But this wasn’t about THAT anyway! This was about making a stink, finding a reason to pick on him. Because if this was about being informed and involved, next city council meeting, Rita, Bud, Armand, Alan, and Mike would be sponsoring and supporting a motion to go back to weekly meetings.
January 21st, 2009 at 11:55 am
TJ McCarthy is one of the finest public servants I’ve ever met, and this city is lucky to have him. He came up with the idea of the interdepartmental Fire/Police/DPW teams during the terrible flooding in our neighborhoods a few years ago. If, God forbid, something were to happen to Bernie Lynch, and they appointed TJ McCarthy to replace him, I’d be fine with that, even though he is a very tied into the GOB network - but I would raise holy hell if the Council fired Lynch for the purpose of appointing TJ. On the flip side, I’d be quite upset if TJ was the City Manager, was doing a good job, and the Council fired him because they wanted Bernie Lynch.
To the GOB, it’s all about factions and being loyal. They view us “pro-Lynchites” as just another opposing faction.
Exactly.
There’s one side that wants loyalty to the GOBs to be a determinative factor in who runs this city and how it is run. Arrayed against them isn’t a faction that makes hostility to the GOBs or loyalty to some other group a guiding ideal, but people who don’t want such considerations, in any direction, to be part of the process at all.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:14 pm
I’m just a bit disturbed that LiL and The Sun have this guy as good as replaced! I would hope that the “issue” of communication would be addressed and they can all move on w/ the business of the city.
My Good ness, after reading all of the posts and the column, were it me, I would have had my resume out last week!
Once again, the issue city management centers around the personalites of the CC and their own personal agenda and not the task at hand, which is to manage this city to its’ fullest potential. Notwithstanding, I did not appreciate the tactics nor the ineptitude of the prior administration.
Word has it, that Trinity Financial would not have much comfort with a change in management. But of course, this need not matter, as long as (certain persons) in the majority, are able to grab a piece of the action or gain tow contract, snow removal contract or even catering services.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:15 pm
And yes (starving for information) Lenzi, have the nads to make the motion to go back to weekly meetings. Fact is, we as voters are starving for some actual work out of you.
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:51 am
“Trinity Financial would not have much comfort with a change in management.”
Would you in their position?
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:00 am
Oh Mr..Absolutely! Trinity is already locked in, however, now they have the huge task of attracting investors to a City that puts its politics above progress.
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:48 pm
TJ McCarthy as City Manager is a joke.. he’s not fit to carry Bernie Lynche’s jock strap! He a Cox bully and he is not going to change!