Of course he is calling it ‘Special Projects Manager’ that pays between $58,000 – $71,000 a year. But if you read the job description, it is pretty obvious it will be a COS position. I wasn’t aware of it until the mayor was questioned about it in the informational meeting today, and he said all questions should be directed towards the HR Director, even though right in the job description it says, “as directed by mayor” and “appointed by mayor”.
Poly warned us, I guess we should have seen this coming a mile away.
It doesn’t look like a Chief of Staff position to me…. and I don’t think Mike is the kind of guy who would want a COS because that would take a tiny bit of control out of his hands.
This position is providing support to others rather than leading or managing others, not to mention the starting pay is about half of what the previous COS was bringing in. With a city this size I can understand the need for the Mayor to have a staff to help with with the logistics of running the city, so I really don’t have an issue with this.
Granted if this position ends up being nothing more than a glorified press secretary then I’ll be the first in line to complain, but if it is really someone designed to assist him in running the city and doing more than maintaining the city Facebook page then it is probably ok.
sounds like the previous chief of staff would be unqualified for this position. oh wait….
Doesn’t look like a Chief of Staff position to me. Taking it at face value, the advertisement calls for the position to focus on “major City projects.”
I think we tend to read too much into things — depending on our own perspective.
Through my prism (and I admit I may be reading too much into this myself) this looks like a position that will be the focal point for the events center, among other things.
Take out the rant and slant and you basically have
a local semi-plum job called a “Special Projects Manager” that I think most of us would expect to report to the Mayor.
Jodi may be available but it’s less than $100K. How about the hot blonde from KSFY? Definitely a ‘kind on the eyes’ distraction so the mayor can insulate himself from the public and divert the budget.
This position is providing support to others rather than leading or managing others, not to mention the starting pay is about half of what the previous COS was bringing in.
Providing support? Isn’t that what Executive Assistant to the Mayor Vicki Skuya is there for? At least in view of the nearly 80 G’s she is pulling down. Or how about the Mayors Executive Secretary who pulls down close to 50 G’s?
And Special Projects Manager? Let’s see? How many SPECIAL PROJECTS we got goin right now?
How about the hot blonde from KSFY?
Hmmm. I’ll go out on a limb and say the position will be filled by someone in the city’s Media Services division. Someone like Madeline Shields. The reason I say that is because Media Services shows a net loss of one employee for 2011, and the Mayors Office shows them gaining one since Jodi was shown the door. Too bad about Jodi. I always kinda liked her. Just got caught in the middle of a campaign promise…soon to be broken. Or he’ll fill it with somebody he knew from his scam “fee harvesting” days. Who knows? Time will tell.
Mark and Costner – I know this isn’t a ‘COS’ position. Because it is called something else, pays less, and let’s remember, Mike wasn’t going to hire one. At least Kermit admitted that he would ‘hire someone’ to assist him. While you are right, not a big deal, and expected, it just miffs me a little that Mike is backing down on yet another campaign promise. If he needs help, why doesn’t he just come out and say it? “Hey, I know I didn’t expect to hire an extra person to assist me during the campaign, but we gotta a lot irons in the fire, and I need some additional help.” Modesty would go a long way.
A city insider asks some probing questions.
http://jenholsen.blogspot.com/2010/12/yacker-tracker-flashing-yellow-for.html
I find her post humorous. She says it is not a COS position, but admits at the end of the post that it is, kinda. That’s my point. You can put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig.
From Jennifers Musings.
What projects do you think this person will work on?
The Event Center project? I thought Directors Cotter, Cooper and Smith were working on this project.
Code Enforcement? I thought Assistant Planning Director Kevin Smith was working on that project.
Diversity issues? HR Director O’Toole, his HR Manager-Employment & Training and Human Relations Manager/ADA Coordinator are responsible for diversity and civil rights enforcement issues/projects.
Economic development projects? I thought that was CD Director Smith’s job.
Reducing airfares? Again, another project under CD Director Smith.
Railroad Relocation Project? Again, Directors Cotter, Cooper and Smith.
Downtown Redevelopment? Another one for Director Smith.
The project of improving relations with certain city councilors perhaps?
Later Jennifer says the mayor, any mayor, could use a public relations/information officer. Looking at it all, it sure looks like the same type job Jodi had. The mayors image lately has taken a hit. He’s got the council breathing down his neck. Same with the DT people. Same with the citizens who want basic services, not a $150,000,000 tribute to himself. He needs someone to airbrush his image…vain as he is.
Kinda looks like he wants to hire a punching bag.
Maybe you should apply DL.
Trying . . . to . . . catch . . . my . . . breath
I found this comment on Holsen’s blog about city raises interesting when it comes to management;
Anonymous said…
Well, you are correct in the fact that the AFSME people deserved a raise. So did the police who just opted to work for the next year with no raise. Fire negotiated it’s contract in better times and got a three year 3% per year increase in wages. The fire contract is done at the end of 2011. I’m also not sure about your comment that the AFSME people do all the work but I do agree that they do work as do the police and fire personnel.
The item that maybe should be looked at to free up some money for the deserving workers of the city is the deferred compensation that is paid to the confidential, mid-management and management personnel. In addition to a full pension the classes I just mentioned get a second pension of matching funds from the city up to 4%. This cost the taxpayers of Sioux Falls around $700,000 last year alone. How many other jobs in the city/country pay two full pensions to the management personnel? As a recipient of the additional pension (deferred compensation) yourself I am sure you won’t agree with me on this issue but maybe the taxpayers of Sioux Falls will.
Another point is that there may be some with the city that will retire with three pensions. The current fire chief is an example of that. He retired and will receive his full fire pension, will receive the second pension of the 4% deferred compensation and after returning to the employ of the city as Fire Chief after retiring is soon eligible for his full AFSME pension. Fair to the taxpayers?? I think not..
I applied.
I see Don Jorgi at Stormland TV just busted the mayor’s balls about the position being a COS in disguise. I guess now Don is lifting stories from DaCola.
Go get em’ tiger!
http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=108557
This new position? Just what does the present $80,000 a year Executive Assistant do? How bout the $50,000 a year Executive Secretary? And special projects? The EC has not even been approved for chris’ sake. This guy is taking an awfully lot for granted.
Who is Chris?
l3wis. Don’t know if you get a flag for posts on topics this old, but will post anyway. The good mayor must have wanted Kendra pretty bad. For a job posted on the city site as starting between 51K to 71K DOE, she cruises in at a starting salary of 77.7K.
I gotta agree with Jennifer on this one. What the hell will she do that is not redundancy of other city directors?
Here’s the link.
http://www.argusleader.com/article/20110302/NEWS/103020316/Huether-names-city-projects-manager