At the Audit Committee meeting, the new auditor, Kim Schroeder was to be confirmed. Her appointment was deferred to the next audit meeting (which I would assume would not be until February).
It was an interesting path to get here;
“The chair has made a concerted effort to improve communication throughout the process,†Neitzert said. “I was able to see how the process worked and I think Councilor Rolfing had heard that criticism and he’s tried to get messages out as the process moved along.â€
While Bill O’Toole, human resources director for the city, wouldn’t say if Schroeder was among those who originally applied for the position, he said his office received 10 more applications during the second phase of the hiring search.
The ‘unofficial’ background noise is that an original pick for the job turned down the position, and since Kim had already applied they re-interviewed her for the position. There’s a lot of other ‘unofficial’ horse trading that went on, that I won’t get into, but I will say this, many of the councilors have expressed optimism with Schroeder and were very happy with the pick. A couple I have spoke to were surprised there was a sudden change in course, the council was not made aware of this deferral until a couple of minutes before the audit meeting by chair Rolfing.
Makes you wonder who was ‘changing the thermostat’ on this deal?
This kind of confusion is what happens when the HR Director who works for the mayor makes the decisions for the City Council positions. Why would any of us think this office would be able to clearly find a staffer who could work for the citizens / Council while being selected by the mayor’s administration?
The second choice looked to be a better fit than the first but what happened? We will find out eventually and with the answers surfacing we will see the mayor’s fear of transparency all over the final decision.