Council/Ken Cohen/The New City Manager

“Ken Cohen, president of Cohen Brothers, said the city is facing a “critical decision” as it selects its next city manager. City Manager Judy Gilleland is retiring in early June and the city recently released the names of the 29 applicants.

On Wednesday, while visiting Greenville, S.C., Cohen said Middletown doesn’t need another administrator, rather an innovator, someone who can “take the city forward.” He also stressed that if none of the applicants fit the qualities the city is seeking, more resumes should be accepted. “Do not hire the wrong person,” he said. “Don’t settle.” “                                                                        April 24,2014 –Middletown Journal

Ken Cohen and the Cohen family have been longtime and great supporters of the city of Middletown. Additionally they have been very successful with their businesses in Middletown and elsewhere. Ken Cohen is also the head of MMF or Moving Middletown Forward and was on the trip that was taken to Greenville, South Carolina. With his background and wide frame of reference anything he has to say should be taken with great consideration by City Council.

In the short list of candidates for City Manager, City Council has put Doug Adkins and Les Landen on the list of five  potential candidates. Ken Cohen says, “Middletown doesn’t need another Administrator, rather an innovator, someone who can take the city forward.” The years of   experience of Doug Adkins and Les Landen as part of the administration demonstrate clearly, beyond debate, that they are not innovators and they do not have the ability to “take the city forward”.   “He also stressed that if none of the applicants fit the qualities the city is seeking, more resumes should be accepted. “Do not hire the wrong person,” he said. “Don’t settle.””      

Council, it was insulting to many tax-paying citizens that you put these two names on the short list but please don’t insult Mr. Cohen by ignoring what he says, his experience and the obvious deliberation he has given to the matter. This is an important time in the history of Middletown. “Do not hire the wrong person. Don’t settle.” 

The city of Middletown needs the very best candidate it can find. If it has to spend the necessary money to do so it should not hesitate. The qualifications for the candidate for City Manager should include:

         1.  A Masters Degree in City Administration.

         2.  Successful experience in city turn-around and revitalization.

         3.  The communication ability to truthfully represent council to its citizens and citizens to council w/o

              partiality.

         4.  The goal of attracting new business and people to Middletown.

         5.  Reducing taxes to attract new business.

         6.  Improving the city’s credit rating to where it was before this administration.

         7.  Increase the Rainy Day Fund.

         8.  Increase  support for improving local education.

         9.  All without cutting services.

This requires professionalism not a superman!

City Council has had limited vision. We are a city of huge economic decline. Council’s vision has been limited growth.  Council wanted to reduce population and become a campus/art community. Thus, the consequences have been a declining city and extreme funding of downtown development which has had minor significant results thus far.  It has always been axiomatic that declining economy demands unlimited growth. Council has a moral as well as a fiduciary responsibility at this time to expand its vision.  Council should now continue its forward thrust downtown with putting more of the funding and responsibility on downtown private shareholders. They have not been fair to the rest of the city. They now need to expand their vision and put more emphasis, effort  and funding to the rest of the city. In addition to education and art they need to attract light manufacturing, research, more health facilities and schools, tech companies and others that fit the best vision for the overall good of the city to provide jobs and better the local economy.  With a City Manager as described above and a united council and citizenry behind such an expanded vision, all of the city will once again grow and prosper.  It will do so much faster than the projections for downtown growth that are currently being proposed. Also, to those who will say it is too late let me tell you that idea is contrary to the American pioneer spirit and look around and you will see that cities turn around all of the time throughout the country. If we only half succeed we will be well ahead of where we are and where we are heading now. My motto is shoot for the universe and if you only land on Mars you’ve done pretty good. After all we are only human.

I have been fortunate to have been chosen to be on the Committee to select the City Manager. All that has been requested of the committee thus far has been to fill  out a survey. The committee was not asked to participate in creating a short list and as of yet have not been asked to participate in interviewing candidates along with Council on May the 17^th.   Council, PLEASE consider Ken Cohen’s advice that “if none of the applicants fit the qualities the city is seeking, more resumes should be accepted. Do not hire the wrong person. Don’t settle.”        

I’ve written this post because as deeply as I want to be in attendance Saturday, May 17^th for the interviewing of the City Manager Candidates  due to some serious circumstances it will be impossible for me to attend but my heart will be there.

Thank you for your consideration.

Paul Nagy 

Updated: 5:39 p.m. Monday, May 12, 2014 | Posted: 4:27 p.m. Monday, May 12, 2014

City manager candidate sees ‘opportunities’ here

By  http://www.journal-news.com/staff/rick-mccrabb/" rel="nofollow - Staff Writer

    MIDDLETOWN — Cathy Davison, a former city manager in Steubenville, Ohio, sees a lot of potential in Middletown.

    “There are so many opportunities there even though the city that has been through some hardships,” said Davison, one of the five candidates for city manager.

    When asked about whether the city should concentrate its efforts in the East End, near I-75 and Atrium Medical Center, or downtown, Davison said economic development will occur in the East End “naturally” because of the health care cluster. For downtown to be successful, she said, international companies must be recruited to “repopulate” the empty shops.

    Davison said she has the experience and education needed to move the city “forward.”

    She also has visited Middletown several times, read the Journal-News and the Internet, and said one of the biggest hurdles for the government is to be more transparent.  vcm: I hope she takes a peek at our accounting system before she leaves town. It sure could use a good cleaning up within the next year.

    The other four finalists are: Doug Adkins, community revitalization director for the city; Les Landen, Middletown law director; Jane Howington, city manager, Newport, R.I.; and Willie Norfleet, city manager, Socorro, Texas.

    City manager Judy Gilleland announced her retirement earlier this year and her last day is set for June 6, though she may stay longer to make the transition easier. The city received 29 applicants for the position and the field was narrowed to five, said Noah Powers, the city’s human resource manager. All five candidates will participate in interviews Friday and Saturday with members of the community and City Council.

The public portion of the forum will be from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in the City Council chambers in the basement of the City Building.

    Since August 2013, Davison has served as financial director of Urban Ministries Inc. and adjunct faculty at Eastern Gateway Community College in Steubenville.

    For more than three years, she served as city manager in Steubenville, with a population of 19,000 and an annual operating budget of $40.8 million. Her other duties included: budget preparation and financial management, public information officer, public and press relations, ballot issue campaign organization and management and labor negotiations.

    While in Steubenville, she said, she negotiated union collective bargaining agreements and managed labor relations contracts.

    In her current position, she handles the finances for a soup kitchen, homeless shelter and neighborhood development center that serves a population of 60,000.

    She owns a bachelor’s degree in political science from Anderson University, master’s degree in organizational leadership from the University of Denver and a master’s in public administration from Norwich University.

All this week the Journal-News is profiling the five candidates for the city manager position. Here are the days those profiles will appear in the newspaper and on-line:

TODAY: Cathy Davison

WEDNESDAY: Doug Adkins

THURSDAY: Jane Howington

FRIDAY: Les Landen

SATURDAY: Willie Norfleet

Vivian Moon wrote: City manager candidate sees ‘opportunities’ here  MIDDLETOWN — Cathy Davison, a former city manager in Steubenville, Ohio, sees a lot of potential in Middletown.     She also has visited Middletown several times, read the Journal-News and the Internet, and said one of the biggest hurdles for the government is to be more transparent.

Middletown government???  More transparent???  BWA HA HA HA HA!!!    

Actually, this is kind of sad.   

Ms. Davison's application is certainly already in the trash can.