Here we are once again facing a hurricane season with a job search for Miami-Dade's Emergency Manager, we have an Interim Director, Curtis Sommerjoff. Douglas Bass (worked June 11, 2007 – January 2009) lasted longer than one could have imagined after the mayor and county manager‘s calls to close schools and South Florida’s resulting business disruption during the Hurricane 2008 season. Of course we have misplaced many other emergency managers: Interim Director Bob Palestrant, (February 2006 – June 11, 2007); Carlos Castillo, 2003 — 2006; Chuck Lanza 1995 to 2003 and Kate Hale 1988-1995.
So what makes Miami-Dade County Government so difficult to manage for any length of time? My bet would be on Politics on all accounts. Chuck Lanza was purely political, a hatchet job by former County Manager Steve Shiver. Even with the kind of paychecks that position offers (see Job Description at left - hit it to enlarge it), I suspect that politics still cause people to reconsider the job. Out of the last five managers, three of them were reported to have been chased out of here.
As the St. Pete Times said in a August 2002 article about Hurricane Andrew, ”David Bilodeau, the Pinellas County emergency director, says Hale did "an extraordinary effort against all odds" and did not deserve to lose her job. But, he says it's typical for local politicos to fire the emergency manager after a disaster. They need someone to blame.”
Was Doug Bass told by the county mayor that he did not intend to be apologizing for the weather (or lack of) this hurricane season?
10 comments:
Kate is too smart for us. She is a talented, creative and forthright person. (Not something that is often appreciated in county government).
Of course, Lanza tangled with a EGO in the form of Shiver, and emergency planning went out the door. Castillo got promoted to the Federal level, which left a gap. And Palestrant, I would guess was not an "insider" even though he was in the county forever and a day. So, his loyalty to county service was rewarded with a hiring of someone else who turned out to be a transient employee. Wonderful.
Is it "cavalry" instead of "calvary". Because calvary is what us citizens go through each day in this county and in the State of Florida.
And the press wonders why we question their credibility. Can't you at least use the correct word? There is a chasm of difference between CAVALRY and CALVARY. Does anybody with a brain edit this stuff?
I made the call...cavalry. No one edits here...do you want a job? I had to work today so I didn't edit it...I have enough work with my own blogs.
Grumpy: Go read the newspaper if you want to complain. We all knew what they meant.
For gosh sakes, typos happen.
In case, you don't realize, even The Herald has a corrections section and the County Commission even has to correct scriveners errors.
Oh well, pardon my errors. I am just another pretty face, which is much better than being a grumpy old toad.
:o)
While there are many jobs in the county that are political, or based on family relations, this is not one of them. Here they actually need to hire based on competence. It is a command-control job, and when we move into hurricane mode, they need to be in charge and the non-experts need to step aside.
As a victim of Hurricane Andrew, me and my family still relive in painful detail the devastation itself, and the long rebuilding process in the aftermath. Our lives are too important to play with. Get a true professional, pay them the money, and let them have control when the time comes.
The big ego was Lanza's not Shiver's. None of his colleagues trusted him.
When I think of Andrew, I think of the US military. After days of suffering and wondering if the world had forgot us, the military came to our rescue. It was the speed with which they canvassed whole communities house to house to assess the situation (looking for the dead, injured, sick, those needing medication, those needing food and water), and their accompanying swiftness in addressing those needs with workable solutions. Food kitchens instantly sprung up all over South Dade, and water immediately became available.
Maybe we need to look at some strategy/command people coming out of the military. . .
I think this is poor planning to be looking now. They did it the same way the last time. How can a professional be expected to jump into this job so close to hurricane season when the planning is done and his/her expertize is not included?
Emergency planning here is different than other places, we have NUKES and hurricanes, both which take specialized skills. You are right, pay them big and get the someone who can stay and not be bullied. Military is great, Hurricane Center used to be loaded with ex-military and they did super.
I don't know about Lanza's ego, but he has certainly been better at using it than Shiver has with his.
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