City Hall’s revolving door

Read on for my story on why the city is struggling to hold on to its senior managers….

Poison Politics Pushes Revolving Door at Bainbridge City Hall
By Tristan Baurick

The public accusation that Finance Director Elray Konkel had scribbled the city budget on the back of an envelope was the last straw.

Konkel, a veteran municipal number cruncher, already had his share of frustrations working at City Hall, but the crack about the budget from a city councilman sent Konkel into the arms of other cities offering higher pay and better working conditions. Just as the city of Kirkland was poised to snatch Konkel, the Bainbridge council tried to lure him back with a mea culpa and a promise to treat Konkel and other city staff with more respect.

Konkel bit, and two years later, he’s still here. He says the respect, however, hasn’t yet arrived.

“We just have new faces on the council, but not much has changed,” he said. “But we need it to change. To keep the good people, we need to see respect from the council and the community for everybody working here, from the mayor right down to the clerk at the front desk.”

While Konkel stuck around, his deputy finance director didn’t have as much patience. Citing frustration caused by political infighting, Carol Badzik leapt last week from what other former senior managers say is a sinking ship in a sea of political indecision, second-guessing and nasty politics.

Badzik’s departure last week after only 13 months on the job followed resignations from the city administrator, planning department director and downtown planning manager.

All four senior managers pointed to elected officials’ flawed relationships with each other and with staff.

“The poor working relationship between you is palpable and I believe that it is debilitating the city and wasting its resources,” Badzik wrote in a letter to the mayor and council, echoing statements made by former City Administrator Mary Jo Briggs, who resigned in January.

Councilwoman Debbie Vancil took Badzik’s comments to heart. In a written response, Vancil agreed that elected officials must treat staff fairly and unite for the common good.

“It appears that the only resolution for the staff is to be able to work compatibly with one directive, supported by both the executive and the legislative,” Vancil wrote. “This means that both branches of government must put the benefit of the community above their own ambition when determining direction.”

But even when the city manages to agree on a direction, too often the rudder is yanked the other way, said Sandy Fischer, who managed the Winslow Tomorrow planning initiative until her resignation last spring.

“We spend a lot of time and energy and see some progress, but we then see a lot of reversal on the part of the council,” she said. “Staff are told to do a job and then we watch things change course, funds get redirected, and no decision is made.”

Trying to incorporate a project’s every twist and turn, only to see it killed after months or years of work, has led some of the city’s best and brightest to seek work elsewhere.

“Professionals used to getting results become jaded and frustrated,” said Fischer.

That was the case with former planning director Greg Byrne. Highly regarded by the council and staff alike, Byrne came to the city in April 2007 with a resume and outlook that fit the island’s values. He’d worked to preserve open spaces and walkable downtowns. He hoped to craft environmentally friendly building guidelines, bolster support for local businesses and encourage affordable housing options.

He left after 16 months on the job. Byrne kept quiet about his reasons for leaving, but his colleagues say frustration with stalled projects was part of what sent him packing.

“At the council meeting when he said goodbye, he only thanked the mayor,” Konkel said. “There was a point he made there in his goodbye. He felt totally unsupported by the council.”

Frustration has seeped into some of the city’s middle-management and rank-and-file professionals. Two city engineers said they recently left after witnessing projects suffocate under the weight of public processes, deliberations and debates.

As public debates become heated, staff are often pulled into battles fought in public meetings, e-mails and on blogs.

“How can staff complete the (capital facilities plan) and not be personally attacked in the current political climate?” Badzik asked in her letter. “If one project gets included half of you are angry. If it’s not included the other half are furious really furious.”

The public’s penchant for personal attacks was also cited as a reason for some of the recent resignations.

“There was a fair amount of negativism from portions of the community that sucked (Byrnes) enthusiasm,” said Councilman Kjell Stoknes, who noted that Byrne was especially disappointed by the public’s attacks against planning staff.

Too often, the public rails against what they see as wrong rather than rolling up their sleeves for what they feel is right, according to Konkel and Fischer.

“We just see so much more willingness to disrupt rather than collaborate,” Fischer said.

The impact of staff frustration and resignations are taking a toll on the city, said Mayor Darlene Kordonowy.

“Every time we lose key people, our efficiency, effectiveness and credibility falls,” she said.

Making city hall the type of place that attracts and retains competent professionals will require that everyone — the mayor, council, public and staff — accept a dose of responsibility for the city’s ills, according to Fischer.

“I think everybody needs to take a look in the mirror,” she said. “It’s easy to say it’s the fault of the council or mayor or Public Works director, but it’s really dynamic that needs to change.”

Characterized by “privilege and affluence,” the community often seeks perfection in its government, she said. But too often, the quest for perfection leads to paralysis and frustrations.

“In the pursuit of perfection, you don’t end up with anything perfect,” she said. “You don’t even get something good. You get a lot of people discouraged with the way things are.”