Pioneer Press Wed, 02 Apr 2008 Letters to the editor
Own upMs. Korf's letter brings to mind the April 1 Pioneer Press article that wasn't a joke, a review of Monday night's continuation of the March 24 council meeting, focused on Ms. Longrie's presentation of her plan for hiring a new city manager. Her central idea was that, guided by her expertise, the council could handle the search and hiring process itself.
I cannot believe that Maplewood Mayor Diana Longrie is still sticking by Greg Copeland ("Maplewood sorting out City Hall financial mess," March 26), considering all the mismanagement that has been uncovered by Chuck Ahl. What happened to people being accountable for their actions? Can't Longrie just own up to a bad decision? I can understand that she may have thought, at the beginning, that Copeland would be OK even if he really weren't qualified for the job, but now in the aftermath it's not rocket science to figure out he was a failure. Just admit, you screwed up, he was awful, the city is a mess and now let's go forward, clean it up and go through the right process for a city manager. Perhaps now Longrie and Council Member Erik Hjelle will listen to the three council members who are "the voices of reason" to set us back on the right track.
Susan Korf,
Maplewood
We know where Ms. Longrie's expertise at city manager selection brought the city the last time around.
In contrast, the newly elected council immediately sought competent outside help to guide and implement their goal of removing Mr. Copeland without legal issues and further trauma to the city.
We also know where relying on neutral competence got the city - Mr. Copeland was swiftly removed with no lawsuit.
The focus of the resolution ending the discussion Monday night was finding competent external help to guide the process. This was the right decision. Any effort by Ms. Longrie to control the city manager search and hiring process should be strongly resisted.
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