As part of a proposed reorganization of his office, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger plans to ask the city council to increase his staff from two to three, arguing that he needs another staffer to get the job done.
“After two months on the job, I’m convinced I need additional capacity in the mayor’s office to deliver on these commitments,” Weinberger said Monday, referring to campaign pledges.
At a Board of Finance meeting tonight, Weinberger plans to unveil his proposed office revamp, which would add a new position called assistant to the mayor for open government, innovation and mayoral initiatives.
Weinberger says the reorg is budget neutral, because it would eliminate a position in the chief administrative officer’s department and decrease the pay grade of the mayor’s executive assistant — transforming that position into office assistant. An existing mayoral assistant position temporarily filled by former campaign spokesman Mike Kanarick would be renamed assistant to the mayor for operations and communications.
So committed to transparency is Weinberger that he’s already filled the yet-to-be-created “open government” job. He hired former city councilor and state representative Carina Driscoll last Monday to temporarily perform the duties of the job until it’s created and she can be formally appointed.
That left at least one city councilor — Progressive Max Tracy — miffed when he learned about the hiring during a budget work session last Thursday.
“It seems a little ironic that it would be an open-government position, but that it wouldn’t be fully vetted or announced or anything,” Tracy says. “I’m not opposed to him making the necessary reorganization to be successful, but I just think if he’s going to be changing the structure of city government, he should be justifying it publicly.”
It’s not the first time Weinberger has used his temporary hiring powers to bolster the mayor’s office with political advisers. Shortly after taking office, he filled a vacant human resources department position with former campaign manager Jessica Nordhaus — though she worked out of the mayor’s office. Nordhaus has since left city hall.
Similarly, Driscoll is currently filling the vacant assistant to the CAO position — though Weinberger says she’s working out of the mayor’s office and performing the duties of the assistant to the mayor position. Weinberger attempted to bring on another former campaign adviser, Ian Carleton, as city attorney, but the city council scuttled that nomination.
Asked whether he has more on his plate than did redecessor Bob Kiss, who got by with one assistant, Weinberger said, “Given my sense of what the city needs right now and the change we need to make and the challenges we’re facing, this is the structure of the mayor’s office I need.
“I do not think it’s unreasonable to have two people in a 650-person city government that are directly accountable to the mayor and no one else,” Weinberger added, saying Kanarick’s and Driscoll’s work would be “very substantive and meaningful.”
The additional political appointee comes as Weinberger is working to plug a $1.2 million gap in the city’s fiscal year 2013 budget. Weinberger said last month the budget could be balanced without resorting to an increase in property taxes.
“I think we’ve exceeded expectations in some ways to make the FY13 budget as tight as it is and to avoid a property tax increase,” the mayor said Monday. “I made good on my commitment that I made during the campaign to do what I did to avoid a property tax increase.”
Given that success, Weinberger added, he felt comfortable increasing his staff to help him “succeed on [his] other commitments.”
This article appears in Jun 6-12, 2012.
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I really need to no the bottom line dollars on the cost of the Mayors staff before committing one way or another. We also need to remember the lead man on the Kiss staff cost us 17 million dollars, lets never forget that, and please remember that in Kiss’s run for the state senate.
Know the bottom line, sorry for the typo.
Dale, I don’t think that knowing ‘the bottom line’ of the mayors office is important. It’s existed for some time, Miro isn’t changing it and he’s suggested ‘budget neutral’ changes that don’t move the bottom dollar to add another staffer. Pretty creative thinking – and exactly why a lot of people wanted Miro in office to begin with. Also – something that should be remembered and never forgotten – Bob Kiss inherited the problems of Burlington Telecom from Peter Clavelle. While the $17 million came after Bob Kiss took over, the shortfall was already there. BT, overall, seemed mismanaged from the get go.
Dear Finance Committee: I would like your approval to hire Carina Driscoll, who I happen to have already hired last week.
Yours in openness,
Miro! (Must lest abstract than Miro!, the artist)
BTC had a small leak in it when Kiss took over, in a few short years it was the titanic and on it’s way down. Dale is right, you would have to be an utter fool to vote for Kiss ever again…
I’m thinking we need to eighty-six the city council or herd them onto a slow boat to China. The petty whining reminds me of the US congress, not a model many would want to emulate. Support the mayor, help him do his job and stop creating mountains over molehills. When you catch him raiding the city coffers to cover cocaine cartel payments via his network of prostitutes, then you can trumpet your displeasure far and wide. Until then, WE ELECTED HIM, THE CITY COUNCIL NEEDS TO LET HIM DO HIS JOB!
I find it troubling that our fresh-start-promising Mayor would secretly create a new position in his office and secretly fill it with a political ally. When Miro was elected, I think we were all hoping that city government would become a more open and transparent after place after six years of secrecy under Mayor Kiss, instead it seems that Mayor Weinberger is giving us “More of the Same.” A secret appointment to an “Open Government” job position (as a post-election political-pay-off to an ally) is very worrisome.
I’m glad the new Council and the media are now keeping an eye on the Mayor’s Office. Also, I hope this is a wake-up call for the Mayor. He still has time to change course and do this right. I hope he keeps his campaign promises and ushers in a new era of openness and honesty, but we’re not off to a good start.
Ah, yes. Mayor hires Bernie’s stepdaughter. I’m sure there were no more qualified persons.
Another Bernie family member making money on the public teat.
Miro needs support for sure.