Special Elk Grove City Council Meeting - Is Santa Delivering an Early Present for The Interim City Manager?

By Lynn Wheat | December 17, 2018 |

Special to Elk Grove News | 

  

In a last-minute scheduling, the Elk Grove City Council has called for a special meeting on Wednesday, December 19th at 6:00 pm. The purpose of the meeting is for the City Council to meet in closed session to consider the appointment of a City Manager. Following the closed meeting, the City Council will reconvene to announce whether they have anything to report.

On August 22, 2018, the City Council approved spending $30,000 for the recruitment of a new City Manager to replace ousted long-time Manager Laura Gill. During this transition period, the Council named Assistant City Manager Behrmann to serve as interim City Manager. Is it possible that an early holiday present will be given to Behrmann? At the last City Council meeting, the Council expressed their strong desire to have a new city manager before their February goal-setting retreat.

While the City made an effort during the recruitment process to solicit public input with an online survey in November, one must still wonder how genuine and transparent the City Manager recruitment process has really been. No other information has been forthcoming from the City Council and typically, the top finalists for a City Manager position meet with community and business leaders as part of the evaluation process. One must conclude that the general public is not considered a stakeholder and should not bother themselves to track this appointment.

During the late stages of Laura Gill’s tenure, the City Council faced immense public pressure to conduct an audit to help explain why the vast majority of upper management and police positions were held by Caucasians. It now appears that the City Council is on the cusp of hiring a Caucasian male to fill the top leadership position.

The City Council meeting will be held: 

Wednesday, December 19, 2018, at 6 p.m.

City Council Chambers

Elk Grove City Hall, 8400 Laguna Palms Way, Elk Grove, California