Of Accountability, Criticism, Defensiveness, and City Staff : As we move forward with our follow-up on engineering and maintenance issues related to the incidents at Lift Station #7, I see continued posting here of various comments on the subject, some constructive and some much more focused on continued finger-pointing.
Clearly with the events surrounding the lift station failures city staff members made mistakes, less-than-perfect judgement calls, and in some cases failed to live up to responsibilities that were assigned to them. There has been no attempt to hide or sugar-coat that fact. Each has been identified, and appropriate discipline, counseling, or training put into place. In recognition that these events took place during my watch I effectively docked my own pay by nearly $6000 per year.
Yet as recently as last Thursday I was asked if my defense of city staff in the aftermath of the most recent spill was appropriate. I would like to answer that question in full public view.
My comments at the time, which were relatively few, were limited almost entirely to statements that city staff members, like everyone, have rights to due process consideration. I did write in one e-mail that I wasn't inclined to "hang anyone" as an act of appeasement, and I perhaps could have made a different word choice. What I would like the general public to understand by way of context is that I was being told, directly, that certain members of the Public Works staff were "evil," and that they should be fired immediately, regardless of process. Frankly, the day I am willing to do that is the day I should be fired, because I don't know how I could ask 800 other city employees to come to work on the city's behalf if I'm not willing to stand up for their rights, even when things go wrong. If someone does turn up "evil", well that due process I mentioned will ferret that out, and the correct steps will be taken.
On the other side of the coin, nobody in the Hudson Bayou neighborhood asked for or caused the spills, and they had every right to be upset and concerned.
At this point, now that we have answered every question we have received, and outlined our plans for the future, I hope all parties can agree to work together to move forward. I fully expect there will be a number of people looking over our shoulder, including five City Commissioners, and I wouldn't have it any other way. As we do that, I hope we can all find something more productive to do with our fingers than point them at each other. For myself, I'm using mine to turn off the lights and go home. To all, a good evening!
Clearly with the events surrounding the lift station failures city staff members made mistakes, less-than-perfect judgement calls, and in some cases failed to live up to responsibilities that were assigned to them. There has been no attempt to hide or sugar-coat that fact. Each has been identified, and appropriate discipline, counseling, or training put into place. In recognition that these events took place during my watch I effectively docked my own pay by nearly $6000 per year.
Yet as recently as last Thursday I was asked if my defense of city staff in the aftermath of the most recent spill was appropriate. I would like to answer that question in full public view.
My comments at the time, which were relatively few, were limited almost entirely to statements that city staff members, like everyone, have rights to due process consideration. I did write in one e-mail that I wasn't inclined to "hang anyone" as an act of appeasement, and I perhaps could have made a different word choice. What I would like the general public to understand by way of context is that I was being told, directly, that certain members of the Public Works staff were "evil," and that they should be fired immediately, regardless of process. Frankly, the day I am willing to do that is the day I should be fired, because I don't know how I could ask 800 other city employees to come to work on the city's behalf if I'm not willing to stand up for their rights, even when things go wrong. If someone does turn up "evil", well that due process I mentioned will ferret that out, and the correct steps will be taken.
On the other side of the coin, nobody in the Hudson Bayou neighborhood asked for or caused the spills, and they had every right to be upset and concerned.
At this point, now that we have answered every question we have received, and outlined our plans for the future, I hope all parties can agree to work together to move forward. I fully expect there will be a number of people looking over our shoulder, including five City Commissioners, and I wouldn't have it any other way. As we do that, I hope we can all find something more productive to do with our fingers than point them at each other. For myself, I'm using mine to turn off the lights and go home. To all, a good evening!
posted by Michael McNees at 5:36 PM
17 comments
