Meaning Dallas financially based on recent events described by the current interim manager. As for your political questions, Dallas has a good experienced council that was caught off guard by the recent chain of events. Trust can be a blinding object but now that eyes are wide open, change can occur more easily.
A professional background would deal with issues like out of work and other questions and what skills they have to manage. It also deals with personal levels of how they interrelate with the community and are they good neighbors. Are they over leverage financially?? etc.
George, your correct on Bonding but wrong on the fact about the need for a good background. City Manager positions have historically had weak investigations usually handled by non trained folks. Mostly, they do a good will tour and look at public opinion but do not truly investigate like other positions of trust.
George, the best predictor of the future is the past and the reverse is often the case.
George, your right on looking at the facts. City Council members are volunteers and the system safeguards are reviewed by the Mayor and finance director. The Council will ask questions about major expenses but smaller items could easily be overlooked and can add up quickly. The budget errors however should have been caught during an audit based on the amount transferred from dedicated funds..Now the city can cut all departments based on bad or maybe illegal transfers.
The new City Manager will have great challenges based on the city finances left by the outgoing administrator (not including the interim). I hope the city council will do a proper background, not just a visit with a few friends about the new City Manager. They should have this done professionally, including financial, criminal, interviews and investigatory. These investigations by people that know what their doing will save grief later and maybe prevent problems including the current state of affairs.
Not sure what is the problem when experienced people volunteer for no pay involvement with local government council or shool boards. Boards need a diverse group of people or they become myopic. Sandy has a diverse background and her private decision about where she sends her kids to school is irrelevent. Should we allow folks with no children or retired folks on these boards either. Just because someone has the ability to make a different choice on education doesn't mean their not a good addition to public funded education board. Maybe they may even have some good ideas on funding because of their expertise. Don't confuse faith in any system with personal decisions about education or any other topic. Its a dangerous road ...
George, your exactly right.. This was a luxury program when the City could afford it. It would be nice if we could pay for everything but now were headed for hard times for just basic services..
Another example of management that resulted in possibly illegal or at the least bad practices. I hope all the folks that lined up at the City Council meeting will see the fruits of their blinded labor. When will folks stop concluding that a person can not do things wrong because they seemed like a "nice person".. These types of naive approaches result in conclusions that are premature but also sometimes block the real truth..
You make good points about being civil in the way we treat each other and obviously in the political world. Being in tune with what is going on by researching and learning about the issues of today will head off non fact based rude rhetoric. Too many folks are led by what their party or faith says is the truth. But even worse is the lack of true independent thought.
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Thingamajig