So part of this weeks agenda at the council meeting was to hire a person as a personal assistant to Carolyn Gibsons. The GEDC board would pay $20,000 of the salary. (Mind you GEDC just says tax dollars from another pocket)
I'll be honest, I'm not exactly sure what Ms Gibsons position is, though I know that GEDC pays a good bit of her salary. I do though remember when she was hired that a good part of her position was to get grants and help GEDC with communicating with potential employers wanting to move to or expand in Gonzales.
So this new person will be there to, and I quote, "return phone calls and emails".
I speak from personal experience, as I'm still awaiting a response to an email sent over 6 weeks ago, that Ms Gibson lacks the discipline or organizational skills to timely return calls and emails.
My question though is do we need to hire ANOTHER person to do the work Ms Gibson was hired to do in the first place?
Look we've been through this before at JB Wells. We didn't get the person in charge the training they needed to make them a better employee. Instead we waited for years until it festered and blew up.
So why don't we, instead of hiring a new person, spend 1/2 that money and send Ms Gibson to school to teach her to be more organized and/or how to do her job better? There are no excuses not to be able to return phone calls and emails except a lack of organizational skills. And if we sent her to classes and she started writing grants and communicating with businesses better, don't we as a community think it would pay off 100 fold?
June 5th the tabled discussion will come back on the floor. I hope the new council will take a serious look at this issue and make a wise decision for the community.
God Bless
Dennis
My recommendation to the city council is to review Carolyn Gibson's job description and her job.
ReplyDeleteThen the city manager needs to give them an evaluation of her job performance.
All done in executive session, of course.
Seems to me that Sandra Mauldin, when she held that job, did a heck of a good job as a one person office.
What does Barbara Fredrick(unsure of spelling) do?
And what is Carolyn Gibson's current salary?
What grant writing needs to be done and for whom? Does GEDC or the city charge the person seeking the grant? And why not?
Based on what I know now, if I was on the city council or the new incoming mayor, would be to vote no.
I may be wrong, but didn't the city hire, contract,retain, or whatever, an engineering firm that part of the deal was grant writing?
ReplyDeleteIf $20,000 is part of the salary, what is the whole salary? How much more for benefits?
I still say buy maintenance equipment (mowers) and people to run them.
The $20,000 could be 1 full time at $8.50/hr or a 1/2 time person at $12/hr. That's the breakdown for that.
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure Ms Gibsons salary is right at or north of $60k/yr. I might even be low on that.
I agree that Ms Gibsons job duties need to be reviewed and if necessary adjusted. If not that appropriate measures taken to ensure the job is being properly worked.
I believe it was the engineering firm that was hired for the water works that also came with some grant writing, or that it would be available at a fee (they had the people that could do it). But it wasn't a general grant writer looking out for the total interest of Gonzales, just the one aspect.
Dennis
I've sent in several complaints to the city. Last one was over a month ago and haven't even gotten a response. Code Enforcement and Sam is a joke. Definately need to get someone new in there to do the job the right way and for the betterment of the City not because they are friends with them or a somebody in Gonzales.
ReplyDeletemeant to be posted in What Now?
DeleteNow gold stars go to the council for step 1 of this. Last night they told GEDC that they felt if they were going to hire a new person or spend this kind of money then it wouldn't be going to this position. They voted nay to the proposition 4-1 (Opeala voted for it).
ReplyDeleteBut I still say that we have a person who would benefit from proper training. I think we often times forget that time training often times will pay back in time and money what was spent.
I truly believe that Mr. Malaer would of benefited from this, and I think Ms Gibson would too.
Dennis
Is Opiela still a member of the GEDC board? If so wouldn't it be a conflict of interest for him to vote on the item?
DeleteDennis, are you serious?
Delete"But I still say that we have a person who would benefit from proper training. I think we often times forget that time training often times will pay back in time and money what was spent.
I truly believe that Mr. Malaer would of benefited from this, and I think Ms Gibson would too."
I don't think the city should have to "train" someone making the salary that they were making.
No one ever trained me in any position I have ever held, here in Texas, or in California. I was self-trained (or self-educated), by trial and error, suffering any consequences from my surperiors on the way.
I never started at the top with a high salary. I worked my way up.
Donald,
DeleteI understand...many of us have worked hard and been fortunately enough to have had a foundation or understand of our work so that we can excel. Some of it is natural talents that shine in the right jobs.
Let me go back to my days in the army. When you made sergeant they sent you away for 30 days to a class called PLDC. It's a leadership school to teach you about being a leader, about time management, about use of resources. Every E4/E5 I knew of had to go through that class.
Then if you were in line to make upper ranks (E7) they'd send you to another school, mine was in Ft. FT. Huachuca for several months. Why? So you could be better AND know how to manage what was expected of you. Didn't matter what your job was in the military, you have to know what expectations were AND know how to accomplish them.
Many careers and state licenses have continuing education hours. Why? To make sure you're current, understand changes and to make sure you're doing things right.
I could be totally wrong on Ms Gibson. Maybe she's had all the training she needs, and in that case shame on her. But if it's a lack of knowledge or education, and that includes on how to manage time, then we put her in that position, then we have an obligation to make sure she has the tools to accomplish the job.
Hope this makes more sense now.
Dennis
Bill,
ReplyDeleteYes, Mr. Opiela is still on GEDC. It is common in cities for the council to be part of boards, especially boards like EDC and Zoning, and there is no conflict of interest in voting on measures sent to the council.
Dennis