Political Gumbo: Advice on the City Manager Search

I think the City Manager situation warrants a fresh pot of gumbo.

For those of you who have not been following the situation, Mike Futrell was positioned to be the City’s next City Manager.

Miguel Márquez announced his retirement back in November, after running things under the dome at City Hall for three years.

But instead of Futrell coming to Pasadena next month, he backed out and opted to continue his work as Riverside’s city manager, per statements by the City Council and Futrell released on Saturday.

As far as I’m concerned, that’s the end of Futrell in the story. He’s not coming here. No need to discuss him any further.

But while Futrell’s portion of the story ends, locally, the story continues.

After five months we still don’t have a permanent City Manager.

The timing is probably not an issue. It took the City Council almost a full year to replace Steve Mermell.

Mermell announced his intentions to leave in September 2021. Márquez was hired in July 2022. That’s 10 months, so yes, the City has taken the time to make the right hire in the past.

Still, the current situation is unique and leaves several questions in its wake.

First and foremost, what’s the way forward?

Does the City Council go back to the finalists in the search and give them a second look or start over with a different consultant?

Of course the City wants the best and the brightest.

That begs the following question: why can’t any of our assistant city managers step into the position?

Are they not being trained to be the best and the brightest? Shouldn’t they be battle tested and ready to go when the City Council makes the call for the next City Manager?

If not, then we need to provide training to assistant city managers so they will be prepared when the spot opens.

Just as important, if the City Council is searching for the best and the brightest, it must perform better.

The bickering and biting that has become far too common among our elected officials doesn’t help the City Council image.

At times I have wanted to turn my television off during the brutal exchanges.

I can only imagine how a prospective candidate, who would have to sit through the rows, would react if they watched recordings of some of the meetings.

Those issues have been absent at the last several meetings. That’s a great thing. Let’s hope the trend continues.

Lastly, are we really looking closely at the candidates?

Information is always out there, and it’s not very hard to find.

Find the way forward.