At a recent meeting, Mark Whitfield was appointed interim city manager for the City of Milford. The position is part-time and as interim manager, Whitfield will appoint acting city managers as necessary. Before discussing the proposal presented by Whitfield, Councilwoman Madula Kalesis made a motion to move the agenda item to after the budget discussion, but the motion did not get a second, so it did not move forward. When the discussion began, Kalesis made an additional motion.
“I would like to make a motion to appoint Chief [Cecilia Ashe] as our interim city manager,” Kalesis said. “After having a discussion with her after our last meeting, she said she would take the position to help all of the department heads acting for the next five weeks as the department heads will serve intermittently.”
Mayor Todd Culotta asked if there would be an additional cost for Ashe serving and was told there would be no additional cost. The motion was seconded by Councilwoman Lori Connor. The motion failed with a vote of four to three with one absent. Connor, Kalesis and Councilman Michael Stewart voted for the motion while Councilwomen Katrina Wilson and Nadia Zychal along with Councilmen Jason James and Dan Marabello voted no. Councilman Danny Perez was not present.
“I don’t have a question. I think that it is necessary to utilize Mr. Whitfield. I do agree with the previous speaker. I would like to just for everybody’s cover, for us and for Mr. Whitfield to have a dollar amount in there. I had emails with him about the line item, and he did specify that $18,000 has been set aside in our budget for this contract,” Connor said. “So, I would just like to see that written in the contract before it’s signed, that we will not exceed the $18,000 and should we get to a point where we are expecting to maybe need to exceed that, that it would come back for our approval to extend that dollar amount. I think that just stops from having unexpected expenses. And it also just keeps very clear up how much time on the front end in the five weeks utilizing him when necessary, so that the remainder of that money and time can be used where it is needed.”
Connor felt that she would prefer the majority of the contract be used after the new city manager started in August. She wanted to be sure that the city was only calling Whitfield when it as necessary. She did feel that Chris Coleman, the newly hired manager, would need Whitfield’s expertise as he settles into his new role.
“I know it says not to exceed 20 hours, but by having a line item in there makes it very transparent,” Councilman Jason James said. “But also, I don’t know how he feels about this, but what is the reporting mechanism? Who will he submit his hours to? Will he state what those hours are for? How will we know it was needed by the department head? Maybe Katrina could be involved in that and make council aware what is going on when there is a need to call Mark in, because ultimately, we are going to be responsible.”
Kalesis agreed that Coleman would need someone during the transition period and felt the goal was to give Coleman as much time with Whitfield as possible without exceeding the $18,000. She felt the point of appointing an interim manager was to make sure there was one person that the department heads could call if they have a question.
“If Mr. Whitfield were not to exceed 12 hours per week, that would be $1,800 per week,” James said. “If we have $18,000 as a line item, that will mean 10 weeks and it is up to council to settle on a reporting mechanism. Exceeding $18,000? I don’t think we would.”
Connor expressed concerns that having department heads rotating as interim city manager over the next five weeks seemed like a “messy way to do it” when there was a staff member ready and willing to take on the role.
“It would have been Mr. Pierce, but he is unable to do it,” Connor said. “So I guess I just mean, we’re creating a lot of what could be confusion when we have one individual that’s willing to do it for the entire period, that could just be a person that is in charge of communicating with Mr. Whitfield when needed, instead of having multiple people reaching out to him. I just think that makes it harder to track when you can just have one person at least managing that function, and the department heads, of course, can work together and help out and do their part. But I just think having [having too many] can be a very messy, chaotic situation.”
Whitfield explained that the city charter required a city manager. If his proposal were accepted, he would be the interim manager and could appoint an acting to sign contracts and agreements as well as manage the day-to-day operations of the city.
“The motion made earlier was a valid one,” Mayor Todd Culotta said. “It would make sense, because the acting manager, if there is a conflict between two departments, or something needs to be signed in person, they can do that. It still makes sense to have something like this, but I would rather, personally, instead of arguing about $150 an hour, just give you a check for $10,000 and make yourself available. You get that regardless, but that’s just my idea. I still think because the chief is an employee of the city, there is no reason she cannot act as the city manager for ultimate decision making.”
Ashe spoke up to explain her offer.
“So, I think just to clarify, when Mr. Perez last week had made the suggestion that, if the department heads can run themselves for six weeks, great. But if we needed somebody to step up for those six weeks, because he wanted a majority, as I understood it, a majority of the time to be spent with Mr. Coleman, the conversation that I had is I wanted to not appear as if I’m not a team player,” Ashe said. “I was the only one out of the various staff that did not volunteer for this position. I don’t want to take on any additional responsibility. I’ve made that clear to people. However, if there was some dispute between the department heads or something like that, I’m more than willing to step up and help resolve it, or help step up and do whatever city council feels is necessary. But I’m not waving my hand from the top of the mount. I just don’t want to appear as if I’m trying to take this job. That’s not my role. But I will help out City Council as they see fit, and I just want to make sure that I’m coming across as a team player, not somebody that’s trying to stir the pot or anything along those lines. I’m a resource if they need me. I’m always here.”
Marabello felt that council was overthinking the entire matter, stating that the chief of police had enough to do in her current role to add the work of the city manager. Kalesis felt that the department heads could manage the day-to-day for the next five weeks and the city sign the contract with Whitfield to take effect when Coleman began. Wilson asked how often Whitfield had been called when he was on vacation.
“I think I stated at the last meeting, typically 10 to 12 hours,” Whitfield said. “I also spent three or four hours today without a contract. It is the nature of the business. I said before, I am not looking to work. I am ready to retire. I am doing this for the department heads and to help out the city.”
Culotta pointed out that Whitfield would be a contractor with the city and that would mean he needs a business license and liability insurance.
“One of the problems, and I did look into the insurance and have verified I can be covered under the city’s insurance system,” Whitfield said. “As a contractor, one of the problems I have is, if I am actually making decisions, signing contracts, making determinations, there is no one out there to insure me, the agency has to be insured. I can get insurance if I am just providing advice to the city, but the city does have insurance coverage for this.”
Connor made a motion to approve the retainer agreement with the stipulation that the dollar amount of a maximum of $18,000 be added. She also wanted to see what time increments would be billed, whether it was 30 minutes, an hour or other timeframe. Whitfield stated that most hourly billings were by 1/10th of an hour. Connor amended her motion to ask that billable in 1/10th of an hour segments be added to the contract.
The motion passed with a vote of six to one with one absent. The only dissenting vote was Stewart and Councilman Danny Perez was still absent during the vote. After the contract was approved, Connor asked if an acting manager now needed to be approved. Whitfield stated that he would be appointing the acting manager.
