One of the reasons I enjoy living in Norwich, CT, is the city is small enough to be able to watch in reasonable detail most if not all of the 'players' involved in its political and socio-economic interactions. I suspect that makes where I live a lot like where you live--sometimes we bemoan our 'small town ways' but deep down, we are who we are and we're comfortable. Let me be clear: Norwich is NOT Mayberry, no matter how much I Fish and Whistle or Whistle and Fish (come to think of it, I could handle the whistling while Jerry did the fishing) and because we are a small town (about 37,000 folks) doesn't mean we theoretically all know one another, much less like one another.
There was an article in the regional section of The Day on Thursday that's either in the Norwich Bulletin today or will be tomorrow (if you ask me why I will tell you--but privately and not here because it's a bit mean; typical of me, yes, but mean) about the person who will be hired Monday evening during the City Council meeting as the next City Clerk of Norwich. As it turns out, Monday's Council meeting is sort of booked with stuff, as a review of the agenda suggests. And bear in mind, at eleven Monday morning, we'll have the second installment of "Y or Y Not?" as the Norwich YMCA faces a 30 April deadline for closure--and as part of the Monday night meeting, the City Manager will offer the City Council and residents their first look at his proposed budget and that promises to be a somewhat disquieting document.
The person sitting in for the last few months for the now retired City Clerk also sat in when that Clerk's predecessor retired in 2002 (I think) and has been part of the city administration for quite some time and has, by all accounts, a great deal of experience in City Clerk matters. I was surprised a couple of months ago that so many on the City Council were so interested in how this hiring got done since I didn't recall that kind of interest in any other hiring in Norwich in the seventeen or so years I've lived here. Live and learn, I guess; I'm waiting for the latter. I am not alone.
Sure enough, because it's a slow news week, I suspect, what might have been a relatively short news item of a couple of paragraphs, announcing a resolution Monday to hire Person X as such and such will be on the agenda, with a graph on Person X's work history and qualifications became a rather long and involved piece of innuendo and aspersion casting on everything to do with the hiring process . I'm NOT mentioning the prospective City Clerk's name in this screed because, sadly (imho) she is only a prop in a tale by those with agenda, great and small--hidden and not so hidden. Think of the Lincoln-Douglas debates reduced to Letterman-O'Reilly. Yeah, see what I mean about diminished expectations? And it may have something to do with small town, but probably more to do with small people, doing the "for me to look good, you need to look bad" dance which results in all kinds of collateral damage to folks who didn't realize they were 'in play.'
I applauded the City Council for choosing to be forward engaged in the hiring of the next City Clerk, though, had I been a candidate for the position, I'm not sure how comfortable I'd have been in the center of the spotlight and all the attention. And actually, it was a little strange (poor choice of words, perhaps) because one of the topics in the Ethics Review Commission's final report to this same City Council (that was submitted 17 March 2008) was about the perceptions of fairness and appearance of equality of opportunity in the city's hiring practices.
And I say 'strange' because the City Council still hasn't done very much aside from a couple or three perfunctory meetings on that final report and its recommendations. Those on the Council who show up for the workshop seem to suffer an enthusiasm shortage and the Mayor has yet to actually attend the meetings. Speaking of meetings--there is NO mention or notice anywhere on the City of Norwich website about an 18 March meeting (or on any other day in March) to interview city clerk candidates as outlined in the news story. Norwich has hard-working folks who maintain our city's website and municipal calendar and I absolutely believe if they had known about meetings, they would have shared that information with the rest of us and posted it.
I was in chambers the night the discussion on the City Clerk's announced retirement and the parameters and mechanics for choosing a successor were all discussed at length and Alderman Zarnetske, as I recall, was very insistent that public input be solicited and encouraged. He wasn't alone on that insistence as I remember it the news account leads me to conclude the public was involved. So I'm not sure what to make of the squabbling and sniping among some, and most certainly not all, of the aldermen. Perhaps it's just me, but some in the front of the chamber may enjoy slipping a spanner between the spokes of another's bicycle and posturing and profiling at someone else's' expense.
I voted for all six who were elected to this City Council (to include the one who has moved on to Hartford)--because I thought (and hoped) they were committed to working together to help build a better Norwich for all of us. Together with the Mayor, the City Manager and his Department Heads, this City Council faces very hard choices in the coming days about budgets, allocations, resources as well as hopes and dreams (and the delicate balance that must be maintained among all of them). I'd like them them save their energy and talents for solutions to the challenges that really matter and redouble their efforts to do the job we elected them to do.
Let's argue later (how about in the next life) about who is the real statesman. There's work to do and we need all hands to the wheel.
-bill kenny
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