Leadership Unheralded

2/15/11

Re: Director of Administration and Finance

A number of people have expressed concern over the fact that I have delayed announcing a formal search to fill the position of Director of Administration and Finance, since that position became vacant last year. I understand these concerns but given the problems that developed with the last person to hold that position, I decided it was better to delay a new search.

Nick Mazza – who served in this position on an interim basis and was involved in recruiting the most recent Director – cautioned us that making a poor selection for this position could be costly and challenged the Mayor and Council to work toward broad support, if not consensus, in selecting someone for this position.

The problems associated with Brian Gazda’s tenure and the disagreements between Mayor, Department Heads and Council that surfaced over his performance and ultimate departure proved that both of these positions were valid. And, while I might ideally have liked to replace Mr. Gazda immediately, these problems and disagreements convinced me that attempting to do so, under the circumstances, would be difficult, if not impossible, and could make matters even worse.

Instead, I chose to leave the position vacant while I attempted to assess what went wrong, began to correct the problems and rebuild a more collaborative working relationship between the Mayor’s office, Department Heads and Council. I understood that operating with this vacancy would put a strain on the remainder of the management team but felt it would actually be useful in identifying what we needed from the next person to occupy this position and what had not worked with the previous Director.

Based on the past several months, I believe some, but not all, of these objectives have been met. I believe City Department Heads are again working collaboratively and cooperation with the Mayor’s office is good. Unfortunately, the working relationship between the Administration [Mayor and Department Heads] and Council remains strained and may, in some ways, have deteriorated even further.

I am hopeful, however, that the Council’s recent unanimous support of my nominee for Corporation Counsel is a sign that, despite our differences, we’re all aware that the City’s interests are best served when we manage to overcome these differences and cooperate. I also believe that delaying the formal search for our next Director of Administration and Finance any further would be counterproductive. In fact, I have already been working quietly with Department Heads and consulting with the New York Conference of Mayors and others on this for some time. I now think the time is right to move this project ahead to the next phase.

Currently I am in the process of finalizing details of the next phase of the search process-which will include advertising for the position and how applicants will be evaluated and screened. I expect to have more details to share in the coming weeks but can assure you, at this point, that the process will include ample opportunities for Department heads and Council to be involved.

Mayor Susan Feiszli, Cortland