City Commission | Your Delray Boca

Something is wrong in Delray Beach.

I’ve been saying this for awhile now. Sometimes I’ve been vilified by the usual suspects for pointing out the obvious but we’ve had eight city managers in eight years and that’s not good. We’ve also had a slew of department heads and City Attorney’s come and go too.

It’s not a sign of health. It’s a sign of sickness.

And if you don’t think this affects you—well with all due respect, you’re mistaken because it does.

Turnover costs money. Tax money.

Lawsuits cost money too.

It’s hard to deliver efficient services with an ever changing cast of characters.

It’s also hard if you work for the city or are trying to do business in town.

Dysfunction chases away investment and when you are known as a hard place to work it’s no surprise when you can’t attract or retain talent.

I’m writing this in the wake of the firing of George Gretsas, the latest in a long line of City Managers who have come here with high hopes only to leave beaten and battered. Every time that happens, we drive the price up for the next contestant brave or crazy enough to apply for the job.

So far, none of the previous eight contestants have left here with their reputations entirely intact.

We seem to have factions not only on the City Commission but also on the staff level with a few bad actors sowing division. That’s a relatively new and troubling development.

The next round of head hunting ought to be fascinating. The commission has already been told that Delray has a toxic reputation. Before they go out to the market again there needs to be some serious soul searching or we will pay another premium price for a CM who also won’t last.

One glaring deficiency is a lack of vision. Successful Mayors and commission’s strive to create a unified vision and shared goals. This way if there is division at least you have your common goals to fall back on. This helps City Manager’s and staff because they have a North Star to guide them. The most recent Comp Plan exercise was lacking because it largely cut out the public. Plus, Comp Plan updates typically happen after a visioning process not in lieu of one.

From the outside, I don’t see any goals or vision. So I asked a few prominent citizens to tell me if they knew the city’s goals. Nobody could name one goal. Now they may exist, but if nobody knows what they are or can see progress on those goals you’ve got a problem.

The absence of common goals leads to ala Carte policymaking and a whole lot of 3-2 votes.

That leads to hard feelings and a lack of progress.

Cities (and nations) go off the rails when it starts to become about personalities and factions rather than community driven goals and plans.

That’s where we are my friends.

Does this get fixed?

Only if we demand it does and to date we haven’t. Major institutions in town have been silent. Where are the associations? Where is the business community?
Granted, we are in a pandemic and preoccupied. But dysfunction in City Hall in a pandemic, during hurricane season with a projected budget shortfall of $10 million won’t make it easier to recover. We need to be paying attention and we need to demand better results and offer our help.

We stand for what we tolerate.

And right now we are standing for a whole lot of dysfunction.

“Managers watch over our numbers, our time and our results. Leaders watch over us.” Simon Sinek

Delray Beach finds itself in the market for a city manager these days.

Again.

They may not have to look too far, as City Commissioner Ryan Boylston has suggested lifting the “acting” tag in front of Neal DeJesus’ name and giving him the permanent position.

We may see where that idea goes this week. Stay tuned.

But this blog isn’t about that idea and it’s not about the continuing instability at City Hall although that should concern everyone who cares about Delray Beach. Instability is costly; in many many ways.

But rather than dig into that subject, this post is about what we should be looking for in our next City Manager. Get that piece right and a lot of other pieces fall into place.

First, let’s just outline some givens: having a stand out city manager in a council manager system is critical.

The CM is the government equivalent of a CEO and sets the tone for the entire organization.

A good CM can attract and motivate talented people. And once you get the people equation right anything is possible.

I think the next city manager will need to succeed in three distinct worlds: the political, the external and the internal.

Let’s look at all three:

Ideally, you want an apolitical City Manager who will leave the policy making to the elected officials, as the charter mandates. The job is to implement commission policy, goals and community visions and to do so efficiently and cost effectively.

While this may seem basic, in the real world it can be complicated. Delray is a complicated city and the job of City Manager is a hard one.

While policy makers are responsible for coming up with coherent and innovative policy and goals, the manager does have a role as a coordinator of that policy and to encourage the development of goals and visions.

A neighboring community’s city manager once told me this.

“Look at me as your driver. You tell me where you want to go and give me the resources to get there. If I don’t think I have enough gas, I will tell you before we embark on the trip. Once you give me the destination, hop in the back. My job is to get you there, on time and within budget. If I crash, run out of gas, drive erratically and get tickets along the way get a new driver. But please let me drive.”

I thought that was a pretty good explanation.

To navigate effectively in the political arena, it’s incumbent on the manager to develop relationships with all elected officials while also understanding the myriad of constituencies in Delray: business community, neighborhoods etc.

City Managers who play favorites, don’t communicate equality with all of their bosses and spend too much time with politicos and gadflies are at risk and won’t survive.

The best defense against politics is performance. Do the job. Do it well and stay in your lane. That’s good advice for both elected officials and senior staff.

As for the external, I think good city managers are accessible (with limits because if you scratch every itch the big stuff doesn’t get done), responsive to citizens and have an ability to build and empower a good team that will make him or her look good.

We leaves us with the internal world.

A great city manager will have both formidable managerial skills and solid leadership credentials. They will be able to hire well, develop talent once they are on board and motivate and inspire. They are team builders who understand the importance of accountability but who score well in the areas of communication and emotional intelligence.

It’s a tough, tough job and this isn’t the easiest town in which to succeed as we have seen. But it’s important that we get someone who can succeed. It’s important that we find and support someone who can be a great CEO.

Of course, nobody has all the skills necessary to succeed. But the great ones know what they don’t know and surround themselves with a capable team.

It’s difficult but it can be done.

Culture is Everything

Wanted: A Great Manager Who Can Lead