The decision was announced just after 10 p.m., after the council spent an hour and a half behind closed doors following its evening meeting.
City Clerk Janel Chapman said the council decided not to pursue hiring an new interim manager at this time. That leaves Kevin Burke, who has been doing double duty since last August as both police chief and interim city manager still in charge, at least for now.
Burke was appointed interim city manager last summer after City Manager Jerry Gillham was sent on his second deployment to Iraq with the Oregon National Guard, as Lake County News has reported.
But Gillham was sent back to the United States last November after suffering a transient ischemic attack, a kind of very minor stroke. He later fell and injured his back, which required surgery.
Although Gillham is still under doctors' care and on military leave according to military officials, he appeared at the council's March 24 meeting, seated himself at the staff table beside Redevelopment Director Richard Knoll and began thumbing through staff reports.
His April 2007 contract with the city calls for his employment to last until Sept. 30, 2010. If the council tries to terminate him before the end of his contract, they must either give him six months' notice or six-months' compensation. As Gillham's annual salary is $95,000, his severance requirement would equal about $47,500.
The behind-closed-doors discussions over the interim city manager position resulted in a number of city employees attending the Tuesday evening council meeting.
Dale Stoebe, a Lakeport Police officer and 14-year resident of the city, told the council that, while the city needs a manager, he was wary of a person being brought in to fill the slot on an interim basis, because he's worked for temporary bosses before.
“My biggest consideration is bang for your buck,” he said, and Stoebe said he doubted the city would get it with an interim city manager who is brought in.
He said the city's employees have agreed to take furloughs, and Stoebe was concerned over spending a large amount of money for a “place holder.”
“It comes to a point where enough is enough and I think we're getting pretty close to that,” Stoebe said.
Cheryl Smart, a city building department employee and president of the Lakeport Employees Association, similarly questioned the wisdom of hiring an interim city manager and criticized confining the discussion to closed sessions.
Citing the council's own statements about lack of money for extras or raises for employees, Smart said hiring a city manager for six to eight months would hugely impact the budget.
Referring to Burke, Smart said, “We have an interim city manager who has been doing an outstanding job.”
She added, “Does the City Council have a reason for not keeping Chief Burke in this position?”
Smart said the process has lacked “any transparency,” with both citizens and employees shut out of the process or the reasons behind it.
At the same time as the council has been considering an interim city manager, employees are facing more cuts.
Smart said city employees agreed to six furlough days last December. The city took that measure to save the money, as Lake County News has reported.
But the city is seeking more from its employees, said Smart. Employees are now being asked to take 12 more furlough days, forgo cost of living increases and pay part of their health insurance.
Yet, Smart said, the council was considering paying between $60,000 and $80,000 to a short-term employee. That amount, she said, is roughly equivalent to the amount the city saved with the previous furloughs. She also wondered if the city could end up paying for two city managers.
Smart asked the council to consider the money it was proposing to spend and where it was getting the funds, and make an effort to understand the coming year's budget better for committing to spend more money.
During Burke's 10 months as interim city manager, he's worked with city department heads to reduce spending in an effort to deal with a budget shortfall and avoid layoffs.
He's also successfully worked with county officials to settle a number of outstanding issues.
Among them were back payments the city owed Lake County Animal Care and Control department and negotiations for a new and less-expensive contract with the county in which Animal Care and Control will once again provide services to the city.
The city and county also have reached a new agreement in which the city receives annual payments of $4,500 for wear and tear on Bevins Street, the location of the county's garbage transfer station.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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