Too Many Clerks in the Kitchen
Let’s just pose a question to all the business people out there: what would you do if an employee of yours complained about not being invited to a lunch?
I’m just guessing that you’d pretty much tell that person to get over it, right?
At Parkville City Hall, that sort of situation means you need to hire outside counsel.
As outlined in our page one story, controversy is brewing over which clerk is working on what project, when they are working and just how long they are working on said project.
Parkville has a new payroll clerk, and she alleges that one of our city’s other clerks is overstating her time on the clock. Hey, I’m all for whistle blowers, but here’s something to consider: whatever she says – despite the fact that she claims five other city employees are ready to back her claims up – it’s all just hearsay until proven otherwise. She’s done her bit, either way, and we thank her.
But how do you prove it otherwise? If you’re Parkville’s city government, you head into closed session and hire an outside firm to investigate the allegations. In this case, the Parkville Board of Aldermen has hired Julie McKee, a juris doctorate, to investigate the claims of the clerkage at city hall and, presumably, offer insights on how to make the employees at our hallowed hall of leadership play nice with one another.
I’m not yet sure the exact amount the local government is paying Ms. McKee to investigate the workaday lives of the city’s amorphous hodge-podge of clerks, but whatever it is, I can tell you that it’s too much money.
And that’s not a knock on Ms. McKee or FBD Consulting – their credentials are, as far as I know, impeccable. But for the cost of a quarter (the price of one episode of The Luminary) the city’s aldermen could have taken my advice last year when I pointed out that for a city of about 5,000 people we have far too many clerks at city hall and it was going to lead to trouble. Some people, some I respect immensely, took my analysis personally, but it had nothing to do with personality.
In most normal business environments, a situation like this is typically handled by a person referred to as the “boss.” The highest paid employee in Parkville is City Manager Joe Turner. If there was a problem amongst the clerkage, it could have been worked out over what is commonly referred to in the business vernacular as a “meeting.” Maybe they could have ordered in some coffee and donuts. Maybe they could have made it into a team building exercise and made fudge and taffy. Or maybe the boss could have underscored that what they do is called “work.” It’s not a social club. We have plenty of those in Parkville. Why the Board of Aldermen decided it was necessary to hire an outside firm, essentially going over the head of the city manager tells me they think they’re in for some sort of legal headache and are on war footing.
I think that’s ridiculous, but so be it. For one, the City of Parkville partakes in more executive sessions (ie: those kept hidden from the public eye) than any other city I have covered in the past 15 years. Now, I know that it’s necessary to do so on many occasions – we all understand it’s necessary to protect the city’s bargaining interests in real estate transactions, for instance. But other times, I’m just not so sure. I can only hope that the plethora of lawyer aldermen will keep everything above board, as they say.
But sometimes, I believe you should just let the Parkville office manager manage the office without sending our taxpayer’s checks to Overland Park.