Another Fort Smith director opposes hire/fire authority for administrator
by July 21, 2009 10:18 am 62 views
Fort Smith City Director Steve Tyler opposes providing hire/fire authority to the city administrator because he believes the citizens of Fort Smith still possess a raw mistrust of city government.
Fort Smith City Administrator Dennis Kelly released July 10 his “Organization Analysis” of city operations, with a highlight of the report including Kelly’s continued push for the city administrator position to have hire/fire authority over department heads. Several members of the Fort Smith Board of Directors opposed this idea at a May 12, 2009 study session.
According to Tyler, the mistrust stems from the late 2007/early 2008 power struggle between city directors, the city administrator and the city’s police chief.
In early 2008, there was an attempt by then City Administrator Randy Reed to fire Police Chief Kevin Lindsey. The resulting controversy resulted in a quasi-demonstration at a city board meeting, Reed’s resignation and the resignation of City Director Velvet Medlock.
“I want to go on record as being opposed to Dennis Kelly having the hire and fire authority, alone, of Dept. heads,” Tyler said in an e-mail note to The City Wire. “My reasoning behind the opposition, after initial thinking it was not such an unreasonable request until I was reminded by citizens of this Reed/Lindsey events of over two years ago, is that the mistrust of city government that is still present. The wound has not healed, in fact, it is still very raw.”
Tyler asserts that if Kelly had the authority an “influential Director” would go after Lindsey because he thinks Lindsey “is still a target.”
“The people that support giving Mr. Kelly this power don’t realize the high level of emotion and the numbers of citizens that were energized by the Reed/Lindsey event. This was much more than police officers standing by their new Chief. Citizens, in large numbers, sensed something wasn’t right, and that perception still exists today,” Tyler explained.
City Directors Gary Campbell and Cole Goodman have stated their support for the measure, while City Directors Bill Maddox and Kevin Settle and Tyler are on record opposing the change.