Burlington mayor's parks plan at odds with law By John Briggs • Free Press Staff Writer June 4,2009
*Burl Mayor Bob Kiss' intention to appoint an interim Parks and Recreation dir. to replace Wayne Gross may be at odds with the city charter. * Kiss announced last week that he would not reappoint Gross, who has been the Parks and Recreation director since 1994. Gross' apptmnt ends June30.*Tuesday, Kiss said again that he "will be looking to put someone in an interim position," and added, "it will definitely come up on the (City Council) agenda on the 15th." He said he hoped to announce the interim dir.'s name before then, perhaps this week. * The city charter, however, says dept-head appointments, "in all cases ... shall continue until their successors have been appointed and qualified." * City Atty Ken Schatz said that provision indicates a serving department head does not have to leave if a successor has not been appointed. Even with an Appt pending, Schatz said, the prior department head would continue to serve unless he decides to move on. * Parks and Rec Commission Chair Steve Allen said the commission is aware of the charter language. "I agree with Ken's interpretation," he said. "It's pretty clear to me, as a lay person, that the dept head stays in place until a successor is appointed and approved by the Council. * "I don't think there is a provision for an interim head," Allen said.
* He said he believes the commission would like Gross to stay on the job while Kiss looks for a new director.* "His absence this summer is going to make it difficult to function. Adhering to the charter makes for the best possible transition," said Allen.
* Commissioners Dave Hartnett and John Ewing, a former chairman, agreed with Allen. "We've talked it through and checked it out," Ewing said. "The smoothest way is to have Wayne stay there (until a successor is found and approved). He's doing no harm." * Hartnett said the appnt of an interim director would complicate the Parks Department's job on the eve of a busy summer that includes the quadricenntennial programming in July. "It would be easier to have one transition," he said. "Given the time-sensitive nature, with the Quad going on, we think it is important to have Wayne in place during that."*The commission last year evaluated Gross'job-performance and recommended he be reappointed. Allen said Kiss has not evaluated Gross as his predecessor Peter Clavelle did annually. "We've not beenconsulted about Wayne's performance this year or any year under the current administration," he said. Kiss said he intends to mount a national search for Gross' successor, a process he said could take months. He has faith the Parks staff will be able to meet this summer's challenge.*In the meantime, the mayor said he "is working with Wayne to build a successful transition."*Gross, however, said Wednesday he has not met with Kiss. "We haven't had any discussion yet," Gross said. * He said that as far as he knows, he has a job until the end of June.
*"All I have to go on at this point is what he said initially," Gross said of Kiss' notification to him last week that he wouldn't be reappointed. "He told me he was going to appoint an interim and begin a search for a successor."
*The city charter*Burlington's city charter is online. The following sections dealing with the appointment and tenure of department heads can be found under Part 1, Charter and related laws.*Section 116: "In making department head appointments and in evaluating their performance, the mayor shall consult with the applicable city commission. Applicable commissioners shall be invited to participate in interviews for department head selection..."*Section 122: "In all cases, such (department-head) appointments shall continue until their sucessors have been appointed and qualified."*Section 127, which also deals with the appointment of department heads, has been superseded and is no longer applicable, said City Atty Ken Schatz. He said its continuing presence in the charter is an error that can be corrected by a charter change.