Sarasota selects City Manager - And it wasn't Susan

[BeverlyAnn]

For Immediate Release: May 30, 2007

CITY MANAGER SELECTED

Sarasota – The City Commission selected Robert Bartolotta, this afternoon, to become the City's next City Manger pending contract negotiations. Mr. Bartolotta entered into negotiations with the City following the selection process.

[cindianna_jones]

What a surprise.... NOT.

Why would they choose to go with what certainly would be a circus? 

In any case, Ms. Stanton has given the TG issue a lot of good press. She is intelligent and dignified.  I'm sad to see that her career has been nixed in the process.

Cindi

[LostInTime]

City declines to hire transsexual manager
BY PHIL DAVIS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

"I just don't think the world is ready just yet," Stanton said as he made a hasty exit from Sarasota City Hall.

[Suzy]

Well all I can say is:


Kristi

[BeverlyAnn]

What a surprise.... NOT.
Why would they choose to go with what certainly would be a circus? 

Well since Ringling Brothers is headquartered in Sarasota and the Circus Hall of Fame is there, I would think they would be used to a circus. 

OK, it was a bad joke.  I really think, from what I can tell, that Susan was actually in the running for real.  The person chosen had 30 years experience compared to 14 and had handled a much bigger budget with more city employees.  The runner up was the assistant City Manager from Orlando which is of course a huge city with a very large budget.

But I think the biggest strike against Susan was actually the fact that she did not have a good reputation as an employee friendly manager.  Apparently just the opposite from what I understand is that she was aloof and hard to work with.  Of course that could have been a result of GID but we don't know.   

Beverly

[cindianna_jones]

The person chosen had 30 years experience compared to 14 and had handled a much bigger budget with more city employees.  The runner up was the assistant City Manager from Orlando which is of course a huge city with a very large budget.

But Bev, that would make those candidates "over qualified" wouldn't it?  That's what they tell me everytime I apply for an engineering position!

Cindi

[BeverlyAnn]

But Bev, that would make those candidates "over qualified" wouldn't it?  That's what they tell me everytime I apply for an engineering position!

Cindi,
I don't know.  I can understand "overqualified" for skill positions such as an engineer (I also understand what you are saying) but can a city manager be overqualified?  If you think about it, a city manager is just a politician who is hired rather than elected.

Beverly

[cindianna_jones]

Overqualified really means that you have experience for which we are not willing to pay. It is not relevant to the fact that you will accept what they are willing to pay.  They think that you'll bolt as soon as you can get what you are really worth.

Really, how can you be "overqualified" to do a job?  If you are willing to do the work, what sense does that make?

I had an employee who had a doctorate in pshychiatry and I hired her to write code.  By most considerations, no one would hire her to do this "menial" work.  She was my best employee.

Cindi

[LostInTime]

After working for a couple of years in the engineering field (a long time back) I have to say that an overqualified engineer is one who can properly draw up blueprints of a wiring scheme correctly within the first two tries.

LIT, who had to make sense of wires that went nowhere and served no function and the blueprints drawn up by those making A LOT more money than she earned

[BeverlyAnn]

It is not relevant to the fact that you will accept what they are willing to pay.  They think that you'll bolt as soon as you can get what you are really worth.

Oh I understand that.  A childhood friend went all the way through Georgia Tech to get his doctorate in nuclear engineering and then tried to get a job with companies building nuclear power plants (back when they built lots of them).  The job he got?  Working in a bookstore since no one would hire him because he was "overqualified" for a starter level position in his field.

Beverly