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A memo to the City Council

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A memo to the City Council
memorandum to the Board to: Members of city council from: assistant city manager subject: the executive search date: 12/2/2014 cc: office of the mayor, city clerk and city attorney

I have been working as an assistant city manager for a long time. I witnessed the city’s ups and downs, and now that the late city manager was asked to resign, I thought I should share some of my thoughts with you, and with that, I look forward to aiding the selection process of our next City Manager. The previous city manager made many mistakes; starting from his abuse of power, lack of leadership and communication, and ending with his hunch-based decisions. I believe that there are several characteristics that our new city manager should have. Beside the usual qualifications, I believe that the city manager should have the following abilities:
1- Leadership. A successful city manager is the one who is able to set direction, motivate, and inspire. That’s why the person who will occupy this position has to be a real leader, so he/she can motivate and affect positively on the employees, and the organization as a whole. It unites the efforts of the employees under one goal. With leadership the new city manager will not only be able to solve problems, but will also find long-term solutions for these problems1.
2- Management. Leadership and management should go side by side. By being a manager, the city manager will be able to plan a budget, organize the staff, administrate, and put long-term strategies. With this, the city manager should be able to create a policy to eliminate the city’s deficit, and correct some of the imperfections our city is suffering from2.
3- Good administrator. The city manager has to be fully aware of the public and governmental work and policies. He/she has to make sure that the directives are being followed by the staff, and should keep an open eye over the activities in all the departments.
4- Trustworthy. The city manager should follow evidence-based
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