New Week, Same Old Headlines.
The news this morning is of two more departures from the Tony Mack Administration, providing further examples – not that we needed any – of the Mayor’s dismal record when recruiting and keeping managerial talent.
Eric Berry, Tony Mack’s seventh Business Administrator, is departing to serve as the BA of the town of Plainfield. I had some dissatisfaction with Mr. Berry, and felt he was probably too restrained by the Mayor to actually have much impact in changing the direction of this Administration. I don’t know how much it entered into his decision, but the recent embarrassment of the “plan” that the Mayor announced as a last-minute attempt to save some of the 108 police officers just laid off last week couldn’t have inspired Mr. Berry to stick around. That plan didn’t make sense: the numbers didn’t add up, the plan required crucial assistance and cooperation from the state and federal governments, as well as the police unions – none of whom had even heard of the plan before the Mayor announced it!
Another Eric, Eric Jackson, is leaving the City Water Works – where he was exiled by Mayor Mack last August after only a few weeks as Assistant Business Administrator – to take the position of Director of Public Works for the Town of Plainfield, a position in which he served the city of Trenton under the Palmer Administration. This town of a little under 50,000 is the beneficiary of both of Trenton’s Erics. The Best of Luck to them!
Meanwhile, some of the appointments Mayor Mack wants to make are being swatted down by the State’s Department of Community Affairs (DCA). Among other moves in a cabinet shuffle announced by press release last week, the mayor announced the appointment of Harold Hall, current head of Public Property, to the position of “Acting” (442 days into the administration” Director of Public Works. The reaction of DCA – not consulted beforehand about the appointment, as the City is required to do – was swift. A DCA spokesperson told the Trenton Times that the state “will not approve Harold Hall for an acting director position since the Division previously requested the mayor demote or fire him.” BOOM!
So, these three announcements over the last few days provide perfect examples of three tendencies this Mayor exhibits when it comes to his personnel decisions:
- In the case of Mr. Berry, talented individuals recruited for senior positions in the City are under the thumb of the Mayor and either bypassed in major decisions by the Mayor’s direct intervention , or intimidated in the day-to-day function of their job through fear of being overruled or dismissed.
- In the case of Mr. Hall, many of the Mayor’s appointments are of people personally friendly and/or loyal to Tony Mack, but who have no business in the positions to which they are appointed.
- In the case of Mr. Jackson, demonstrated managerial talent, experience and institutional memory is shunted aside, demoted and forced to leave, due primarily to a lack of personal loyalty to Tony F. Mack.
Occasions of each of these three tendencies have been repeated over and over, and over, by the Mayor. And likely will be repeated again. And again.
The handling of personnel, senior as well as junior and up and down the line, has been the worst of many failures of this Mayor since his first weeks of his administration. In that at least, as in few other areas, Tony Mack has shown an amazing consistency and steady pattern.
Too bad for us.
While I found Eric Berry to be underwhelming, the news that he is leaving after such a short time is scarey. Tony Mack has had more business administrators in 14 months than Doug Palmer had in 20 years. Anyone want to make book on what is next? PHS
Kevin, I don’t believe Mr. Berry has yet turned in his resignation. Until then, we need to assume he’s staying (though it appears to be true he is being considered for the Plainfield job).
There’s a decent business team in place which includes Berry, Rousseau and Chan.
If they leave …. well
What is obvious is that even the mayor doesn’t know if he is staying or not.
I really wish I knew Mack so I could send in my resume. Ah forget it! I wouldn’t need to send in my resume because he’d probably just give me the job anyway!
So it appears both Trenton and Bordentown have a lot in common!
Both Mayors Suck!
Eric Berry came to us with a strong resume. He did great things for teh City of Burlington. His challenges were a “Newby” staff with no experience as all of the seasoned directors had either been laid off of retired by the time of his arrival.Remember that the Mayor is his boss and he must follow his directives. The Cheif of staff disolved in a drug induced “Puff Of Smoke” so then he had 2 jobs not the one that he had signed up for.In my conversations initially with him he had great ideas for using the City’s Capital status a s a brand. Bravo, finally someone with some creative thinking. But how can one man think outside of the box and do all the work of 2 people and all of the inexperienced staff and be a “push-me-pull you between the Mayor and Council and possibly get anything done? I spent 25 years in a corportate environment building executive teams for start up companies and this is a distintive receipe for failure.