Mayor Elam’s announcement of the search for a new City Manager, released in March 2007, stated her commitment to ”getting the right person for the job, which means someone with prior experience as City Manager of a City larger than or growing as fast as Mt. Juliet. . .”
Heh.
Can we look at the numbers, Johnny?
Here’s the data on the top six finalists selected by Mayor Elam and three of the four City Commissioners:
| Candidate | City | ST | 1990 Pop | 2000 Pop | 1990-2000 growth |
| Jody Baltz | Tullahoma | TN | 17,108 | 17,994 | 5.2% |
| Mitch Moore | Athens | TN | 12,337 | 13,220 | 7.2% |
| Keith Bergman | Provincetown | MA | 3,561 | 3,431 | -3.7% |
| Richard Clark | Jefferson Hills | PA | 9,533 | 9.666 | 1.4% |
| Mark Henne | Bluefield | WV | 13,139 | 11,451 | -12.8% |
| Rob Schaumleffel | Creedmoor | NC | 1,506 | 2,232 | 48.2% |
For the record, gentle reader, the growth in Mt. Juliet’s population between 1990 and 2000 was 129%.
NONE of the five candidates has experience with a City larger than Mt. Juliet.
And NONE of the top five candidates has experience with anything like the population growth being experienced by Mt. Juliet.
Creedmoor grew about 1/3 as fast as Mt. Juliet in the 1990’s. But does riding a city that grew from 1,500 to 2,200 really qualify you to manage Mt. Juliet as it grows from 20,000 to 40,000?
Athens and Tullahoma grew 7.2% and 5.2% in population over TEN YEARS. Mt Juliet grew 129% in the same time period.
In all fairness, it must be conceded that any of these gentlemen might do a fine job as City Manager of Mt. Juliet, but clearly the Mayor’s goal of finding someone with “experience” in a larger or faster growing city has not been achieved.
Sort of begs the question (already being asked in the community) of why the Mayor demanded former City Manager Rob Shearer’s resignation in the first place…
- Publius
