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After more than four
months of staunchly defending their actions on the
Hanson contract, and declaring the former city
manager to be the best thing that ever happened to
Desert Hot Springs, the city council unanimously
and vociferously voted to rescind the
controversial contract in open session and
publicly apologized to the citizens of DHS.
With words like "we were duped"
"I'm disappointed" "he snookered
us" and "he was thinking of himself and
not the city", and capped by Will Peiper's
declaration that "if he sues us, I hope he
names me in the lawsuit", the next chapter in
a sordid tale of compounded council mistakes takes
shape.
Hanson seemingly leaves no doubt that he will
not take the council's action lying down. The city
will be sued-that seems evident.
Has the council learned its lesson? We can only
hope. One of the best ways to convince the
electorate the same mistake won't be made again,
would be to listen to them like never before.
Citizen consensus on the hiring of a new city
manager looms loud and clear. Whatever time and
effort it takes, the decision on a new manager
should not be made until the new council is
seated.
This council has proven that it cannot be
trusted to make the right decision on such an
important issue as our next manager. Anyone can
make a mistake. But to be forced into admitting a
mistake after months of defending themselves
without ever taking a hard look at what they did,
is inexcusable. That smacks of arrogance to the
fourth-power. Not a trait one wants in the leaders
of a small community such as ours.
A complete council mea culpa would be to delay
the hiring of our next city manager until the new
council is on board. There is strong evidence that
the current city staff is capable of continuing
operations while the search for a new manager is
completed.
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