Back in '78-'79 I was working for a local company that was expanding into another city.
As the expansion took place, further investors came on board, and everything became bollocksed. It was decided that there was a need for a level of organization and authority above the separate units. The principals got together and hired a guy whose main attribute as far as I could tell was that he played a good game of golf and that he dreamed big dreams even if he had no practical experience or knowledge of the business. His first accomplishment was hiring a secretary and naming the new company. The name of the company was Courier Dispatch. Mind you, this was 1978 and most people in Minneapolis or Atlanta had never heard the word courier. To them, what we did was what Ol' Jake did. People would ask me what I did and I would say "I'm a courier" or "I work for a courier company". Invariably they would say "What's that? You say you're a furrier." You could see the problems we had establishing brand identity. Well while I was struggling to explain the concept of what we were and what we could accomplish, the new guy was taking a couple months coming up with the new name. Try this out. Courier Dispatch Group. Printed out on stationary and cards they added a word. "THE". Cool huh! All of a sudden I felt like I had joined the RAF. What a schmuck! My point is this. The Mayor cautioned against reading too much into David Fey's title as Deputy Mayor( not Deputy to the Mayor which is allowed by City Charter)but he wanted to send the message that "this person is administering the office, but also is key architect of policy". Now we're going to have a lead administrative aide. Is the lead administrative aide then Chief of Staff meant to replace the Chief of Staff who became Deputy Mayor? I'm trying not to read too much into the titles of the Mayors staff. I'm trying not to ask why salaries in the Mayor's office need to be unilaterally modified. I'm having trouble reading too little into the title and the function of Mayor when I see the Deputy Mayor negotiated employment contracts and when caught in a blunder said to a reporter, "While it looks like it may still be possible, this may be a much more political process than I had imagined." It's all politics. That's not necessarily bad. Welcome to the Big Leagues! Tim Connolly Ward 7 Former Furrier __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail! http://promo.yahoo.com/videomail/ _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
