On 4/24/02 9:47 PM, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The current Mayor is RT. > > Question to RT: Is or is not the Chief abiding by your strategy for managing > this City? If not, RT, who's fault is that?
This seems to me to be a slightly unfair question. The police chief has held his position for a number of years whereas the mayor has been in office for all of four months. With the Minneapolis charter and council set up as they are and the chief's contract, it seems that there's little the mayor could do if the chief is not interested in abiding by the mayor's management strategy. We've already seen/heard comments about Chief Olson being less than willing to help with the city's budget issues and we're all familiar with the police force concerns that have been raised. Whether because of an unwillingness to approve a buyout or a disagreement over whether the chief is at fault, council so far hasn't shown much interest in helping the mayor exert any authority over the police chief. Therefore, I would say the answer to Keith Reitman's question about "whose fault is that?" is that it's the fault of whoever pushed through the notion that department heads should not serve at the pleasure of the mayor and that's what those who feel Chief Olson ought to be removed should be working to change. I personally find it hard to fathom how someone could fault the mayor for a less-than-ideal police chief if 1) he did not hire the chief and 2) he lacks the authority to single-handedly remove him. Mark Snyder Ward 1/Windom Park [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________ 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
