Kenneth Peterson: There's a very good case to be made that Gerold was and is THE best candidate for the job, given years of service, dedication, excellence on the
job, knowledge of the city and it's local government, citizens, politics and fellow officers - among many other reasons. SNIP And how much did we get stuck with to move this below-superior administrator (who took his time getting the necessary licenses to actually do his job and, as far as I recall, still is not licensed to drive in the State of MN) and his family half-way across the country? How much did he get paid in incentive fees to make the move? How inflated is his salary? [Greg]: I understand and acknolwedge the emotion behind the issue of Deputy Chief Gerold's fees if you view it as a further poll about who is or would have been the best police chief. That question, however, at least in the city government's mind, has been settled. Now, the council's payment of Gerold's fees isn't a poll or an endorsement or anything but business, or at least it should be approached that way. Sure, there may be a council member or two who may be playing politics (and that's on both sides, mind you), but the issue is whether the city should pay 280 percent more than the typical approved fee for this work. The council seems to have compromised a bit in paying about $24,000 of the $31,000 total, or 3/4 of her fees. For whatever her reasons--good or bad or smart or dumb--Deputy Chief Gerold retained a very high priced attorney, probably knowing as well that the city only approves fees up to a certain amount. Terrell rightfully says "she deserves the best representation she can get." But best representation does not equate to most expensive, especially given the remarkable number of talented attorneys out there who charge far less than David Lillehaug. Thus, I think it's fair for the city to pay partial total fees and leave Deputy Chief Gerold and/or her supporters--or her attorney who has the power to cut his excessive fee--to pay the remainder. I'm not getting the outrage here, unless it actually relates to further wrangling over the choice of police chief. Gregory Luce St. Paul REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
