The Peoria City Council met in special session tonight to name former Caterpillar executive Henry Holling the interim city manager. He is scheduled to start work Feb. 3, but will not assume the duties of interim city manager until the close of business on Feb. 15, which is Randy Oliver’s last day. He will be paid $10,860 per month for an anticipated four to six months while the council looks for a new permanent city manager. Per Holling’s contract, he is not a candidate for the permanent city manager position.

Holling’s appointment passed the council on a 9-2 vote. Councilmen Spain and Montelongo were the only “nay” votes.

Councilman Bob Manning (3rd District) made the motion to hire Holling, seconded by Councilman Eric Turner (At-Large). Manning explained that department heads Craig Hullinger and Pat Landes were not considered for the job because they “have too much on their plates at this time” and to have either one of them serve as the interim city manager would “paralyze that department” while they were away.

Councilman Gary Sandberg (At-Large) was perhaps the most surprising “yea” vote. Holling has said some pretty unflattering things about Sandberg in the past and has actively raised money for candidates to defeat Sandberg at the polls. Sandberg’s response was that “we shouldn’t be afraid of people we might not always agree with.” He said that Holling loves the community and is “the right person for the next four to six months.”

Council Member Barbara Van Auken (2nd District) echoed Manning and Sandberg’s sentiments, saying that the council was looking for someone with executive experience, community involvement, and “if we’re lucky,” government experience.

Mayor Jim Ardis said that if everyone were to look at Holling’s resume without a name on it, and without the rumor and innuendo that has been spread in the community, everyone would have jumped at the chance to hire him.

Montelongo did not speak during the meeting, but afterwards told the press when asked that the reason he didn’t vote for Holling was because he didn’t feel Holling had enough experience with municipal management. Spain left very quickly, so no one was able to catch him for his comments.

Anonymous commentators rebuked

I’ve left something out of the comments I’ve reported so far. That is that almost all of them had something to say about the anonymous commentators that have been writing on this and other blogs and forums. Manning mentioned that there was no truth to the rumors that have been bandied about in the blogs he talked to several people he trusts “who have had the opportunity to work with Mr. Holling on a number of different levels and in different environments” and they all said that “he has the experience and skills to do an outstanding job as interim City Manager.” He added, “I give a lot of weight and credence to the opinions of those I contacted and absolutely none to whisper campaigns, anonymous bloggers and phantom letter writers.”

Sandberg likened the rumors about Holling to the weapons of mass destruction that were supposed to be in Iraq. “There’s no meat on the bone,” he said, referring to the allegations. If they were true, “Cat would have dealt with it long ago.”

Mayor Ardis said that it’s hard to get people who are willing to serve in a public capacity because of the kind of treatment they get in the “electronic media.” Whisper campaigns discourage good candidates from applying or being willing to serve.

Councilman George Jacob (At-Large) asked City Attorney Randy Ray if the code of conduct for commissioners extends to any comments they may make on “electronic media,” like blogs, anonymous or otherwise. Mr. Ray said that it does, assuming their identity can be ascertained. I asked Jacob afterwards why he asked that question. Apparently there is some concern that there may be a commissioner or commissioners who are making defamatory allegations on blogs under a pseudonym.

The contract

I will post a copy of the contract soon. In the meantime, here are the salient provisions:

• Interim assignment shall be for four to six months, but that may be extended by mutual agreement if necessary.
• He will get 15 days of paid leave to use during his interim assignment, with three additional days added for each month he is asked to serve past August (in other words, if they haven’t found a permanent city manager and his interim assignment is extended).
• Holling won’t participate in the city’s health insurance program, nor will he be eligible for any city benefits other than those outlined in the agreement.
• He has to continue residing in the City of Peoria during his interim assignment.
• I’ll quote this verbatim and without comment: “The CITY shall pay to HENRY HOLLING a car allowance of $300.00 per month, for all periods during which he has a valid driver’s license.”
• The city may terminate Holling at any time (for instance, if a permanent city manager is hired before his four to six months is up).
• The agreement is subject to Holling’s “successful completion and passage of a pre-employment physical, including drug and alcohol testing, prior to the initial start date.”
• He can’t engage in outside consulting without council approval.
• As mentioned before, it is stipulated that he will not be considered for the permanent city manager job.

After I got home, there was this message waiting for me in my in-box: “Interim City Manager Henry Holling will be holding a news conference on February 1, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. The news conference will be held in City Council Chambers.”

I don’t know Henry Holling. All I know is what I read in the papers. And there’s a doozy of an article in the paper today.

It’s been previously reported that Holling is being considered for interim city manager after Randy Oliver leaves on February 15. It has also been reported that Holling was convicted of a DUI just recently — so recent, we find out today, that he hasn’t even been sentenced yet. That will happen this Friday. The city council has called a special meeting to possibly appoint him interim city manager this Thursday, Jan. 31.

On top of that, the paper says he’s given money to three council members’ campaigns: Eric Turner ($700), George Jacob ($750), and Bill Spears ($250). The Illinois City/County Management Association (ILCMA), as mentioned in a sidebar to the article, has a tenet against this in their ethics code. It reads:

Tenet 7. Refrain from all political activities which undermine public confidence in professional administrators. Refrain from participation in the election of the members of the employing legislative body.

What was not in the paper was any discussion of rumors regarding why he retired from Caterpillar when he did. Every journalist I’ve talked to has been unable to substantiate those rumors, which is why you don’t hear them on the radio or read them in the paper, and it’s why I don’t allow them on my blog.

So, what are we to make of all this?

First of all, I don’t think decisions can be made based on rumors. So in the same way rumors won’t be published, I don’t think rumors can be used as a basis for hiring or not hiring someone. I know that it happens sometimes, but that doesn’t make it right. It’s not good policy to make decisions on anything but verifiable facts.

Secondly, it is a fact that Holling contributed to some council members’ campaigns. But ask yourself honestly, do you really think that $250-$750 is enough to say to a council member, “you owe me”? Does anyone think that George Jacob is wowed by a contributor who gave him all of $750 of the $55,000+ in funds he had available for his campaign? I’m not buying the “payback” angle. If any of these council members are supporting Holling, it’s not because of his campaign contributions.

I also don’t think Holling is violating any ILCMA tenets. He gave this money long before anyone knew that Randy Oliver was leaving or that there would be a need for an interim city manager. I don’t think you can retroactively hold someone to an ethical standard like that.

Finally, there’s the DUI. That’s a matter of public record. He will likely have his license suspended on Friday. And it’s on this point that I have a problem with Holling being selected.

To be a good manager, you have to have respect. You need the respect of your employees and your bosses. A city manager — even an interim one — also needs the respect of the citizens he’s hired to serve and the outside agencies, both public and private, with which he needs to interact. Holling is not going to have that respect precisely because he’s currently under the cloud of this DUI. Since it’s an interim position, he has no time to (re)build respect before he’ll be replaced with a permanent city manager.

Furthermore, his mobility will be limited. City Attorney Randy Ray is quoted in the paper as saying that a drivers license is not required for this job position. But Randy Oliver was provided a car allowance of $500 per month per his contract. One would assume that means he needed to do no small amount of driving as part of his job. How will Holling get to and from work? The bus? How will he get around the city to do his job? Is the city going to assign him a driver?

Perhaps when one looks at Holling’s entire career, the DUI is just a single bad judgment, and we all make bad judgments at times. But the timing of this is most significant. How are the citizens of Peoria supposed to have any confidence in this choice, especially when a better candidate is waiting in the wings?

The city should reject Holling and instead appoint Economic Development Director Craig Hullinger as the interim city manager.