After the firing squad
We may never know why Steve Garrett was let go last Wednesday.
Today's privacy laws protect city administrators from having their personnel files ransacked, or having their dirty laundry run up the flagpole, as they protect the rest of us.
The mayor and the council members can't talk about the events that led up to his dismissal, other than to say his job reviews fell below par. They didn't relish their roles on the "firing squad."
But there's nothing to prevent them from praising the positive things that he accomplished in Hillsboro during his six years as city administrator, or the skills he brought to the job.
All of them credited Garrett for possessing many essential skills city administrators need to be successful. But none of the elected officials said Garrett possessed the essential skill of interpersonal relations; which includes the ability to handle city employees and the public.
None of them said he was easy to work for, or easy to work with. Maybe that's because they were obeying the law. Or the one that says, "If you can't say something nice about someone, say nothing at all."
Is this the reason he was let go? I don't know. Garrett was always polite and helpful to me. But of course, I carry a tape recorder, edit a newspaper, and am not on his payroll.
But even if he was difficult to a fault, (and I'm not saying he was) that doesn't mean that his overall job performance wasn't praiseworthy. Because it was.
Is the city in better shape financially today than it was six years ago? Certainly. Assessed valuations continue to rise, while taxes have held steady.
Is the infrastructure more modern? Without question. The new water treatment plant is online, and construction on an impressive sewer lagoon system will soon begin.
Is downtown Hillsboro more attractive? No doubt. Main Street is fantastic.
Are the recreation facilities top-drawer? Find another city of 3,000 people that has a sports facility and an aquatics center like ours.
Can Steve Garrett alone take credit for these improvements? Obviously not. It was a team effort, led by Mayor Delores Dalke, the city council, and too many others to count. But they were accomplished while Garrett was city administrator.
And, we are better off.
Garrett was the first city administrator to work for the city of Hillsboro since 1981. He wasn't able to fill someone else's shoes. There were no shoes to fill. He couldn't run day-to-day operations at city hall according to the rules and regulations established by his predecessors. There hadn't been any predecessors for nearly 20 years. There weren't any guidelines for him to follow. The mayor says that because of the things Garrett did as city administrator, it will be easier to fill his job.
Because Garrett was here, it will be easier for the next city administrator to be a nicer guy.
There's no guarantee that the new administrator will have the same skill set Garrett had and the "then some" the council seems to be looking for.
A year or two from now, the obvious shortcomings of our nice, new administrator may loom large, and Steve Garrett's faults, whatever they were, may not seem so big after all.
After the ax fell, Garrett stuck around for two more days, without pay, to help the mayor sort out ongoing projects he was working on.
City attorney Dan Baldwin said it was a "gentlemen's gesture." The mayor expressed her gratitude as well.
Garrett said, "I've poured my heart and soul into what it is we're trying to accomplish here, that's what I signed on for. Regardless of how it's going at the end, it would have been wrong for me to have just said, 'I'm done, you guys figure out what that stack on my desk means.' That would have gone against everything I believe."
You may have had a run-in with the former city administrator, and you're happy he's gone. Maybe you wish you'd been a voter on the 'firing squad' yourself. I don't know.
I do know that a long time from now, people will admire our Main Street and sports complex and aquatics center, or wonder why our water tastes so swell, and not like swill.
A lot of people will be given credit for making these things happen, and Steve Garrett should be one of them, whether you liked him, or not.
— GRANT OVERSTAKE
