Star-Journbal Editor
After dismissing Steve Garrett Jan. 24, Hillsboro City Council and Mayor Delores Dalke have temporarily assumed duties performed by the city administrator.
On the morning after the firing, Dalke met with the city's six department heads and the city clerk to announce Garrett's dismissal and establish a set of temporary ground rules.
"I said I expected them each to run their own departments, and to stay within their budgets," Dalke said. "And, at this point, until we get farther down the road here, all purchase vouchers need to be signed by Delores Dalke, the mayor, before they buy anything, to make sure we stay within our budget."
After three days of crisis-related phone calls that kept her from her work as a real estate agent, Dalke said on Saturday that she was looking for a "Range Rider" to come to the rescue.
"There are people who are retired city administrators who work as interims," Dalke said. "In fact, they're referred to as Range Riders, which I think is kind of cute."
Dalke's call for help was to the League of Kansas Municipalities in Topeka, which helps elected officials deal with issues of local government, such as how to cope without a city administrator.
In response the league was scheduled to send an expert to speak at a special Hillsboro City Council meeting Tuesday to spell out what needed to be done to recruit a new city administrator, and what the mayor and council members were responsible for in the meantime.
"We need that kind of guidance," Dalke said. "We need some instruction as far as what we need to be doing so we can make this work."
Word that temporary help could be riding to the rescue was a blessing, she added. The interim would
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serve a few months, to run the city so the city council can conduct a thorough search and interview process for a full-time city administrator.
Which is to say that even an ugly Range Rider galloping down Main Street Hillsboro would still be a welcome sight.
Before Garrett was hired six years ago, Hillsboro hadn't had a city administrator since 1981.
Instead, the city made do with a utility manager; who did the job currently done by the director of public works. But as the complexities of running a city increased over time, Dalke said elected officials needed a city administrator to do the job.
Stepping in for a modern city administrator is tougher than ever, she added, because they have so many responsibilities
"Number one, in our case, they are the personnel manager," she said. "And they are the project administrator and finance director. It's not easy."
Council member Lynn Coryea was the only current member who served on the council when Hillsboro didn't have an administrator, Dalke said.
"All of the rest of the people who are on the council now came on since Garrett was here," she said. "They have no idea what it's like not to have an administrator.
"The mayor and the council have to be on the same page as far as what they're doing. We have to be sure we're all thinking alike before we do things."
The problem, she added, is that the council meets only once every two weeks. In between meetings, state open meeting laws prohibits them from meeting together to compare notes, or even talk on the phone.
"It makes it very, very difficult," Dalke said. "But it can work. We have to get together and decide what our objective is, and what has to be done between meetings so everybody knows what to do."
If this past week is any indication, Dalke will be working full-time for the city of Hillsboro, for a stipend of $300 a month, until the RR gets to town.
The mayor was deluged with crisis-related phone calls and from local citizens trying to offer their resumes for the vacant administrator's job. Even so, Dalke, the real estate agent, somehow managed to sell a house Friday evening.
"I hope we can find an interim before too long," she said. "Because this mayor needs to be able to run her business, too."
