The Great Gadfly

First there were 42, then 50, soon 1

Enormous power and has been left totally unregulated for 17 years

To many Margo Fenn might seem a distant memory, but for seventeen years she was a dominant figure in the Cape's land use and economic development scene. A lot of us feel shock as we realize that we have known her at the Cape Commission for seventeen years and for four years prior to that as Chatham's town planner. God, can WE be that old? Can she? The answer to both questions is obvious. Margo did not resign to "pursue other opportunities" as we so often hear from those bailing out before the crash, she retired with a pension and benefits from her $85,000 a year government job. Many Cape Codders are not blessed with a secure, well-paid job that will allow them to do the same at age fifty-four, if ever. Some, perhaps many, would at least partially blame Margo and the Cape Cod commission for this fact. Margo retired as a storm was forming over Barnstable Village, a storm that might make New Orleans look like a safe haven. People are demanding change and she appeared simply unwilling to change; to do so now would be to admit the errors of the past seventeen years, virtually her entire career.

Since Fenn's announcement that she would retire the rumors circulating around the subject of her successor have been vicious, varied and constant; sometimes fact-based but more often wildly speculative. Those who know the least have offered themselves as knowing absolutely what was going to happen. The news out of Barnstable town hall earlier this week was just the frosting on the cake, but what frosting! Trust me, many of the fact-innovators have felt the need to enlighten me. Those who actually knew waited for me to come asking. But when I did...........

Here are the rules of this full contact game we are now witnessing:

1. The three county commissioners were required to issue a job posting for Fenn's successor.
Actually, they approve its issuance and the actual work is done by Mark Zielinski, county administrator.
(Who, exactly, wrote the first posting's job description, qualifications and salary range is unclear.)

2. The commissioners, Lance Lambros (chairman), Bill Doherty and Mary LeClair, then formed a five-member selection committe who will receive and review all applications and reduce their number for actual interviews and selection. (County commissioner Mary LeClair, administrator Mark Zielinski, his assistant Maggie Downey, and Cape Cod commission mambers Robert Jones - chairman from Sandwich - and Susan Kadar from Truro are the committee members.)

3. The selection committee will forward one applicant's name to the county commissioners for confirmation as new executive director of the Cape Cod commission.

4. The county commissioners have announced that they will name the successful applicant at their regular meeting on Wednesday, September 5. It is unclear if the county commissioners intend to interview one or more of the candidates from the committee's final round, and if so will the interview(s) be open to the
public as they typically are at the town level for positions such as chief of police or town admistrator.

5. Subsequent to being selected, the successful applicant will negotiate a contract and salary with the commissioners. To what extent the county administrator will be involved in this process is not clear at this time. (Has a commissioner already made an offer?)

This much more we know for certain (I have spoken with several people who are in a position to know correct details, including county administartor Mark Zielinski.) According to him when we spoke by telephone on Friday, August 17 the first job posting (which closed in July) drew a total of 42 applicants. Of these the selection committee schedueled interviews with four candidates, three of whom kept their appopintments, none of whom was selected. Also according to Zielinski the second posting for the job, which closed on August 13, drew 50 responses. Commissioner and selection committee member has been quoted in the press as saying twelve people applied in the second round. Of these Zielinski said he expects the comittee will actually interview, ".....four or five but I'm not sure exactly what the final number will be." He was also unable to say whether the actual interviews will be open to the public and would not say whether he knew of Niedzwiecki's application. (A full list of applicants in such situations is not usually public information; names of the finalists usually are.)

During a telephone call to her on Friday, August 17, commission member from Truro and selection committe member Susan Kadar refered me to Zielinski for any comment.

What is definite is this: the second job posting, which lists as its first qualification municipal management experience, followed by planning experience and/or a law degree, differs substantially from the first posting's job description. Also, the first posting quoted a salary range of $81,000 - to - $100,000 while the second posting left the salary open. Zielinski said today that this means the salary will be dependent upon the qualifications and experience of the successful candidate and that it could mean that the eventual salary will exceed what the first posting offered.

In talking with many people about this situation since early summer, both in government and the private sector, both commission supporters and opponents, I have consistently heard:

1. Fenn's successor should be a manager with sound municipal government experience, not necessarily a planner.

2. The salary should be in the range of $125,000 or more to attract the right person, not merely a planner.

3. Paul Niedzwiecki would be perfect for the job; he is not a planner, but he guided Barnstable through the process of establishing the Downtown Hyannis Growth Incentive Zone; he managed the planners.

When I asked Niedzwiecki in early July if he would want or accept the job as head of the commission he said flatly and quickly, No." He did say during a lengthy conversation about the commission that he believed Fenn's successor should have municipal management experience and need not be a planner to succeed as head of the agency which is at least in transition. He said that he felt it would be important for the next head of the commission to know what it is like to formulate a town budget, adjusting for costs that escalate faster than the 2-1/2% increase allowed in local property taxes each year; to cope with the inablility of Cape towns to attract new commercial development as an enhancement of the tax base and as a source of well-paid new jobs and to deal with the need to construct waste water treatment facilities and sewers costing every town hundreds of millions of dollars. He said that the new head of the commission should know how the commission's actions and failures actually affect towns and citizens and that a pure planner probably will never be able to understand this.

Regarding the issue of how much to pay Fenn's successor, several people have pointed out that his/her pay would probably never be approved at a level higher than that of the current county administrator. However, this overlooks the fact that it is not uncommon in Cape Cod towns for senior department heads such as chiefs of police and school superintendents to be paid more than the town adminstrator or manager. Furthermore, the commission is funded by an independent revenue stream from the local property tax as well as its own fees and grants. One is reminded of the parable of the workers in the vineyard.

A telephone conversation earlier this week with county commissioner and chairman Lance Lambros, yielded the following information: The commissioners will not be involved in the selection process until the selection committee forwards candidates' names to them for a final decision. He did not know how many applicants responded to the second posting or how many names would be forwarded to the commissioners for the final selection. Although he had heard persistent rumors about Niedzwiecki he had not ever spoken to him specifically about Fenn's job. Lambros did say that he has spoken in general terms with Niedzwiecki about the commission and asked him about the relationship between towns and the commission. According to Lambros Niedzwiecki said that when the commission comes to a town hall they should be greeted as friends, allies and partners. Towns should say, "Gee we're glad to see you. You've been so helpful and we think you can really help us get this new project going in the right direction." Lambros acknowledged that this is not always the case now and he said, ".....but we're going to change all that."

As for Niedzwiecki, Lambros' final comment was, "Well, we'll have to wait and see." But, on one point he was very clear. Referring to Niedzwiecki Lambros said, "He has not been fired." John Klimm told me the same thing and said that he and Niedzwiecki have yet to determine how Niedzwiecki's departure will be arranged or when exactly it will occur. Klimm did say unequivocably that no one from Barnstable County government ever contacted him about Niezdwiecki being considered, much less recruited for the Fenn's job. He also said that when he was considering asking Joellen Daley, assistant town adminstrator in Yarmouth and Niedzwiecki's immediate predecessor to consider the position of assistant town manager in Barnstable he first called Robert Lawton, Yarmouth town administrator to make certain that he was observing proper protocol.

All this becomes more interesting against the backdrop of a flood of reports that county commissioner and selection committee member Mary LeClair has been telling people for three weeks that "Paul has the job."

With these and other facts as a background, let me offer the following opinion on this mess:

All this has occurred against an interesting backdrop. In July an ad hoc group of citizens and some selectmen formed to offer their advice and opinions on the selection of Fenn's successor. It became common knowledge on the Cape that a growing number of people felt that the new commission head should be a manager rather than a planner and that the first round of applicants looked a little sickly. Commissioner Mary LeClair would eventually describe the field as "thin." Rumors and rumors of rumors began to cross the Cape like a storm tide over North Beach. Each new person I talked to knew the real story of the search for Fenn's sucessor, but out of the dozens who knew the whole truth I still came up with many different versions of the "facts" and no clear attributions or scources. It was always, "I can't tell you where I heard this but......" I especially love it when someone tells me something I already know to be utterly wrong because I also have spoken with the hinted scource or the person who supposedly did or said, or was about to do or say something and I know first hand what the facts of the matter are. God save us from amateurs and gossips...not to mention liars.

However, a solid core of prediction and bits of hard fact began to accumulate into a credible and entertaining pattern. A well placed scource in Barnstable town hall tells me that people there are now hearing from various places that commissioner Mary LeClair had started to tell people three weeks ago (late July) that Paul Niedzwiecki would be named to succeed Fenn. One person has told me face - to - face that she told him that very thing three weeks ago and was in no way vague or uncertain about it. It may or may not be true that LeClair said anything, but the fact of this growing rumor is undeniable and she has done nothing I have heard to stop the rumor. Commissioner Bill Doherty has been quoted in the press as saying that he feels he has been left "out of the loop" in all this. (Some people and I am one of them might feel that Doherty is busy travelling on his own very special loop.) Commissioner Lance Lambros says he knows nothing more than what he reads in the papers and nothing at all from inside the selection committee, where his fellow commissioner LeClair sits. Only two commissioners need agree to approve the final selection.

All this is fact, not opinion. So, what does all this mean for all of us? The choosing of Fenn's successor is of great importance to every Cape Cod residends. Consider:

1. CCC has enormous power and has been left totally unregulated by the county commissioners for 17 years.

2. Twice (1994 and 2006) growing public dissatisfaction with CCC has moved the county commissioners to call for a review of the agency's policies and practices.

3. Neither of these reviews was conducted by the county commissioners or the county administrator, although CCC is defined in law as the county's planning agency and should therefore be subject to the same oversight as any other county agency.

4. Both reviews were conducted by an ad hoc committee selected by the county commissioners who themselves refuse to supervise CCC actions or staff. Both review committees were heavily loaded with declared supporters of CCC. Elliot Carr chaired both.

5. Both reviews yielded lengthy reports with two score of recommendations. The 1994 recommendations were so completely ignored by CCC that the 2006 review was seen as a necessary way to squelch rising calls for withdrawal from CCC.

6. A growing number of people began in the spring of 2007 asking if Fenn would want to remain as head of CCC or would be able to change the agency and herself in any meaningful way.

7. Fenn, the county commissioners, the Assembly of Delegates and members of CCC appointd by individual towns have been claiming that CCC is working hard to craft new policies and to make dramatic changes in its rules and practices. To date, not one specific change has been implimented, more than one year after the twenty First Century Task Foprce began its six month review and nine months after its final report was
made public.

With all this as a backdrop the county has once again made a hash out of what should have been a golden opportunity to effect meaningful change and help Cape Cod deal with its many pressing and expensive issues.

The simple hiring of the right person at the right time for the right job could have and should have been so easy. But with 'loopy' Bill Doherty and contrary Mary LeClair at the helm the county's ship of state is cutting a dangerous and erratic course. If this nonsense does not stop the hiring of Paul Niedzwiecki will become an uncivil war; we all will pay a heavy price for the ineptitude in Barnstable Village.

By not following standard protocol county officials, exactly who and how many remains unclear but LeClair has volunteered for blame, have put John Klimm and Paul Niedzwiecki in uncomfortable positions. The claim that a second posting for Fenn's successor and a second "national search" was required by law is being refuted by many non-county public officials. Many say that because the first posting and search demonstrated good faith efforts to find the best candidate from the entire country and because that search resulted in no suitable person applying the way is now clear for the county to recruit a person who it has determined would be right for the job.
By conducting this process as they have the search committee, or at least certain members, have opened the door on such questions as:

1. Is John Klimm, manager of the Cape's largest town, somehow not to be shown normal respect and trust?

2. Is Paul Niedzwiecki a puppet for hidden masters in Barnstable Village?

My answer to both is no. Klimm deserves the utmost respect and courtesy and so does every citizen of his town. Barnstable County has spit in the face of the entire population of Barnstable Town. Every county official whose finger prints are this crime should make a public apology, individually. The smooth installation into Fenn's old job of a qualified and committed public servant has been turned into a political cesspool. Just as the brutal and expensive tactics of CCC have become intolerable, so too have the inept methods of the county in general. If this is the best we can expect from the governing gurus of Barnstable County, let's solve the CCC problem once and for all...abolish our county government. They have once again mounted an all out effort to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and in so doing have perhaps compromised some very worthy public servants. It is very clear that with few exceptions our county is being run by amateurs, no matter how long they have been in government. Is it our water, senility/diementia, the air, some dietary deficiency...what causes this 'loopiness'?

It is well known that I want to see Cape towns withdraw from the Cape Cod commission. Even if withdrawal ocurrs it will be two or three years or more coming. In that time we still face many important issues. We have problems to solve and huge infrastructure projects to design, permit and fund. Paul Niedzwiecki is the ideal person to run CCC during this time of transition, in my opinion. I have felt this way and spoken this way since May or June of this year. I have publicly stated my disappointment with the original job posting, both the qualifications and salary. I have also recognized that I can be a lightening rod for criticism and have kept my Niedzwiecki lobbying far away from the boundaries of good taste and tactics; the last thing I have wanted is for me or anyone else to compromise the chances that he would somehow become engaged in the process, even though I am a private citizen and therefore free to say and do much that county opficials cannot at this point.

Is it possible that the Mary LeClairs of this world think that by hiring Paul Niedzwiecki to run CCC they can avoid the growing movement to dismantle the commission? Hire Niedzwiecki, yes, because he is the right man at the right time. Let him run CCC as it should be run. But, don't expect me to surrender. The Cape Cod Commission Act needs to be taken apart piece-by-piece and rewritten. Only a successful withdrawl movement will accomplish that.

But, some of the political pros, even some public officials who are part of the hiring process and should know better, have managed to make this into a circus of the absurd. They have made out of a solemn and vitally important process a political scrap yard. Many would argue that the position of executive director of the Cape Cod commission is and should remain apolitical. Nonsense. What these folks really mean is that developers and certain classes of property owners as well as the entire business community should have no say over CCC rules and practices. But, environmental activists and organizations should be allowed total and unreported access to the commission's innermost workings. Why don't the county commissioners drop the pretense of CCC impartiality and just let the Association to Preserve Cape Cod move into the commission's offices? Maybe Audubon and the Sierra Club could find a comfey corner, too. If any Cape agency is political it is the commission. Don't insult my intelligence by claiming anything different.

Now, the Clowns in the Village* have brought the crowd to their feet once again. If you ask me the wrong county employee retired: Mary LeCalir is overdue for some hammock time and Margo should have been forced to stay on so she could be trained in how to run a public agency with the public good in mind. Bill Doherty should 'retire' so he can devote more time to his search for the perfect loop and Klimm and Niedzwiecki should hold a joint press conference at which they clear up the nasty rumors they neither caused nor started. Two guys trying to do their jobs have been blindsided by some very odd people.

Worse than the embarrassment and agita all this has caused Klimm and Niedzwiecki is the potential for damage to the process of getting the right person into Fenn's old seat. Somebody owes everybody an explanation.

*Clowns in the Village is a group of amateurish performers housed in a group of buildings adjacent to the Barnsable Comedy Club in Barnstable Village. Specializing in a unique combination of black humor and sleight -of-mind they fumble and stumble at various public functions for the amusement of elderly adults and unknowing children. They also hold quiet performances for unkown guests at unknown times and locations. Audience members are frequently asked to participate by applying for various permits and attempting to grow businesses in the Cape's sandy soil, with predictable results. Membeship in this troupe is both by election and appointment, the appointed being selected by the elected who then publicly support the tenure of the elected. Precise skill and competency requirements are never disclosed. While there is no charge at the gate for their public performances the CV's do exact a heavy price. They are the oldest publicly subsidized performing group on Cape Cod and are supported entirely and lavishly by the local property tax, various fees and ocassional grants. Critics have called their art "A bizarre but occasionally humorous mix of farce and fraud featuring loopy jugglers, aged acrobats, unregulated regulators and some of the best fools and jesters since the great banquets of Count Vlad of Dracul. One Las Vegas based magician recently complained in an interview in Variety that only the CV's, to his knowledge, have a guaranteed captive audience of over 200,000 who must pay to support the troupe even if they never see a performance. He pointed out that often the feature performers are simply awful at what they do but no one is ever fired from the troupe. Only half joking he asked, "Where do I apply?"