Maplewood city manager hunt possibly impacted by merger talk

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The city of Maplewood is seeking a new city manager. The current city manager, Marty Corcoran, announced his retirement in January. If a proposed merger between St. Louis County and St. Louis City goes through that position would be impacted, Corcoran said.

Mayor Barry Greenberg said it’s hard to determine if the possibility of Better Together (a name used for the merger) has impacted the quantity and quality of applicants for the city manager position since the application process isn’t concluded — the deadline is March 22.

“Logic tells me that, if an applicant is aware that his or her position would be eliminated or significantly reduced by statewide approval of Better Together, we would not receive as many resumes and that those resumes might be less qualified. It appears that other communities are currently experiencing this issue,” Greenberg said in an email.

“There is also a residency requirement for the position and not only would the candidate be counting on full time employment at a certain compensation level, but they would have to make the commitment of relocating to Maplewood, if they don’t already live here,” he said.

“I doubt that there are many qualified candidates that would want to make that kind of investment and take a chance on a position that might not be permanent,” Greenberg said.

See also: Board of Freeholders drive underway to circumvent statewide merger vote, Richmond Heights would face $5.5 million deficit under merger

 

15 COMMENTS

  1. If other municipalities can team together like Maplewood Richmond Heights then it would be a great thing. There are many benefits to combining services for the public good.

  2. If “Better Together” gets is way, the entire state will decide whether “Mega City” is forced on us. Money buys elections. And there is big money pushing “Bitter” Together.

  3. I am wondering if the Mayor or other city hall folks are looking at publicly opposing the merger. I see other cities are planning lawsuits etc. to try to stave off this horrible idea, but I have not seen anything about our city’s opposition. I am opposed to the merger, as are many of the county population. I am hoping our elected officials and our city employees are also in opposition and are voicing their views publicly. Unless I have missed it.

  4. I live in this Maplewood because I love all of the services that we receive from Maplewood. I do not want this merger and never will. The city of St. Louis only wants this to dilute their crime statistics so that it will not be the #1 city for crime and murder. Why didn’t this “great” plan have 5 people from the county working on it?

  5. I’ve never really thought about it much but where does a city manager come from? How does someone decide he wants to be a city manager? Are there classes and education you take to become one? Is being a city manager a common position for cities the size of Maplewood? Asking because I don’t really know where the selections/choices for the position come from.

    I kind of figured it was someone who was involved in city government, maybe a former mayor or council member who just kind of rose thru the ranks to become city manager. Asking because I have no idea where the candidates come from, what their background is, how qualified they are.

    • SIUE’s Masters in Public Administration program is mostly focused on training for city management positions, its a fairly common position for small to medium cities.

      • Thanks Amanda. I can truthfully say I have never met anyone who told me that they wanted to grow up to be or were studying to be a city manager. Not saying it is a topic of a lot of my conversations but no one I knew in college was ever going in that direction. Truthfully did not know such a degree existed.

    • UMSL has a Masters in Public Policy Administration that has focus areas in city management, non profit management, and plannng among others. It’s a great program.

  6. The details of the plan seem somewhat sparse, but my understanding of the Municipal Districts is that Municipal Operations would continue minus Police Dept and Courts. Day to day operations would be preserved at the individual Municipal district level. Wouldn’t that preserve the need for City Managers?

    • You need more study, Luke. The whole county/city will be run by the county supervisor, all funds and taxes will be pooled. There will be no local governments to decide on trash collection and recycling because the only money will be a huge amount controlled by the county. Point of sale cities will loose their revenue to this entity. There will no longer be rich cities and poor cities. The city earnings tax will phase out after 1o years. This is the primary reason Rex Sinquefield has led this quest–to stop the earnings tax. There will be districts, but, it is not clear how services, courts, street lights, street repairs, etc, will be funded. Response times for local issues will slow to the speed of he who speaks loudest. Look further into Better Together and i believe you will see it as a major power grab.

      • Thanks for the feedback Dave. I am not big fan of the overall plan. However, there seems to be a lot of misinformation out there. From what I see fire protection, parks and rec, trash and recycling and city administration can all stay within the Municipal districts. Refer to the Municipal Presevation section in this link. https://www.bettertogetherstl.com/recommendations. I too would like to see a better plan that isn’t privately backed. One that also levels the playing field for our public education. And you make a good point that public works is not in the plan. Definitely some missing details overall.

        • If think that there needs to be some consolidation, such as merging some of the smallest municipalities or bringing the City of St. Louis under St. Louis County as a municipality, but don’t like the Better Together plan, then I’d encourage you to check out the Municipal League’s Board of Freeholders movement (http://www.stlmuni.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Petition-Talking-Points.pdf).

          If it sounds like something you may support, I’d encourage you to get ahold of your local Councilman/Alderman, who should be able to answer any questions and give you an opportunity to sign a petition supporting it.

          • County consolidation is definitely something that needs to occur. But, that and the city re-entering doesn’t solve much of the regions fractured nature nor the problems with public education. Everything is fine here in Maplewood until Wal Mart gets a sweet deal from Richmond Heights and moves a mile down the road.

  7. Just one more reason against Better Together. The statewide vote idea is ludicrous, much as the City of St Louis fought for local control of it’s police department.

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