December 14, 2007

Rosenthal deal may be in works

The long-awaited vote on economic development director Jonathan Rosenthal may never happen.
"I'm hoping that between now and the next City Council meeting, we can come to some sort of resolve," Mayor Art Ward said Friday.
He said that Personnel Director Diane Ferguson is "organizing the effort" to work something out with Rosenthal.
Ferguson, who seemed surprised when a reporter asked her about it, said she had no comment.
Ward said that he would like everyone involved to "be mindful it's regarding the future of a profession" who needs to continue to make a living and who has a family at home that deserves to be considered.
Several city councilors have said privately that rather than voting down a reappointment for Rosenthal, they'd be willing to cut a deal that would more or less pay him to give up the high-profile city position he's held since 1994.
Part of their motivation is the uncertainty about the impact of voting against Rosenthal's reappointment. Because Rosenthal, who could not be reached for comment, is in a union, it is unclear at best whether his job depends on the council's support.
But even Rosenthal's backers say that he would be hard-pressed to do a good job with economic development if there's been a public vote by city leaders to, essentially, dump him.

*******
Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rosenthal is going to be rewarded for incompetence. At the expense of the taxpayers. Based on previous payoffs, he could retire on what the city will pay him to quit. Disgusting.

Anonymous said...

So what are the city's options given the fact that Mr. Rosenthal belongs to a union and is protected? He can not simply be canned unless there is documented cause for dismissal. Even with this you are looking at a prolonged (i.e., costly & time consuming)legal process. At it stands now Mr. Rosenthal has been in limbo for the last two years working for Stortz who did nothing but micro-manage, delay actions and just plan tie Mr. Rosenthal's hands. Think about how effective anyone of us would be with a boss like Stortz was.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if Ward's going to offer Rosenthal $500,000 to leave town, like his role-model Bill Stortz did for Ocean State!? That blew up in his face, too.

Anonymous said...

I am not aware of anything that Stortz did that caused a delay on any project Rosenthal was working on,.
Can you be specific?

It seems like a few people are listening to Rosenthal, and believing him.

Did Stortz cause him to miss meetings, did Stortz cause him to fail to have preconstruction meetings, did Stortz stop him from meeting with prospctive businesses?

Stortz did want things done right, not illegally, not improperly.
Maybe that slowed Rosenthal down,
But, it did not slow Rowland, and Fanim down, if that is what you want in Bristol.

Steve Collins said...

Having read the emails that passed between Stortz and Rosenthal for two years -- something I heartily recommend nobody else ever do -- I can say without question that Stortz did all sorts of things that slowed down progress on many fronts. Now as to whether that was necessary to ensure proper safeguards, I don't know. I do know, though, that there's something wrong with the entire system of city government if the mayor and economic development director have to focus so much time and attention on minutia.

Anonymous said...

I don't recall the nmayor having any trouble with other department heads.
They apparently did their job, ACTED IN A PROFESSIONAL MANNER, as opposed to Rosenthal.

It was a common joke around City Hall as to Rosenthals appearance and his "work schedule"
If he worked for me, I would have been upset also.

Anonymous said...

Steve, were those Emails from Jonathan, or the city?

Did you get all of them, or just one side?

Steve Collins said...

I got a ton of emails from both Stortz and Rosenthal in response to an FOI request to the city. I've waded through many of them, but not all. They don't paint a pretty picture of government in action.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately Jonathan's job is the one that EVERY Mayor has controlled. Each one of them has told him what he can accomplish and what he can't based on their political agenda.

If he was so terrible, then why didn't each of those Mayor's write him up enough that the Union couldn't argue when they fired him? He survived how many years without getting fired?

Even Stortz could have fired him in less than 6 months of coming into office if he had written him up for anything he did wrong, but then Stortz wouldn't have had his Economic Development scapegoat.

They couldn't write him up because he was acting or not acting on the wishes of the Mayor that happened to be in office at the time. Frank, Couture, Stortz, they are all guilty. Even the Council Members that could have spoken up. But then again, they wouldn't have had Jonathan to blame when something went wrong that they asked for.

Like him or not, Jonathan is a victim of politics. I hope he gets a very good severance. After all the egg shells he has had to walk on over the last three Mayors, he deserves it.

Anonymous said...

"I don't recall the mayor having any trouble with other department heads."

I believe Stortz had issues with the head of the Water Department.

Again it speaks to Stortz' actions as a manager. He complained about Mr. Rosenthal but did not manage him.

Anonymous said...

The system does not lend itself to managing: people like Rosenthal know just how much they can get away with.

It is unfortunate that with the rules we have to follow, certain things cannot be made public.

At least Stortz brought it to the surface. Rosenthal was even worse under Couture.
And everyone knows the problems that existed in the Water Departmnet. Even the state found serious problems that required their intervention.
That is just another example of the "good old boy" attitude.
When some one challenges the status quo, they become the target.

Bottom line: apparently many others are now seeing what Stortz saw early on.

Anonymous said...

Stortz had 2 years to get rid of Rosenthal. He didn't - that says a lot right there.

Anonymous said...

Yes but without documentation the City is powerless to do anything. In the end this should have been dealt with a long time ago and will not cost our city a lot in terms of money and lost opportunities.

Anonymous said...

"Yes but without documentation the City is powerless to do anything. In the end this should have been dealt with a long time ago and will not cost our city a lot in terms of money and lost opportunities."

MY BAD --
I meant to say WILL cost our city alot in terms of money and lost opportunities.

Anonymous said...

They all complained about him but never did anything about him so now it's going to cost us a lot of money in severance.

I agree with a previous poster. He is a political scapegoat.

Who will they blame when Rosenthal is gone?

Anonymous said...

I'll bet that there is documentation available: all Ward has to do is look for it. Certainly there has been numerous reports in the papers about missed meetings, overruns, delays.
I would believe that here is much more: all Ward has to do is do some research.
Wasn't there more than one question about meeting purchasing requirements?
And how about his attendance record? Isn't that on file?

Now that there seems to be a greater awareness and support for addressingthe issue, I hope Ward does it in a professional manner so as to minimize the impact on the city.

Anonymous said...

I haven't seen any comments relating to missed deadlines for grant applications. While the working relationship between Mr. Rosenthal and past mayors may have impacted project success in some cases, isn't it the responsibility of the Economical Development Director to go after the much needed funds that are available to Bristol by way of grants? When those application deadlines are missed, funds are lost. There's no getting around it, this scenario has/is costing the city money.

Anonymous said...

4:00

That is just one of many items that Ward could use if he wants to.
Much of it has been covered in teh papers, and some might be in BDA minutes.
It is there if he wants to track it down and save the city serious dollars.