If what I hear is true, and I can't be sure, Jonathan Rosenthal is likely to get a firm push out the door.
Had the vote on his appointment taken place last night, he would likely have lost 5-2, which is pretty bad.
There seems to be an unofficial consensus among the council, though, that the best solution for the Rosenthal dilemma is to cut a deal with him to move on in return for a generous settlement of any potential claims he may have against the city.
Of course, figuring out a payout may prove impossible. And it isn't clear to me that Mayor Art Ward is wholly on board with the effort.
Rosenthal's appointment has been in limbo since April 2006 when his last formal term in the office ended. Former Mayor William Stortz never sought to dump him or to reappoint him, preferring to leave him in limbo, apparently in the hope that Rosenthal would simply go.
But Rosenthal, who isn't happy about the way he's been treated, wasn't about to back down with Stortz at the helm. He might prove less willing to keep getting batted around if Ward and the new council also indicate they'd like him to leave.
I'm not even sure that a majority of the council believes Rosenthal hasn't done the job well. Some think he's just been bruised by the last mayor and is no longer at the top of his game in Bristol, though somewhere else he could perhaps shine.
Anyway, there does seem to be a consensus that whether Rosenthal deserves replacement or not, it might be best to bring in new blood that the entire council and the mayor can support.
We'll see what happens.
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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
26 comments:
Rosenthal has not been an asset to Bristol for many years, if he ever was.
Stortz knew that but also knew that he might not have the votes.
If Rosenthal had any clue as to what was going on, he would have taken the opportunity that Stortz gave him, found another position and resigned.
But that is typical if Rosenthal.
After all, he was collecting $100,000, and not performing.
If Stortz had brought his name up, we'd have been stuck with him, and certainly with an extension of time, he would have been real cocky.
Ward is between a rock and a hard place: he loses face if he dumps Rosenthal, and he is stuck with a loser who will drag him down if Rosenthal survives.
But then, it is his own doing.
Let's see here;
1. Rosenthal
2. COLA
3. Ordinances
4. No COLAS
5. Zoppo
6. Johnson
7. Ragaini
8. DeFillippi
9. Nelligan
10. Park Revitalization
11. Appointments
12. No Appointments
13. Vendettas
14. All come together
15. Dems fighting Dems
16. Republicans loving Dems
17. Mayor's open door policy
18. Door is closed
19. Big schools, little schools
20. No schools
Twenty reasons and growing for the need of a professional City Manager in the City of Bristol.
Rosenthal sucks, he should be fired. I can't believe people are even talking about paying him to quit. Rosenthal has plenty of failures and misdeeds to justify his firing and prevent the union from winning a grievance.
Ward is definately between a rock and a hard place esp. since most of his big dollar donors like Ed Damato, George Carpenter, the Lavieros and others can't stand Rosenthal and have had brush-ups with him. Shall be interesting.
Someone needs to send a memo to Gerard Couture that no one cares what he thinks
steve....
maybe a detailed history of mr. rosenthal is in order, so that the average joe [myself included] can make an informed decision on this guy........
also, i don't know why anyone would be afraid to fire anyone for non-performing job performance, unless they were beholden to a union...um????
-billy from bristol
Billy, shouldn't you be at work? Or did they give you the day off with pay yet again?
For over a million dollars, what did Bristol get???
Those who support Rosenthal would argue that he's got a solid track record that includes playing a key role in helping to fill the old GM factory on Chippens Hill (something he was heavily involved in), getting all those factories to town under Nicastro, lending a hand to ESPN's expansion efforts (particularly in convincing the feds to pay for lots of road work around the campus), figuring out and pushing through the industrial park that's under construction, the streetscape project on North Main Street and planning for one on Main Street, and more.
Is it all worth more than the $1 million Rosenthal got? Well, that's a decision for Bristol's leaders and residents to make, not me.
I would also point out that Rosenthal has, for someone who lives in Easton, been quite involved in Bristol charity, including a major role in raising money for the boundless playground at Page Park.
That's part of the pro-Rosenthal side of the argument. The antis seem to make themselves heard quite often without me.
He was also responsible for the Rotary booth at the North Main Street festival for the couple of years, and worked himself to exhaustion at it last year.
That is a fair analysis Steve, but its a surface analyis. There have been far more businesses chased out of town than ones which have located here. He is abrasive, contemptuous, and not a detail guy. Every project you named has had major problems either financial or planning wise because JR is a generalist, and doesn't get too involved in the nitty gritty, where taxpayer dollars get wasted.
Nicastro kept a tighter leash on him that Couture and Stortz. Art just frankly doesn;t have the management skills to know how to deal with this type of personnel issue and has been stated elsewhere, the personnel director is a weak link in Bristol. So he is on his own with this one and it will most likely cost the city money in the end.
Don't tell me that Rosenthal did all this by himself.
Legislators helped, Mayors helped, staff did much of the work.
Every town got new businesses, not just Bristol.
Did we lose any because of him: you make up your own mind.
Are we way behind on SEBBP?
His dealings with the state apparently leave a lot to be desired.
His fund raising; on city time? Using city influence? Part of his job?
Managers that work for the city are reluctant to discuss him on the record and understandably so, but they do have tales to tell.
He is tremendous self promoter, but that is just one side, his side.
Did Rosenthal and the other out of town Department heads like Vesilka and Wiener come to work today and stay all day?
I'll bet Veselka did: he is the consumate professional and asset to Bristol.
Jonathan, what difference would it make?
To Anonymous 5:52 PM - I was indeed at work all day, from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM. You're welcome to come to City Hall and check my time sheet.
And a point of clarification: I'm not a department head. I'm a division head (Land Use) within the Department of Public Works.
In case anyone's wondering, I wasn't working at all today. It was a long-planned day off for me.
And yet, as your faithful Bristol Blogger, here I am.
Alan: You are the "brain" behind the land use boards.
Working for Rotary is not part of Jonathans job description.
I understand that the booth was not successful.
I know that Stortz worked at getting Rosenthal to be more responsive and responsible: some felt he was more successful than Couture.
Business people do not want to speak out about Jonathan: they do not know how long he will last, and if they might need help from BDA someday.
I run a business in this town and have dealt with Jonathan for years. He's proven time and again that he'll go the extra mile for me even when politicians such as Mayor Stortz and Mayor Nicastro didn't seem interested.
The only problem that Jonathan has is a bunch of meddling politicians who won't let him do his job. They need to reappoint him immediately so that those of us in business can have the stability we desire and the assistance we need.
I am not the only businessman in this town who will think twice about expanding here if a mean-spirited hacks chase Jonathan out of Bristol.
I would sign my name but I am afraid this pack will take it out on my business - and hurt my employees - for sticking up for Jonathan.
Looks like the Council, old and new, are starting to see that Rosenthal is not cutting it.
Too bad that they didn't see this two years ago: we would be much better off and much further ahead.
Seems like it didn't take Cockayne and Block long to figure it out: what took Minor and McCauley so long?
Was it Zoppo?
Or was it just not wanting to go along with a republican?
Don't presume to think you know which councilmen support Rosenthal and which ones don't. Art sure doesn't know.
Art and Frankie support, Minor and McCauley on the fence, Rimcoski, Block, Cockayne, no.
Minor will probably support Rosenthal. They both have similar backgrounds and are in the same kind of union, maybe even the same exact union.
I've dealt with Jon Rosenthal for the past 8 years. I also work in municipalities around the state. I've found him to be one of the brightest, more creative and hard working economic developers in the state. On top of that, I have found him to be humble and considerate. We need figure out how to work with him. The level of venom on this page reflects a great deal of misdirected hostility that detracts from efforts to improve the city and the fabric of our community. I
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