Don’t Be Stampeded, Keep Manager In Place For Now – All Otsego

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allotsego.com EDITORIAL

Don't Be Stampeded, Keep

Manager In Place For Now

Yet again, Council member Mike Lynch – this time, with the help of colleague Larry Malone – has manufactured a crisis in Oneonta City Hall.

Oneonta City Manager Martin Murphy
Oneonta City Manager Martin Murphy

This evening, Common Council will convene in special session to act on a motion to approve a severance package for City Manager Martin Murphy.  Acting Mayor Russ Southard, who confirmed Murphy Thursday morning declined a request that he resign, called the meeting.

Murphy, with a quarter-century of experience in municipal management, deserves more than 10 tumultuous months in City Hall to show what he can do.  Ousting him now, the second Oneonta city manager to be pushed out in slightly over a year, would be a mistake on many levels.

From a practical standpoint, what qualified professional would want to take the job?  It would evolve on an interim basis to city Finance Director Meg Hungerford, (who Lynch wanted there in the first place).  But, lacking the credentials called for in the charter, she would be unable to fill the position permanently.  Then what?

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