Advertisement But its brevity — in and out in under an hour — did little to lessen the collateral damage or my sympathy for interim finance director and unintended victim Wayne Delagrave.
He’s part of my newfound appreciation for anyone with the label “interim,” caught in the middle of a battle within the council — one of process versus outcome.
Everyone speaks highly of Delagrave. But while some aldermen want to skip a search for a permanent chief, others aren’t about to abandon an inconsistent but legitimate hiring process.
“Process is process. I’m big on process,” said Doug Farmer, who also voted against former Public Works Director Pat Caffrey’s appointment sans outside search.
“I hope he gets it,” Farmer said. “But I don’t want to see it handed to him. I want to see him earn it. I want to see him beat everybody.”
So how exactly do you balance rewarding the loyalty of a diligent employee with doing due diligence?
It could be said that Delagrave has put in his time — 26 years as Gene Pfaff’s second-in-command. Pfaff plucked Delagrave out of UW-L’s accounting program.
Council member Richard Becker, author of the resolution to hire Delagrave, said advancing qualified employees within City Hall fosters loyalty. The opposite, he said, promotes a morale problem.
Council member Dick Swantz countered he works for the city’s constituents, not City Hall’s personnel.
“If we can get a better person to manage the finances, I think it’s my responsibility to do all I can,” he said. “I think we will all be better off if he applies and gets it.”
But Delagrave has proven he can do the job, Becker said. And if the city conducts a formal search and finds someone more qualified than Delagrave, “I’m 99 percent sure the city will pay this person more than Mr. Delagrave will get,” Becker said.
Becker and alderman Andrea Richmond argue it’s a waste of time and money to shop around when a qualified candidate is at your doorstep — or, more specifically, on the sixth floor, hammering out your annual budget.
They also have recent history on their side. After two professional searches and more than $4,500 spent, the city council ultimately opted to remove the “interim” tag from Wendy Oestreich as personnel director.
The outcome could be the same for the finance director post, Mayor Mark Johnsrud said Monday. “Wayne is a great employee. He’s done a fine job, and he very well may be the next finance director. But I think you need to follow the process,” he said.
