The ouster of City Manager Gregory Rose seems to have been a full-out rebellion against the so far short lived reign of mayor Shari Buck.
It was striking that the mayor was unable to cajole even one of her companions on the City Council to vote for Rose. It’s been well known for a while that there was no love lost between Mr. Rose and council members William Robinson and Robert Eliason, both of whom voted against the lucrative enhancements to Mr. Rose’s contract. (Sun) Richard Cherchio dissatisfaction with Mr. Rose was evident more recently apparently due to the wrangling over the “More Cops” fund. (KLAS)
Nonetheless, the mayor was not even able to convince Anita Wood or Mr. Cherchio to support Gregory Rose. This despite their votes to support his annual performance review in August, 2009. (Sun)
The shift raises the question of just how much political power will the mayor be able to wield. Will the rest of the council form it’s own powerbase and leave the mayor to repeat her petulant phrase from just prior to the Rose vote: “do what you’re going to do”?
So, this ain’t mayor Mike Montandon’s city council anymore. And it may not even be Shari Buck’s.
On another note: The more I think about it, the idea that Mr. Rose should
simply be let go so that the city can get the sorry affair “behind us”
serves the interests of everyone involved–except those of voters. Voters will eventually face the
difficult question, and responsibility, of deciding who will be the best mayor or
councilperson for their ward, and it is extremely relevant to that
question if a candidate aided and abetted Mr. Rose in some potentially
illegal bookkeeping. Voters, therefore, need to resolve the very question
council wishes to avoid: Did Mr. Rose engage in any illegal activities
or not? And if he did, did anyone on council know about it?
Forgetting the affair may be good for council, but it’s not so good for the rest of us.
Yeah…I’m a little surprised that no one sided with the Mayor on that one, but given the budget mess the city is in, it was probably best to cut Gregory loose.
At this point, I would say a majority of “contentious” votes will be 4-1. The Mayor may want to look into hobbies to keep her occupied during City Council meetings.
The last round of municipal elections proved that NLV voters do not care about important issues. Afterall, Mr. Robinson almost got voted in as Mayor! Shari Buck may not have much influence on the Council, but she is less sleazy than Robinson.
I would say the last round of municipals provided that NLV voters don’t care about municipal elections. But I do agree that Mayor Buck is less sleazy than Mayor Pro Tem Robinson, but that’s setting an awfully low bar.