What then is ironic about the paragraphs there:
I am proud of the work we have been able to accomplish on behalf of you, the citizens of Anoka County, and want to continue to work for you.
That is why I am announcing my plan to run for re-election as your county commissioner.
It is truly a privilege to serve, and I will continue to work to represent this district and the citizens of Anoka County to the best of my ability.
I humbly ask for your vote!
First, is there an election pending? Or just keeping the same old pitch online, keeping it warm, for whatever?
Second, there is this Strib report concerning Sivarajah and county governance.
Whatever one thinks of Rhonda, there are certain procedures that are proper; besides Caesar crossing the Rubicon, full army in tow.
Deferring to Letter-to-Editor explanations, ending:
Three of the County Board members, Scott Schulte, Julie Braastad and Robyn West, endorsed the selection of Rhonda Sivarajah without any formal internal or external search. These three totally ignored the concerns raised by the public who spoke unanimously against this appointment. The newest commissioner, Mandy Meisner, supported by Mike Gamache and Matt Look, addressed this issue and opposed the appointment absent a minimum of an internal search, with two of them recommending an external search so that the most qualified candidate can be found to lead the county.
If Commissioner Sivarajah is going to be considered, at a minimum the board should set a policy that if a commissioner is interested in a county position, they should have to resign as a commissioner and apply like anyone else. This would eliminate the conflict issues that have been addressed.
William Erhart
Ramsey
(Ramsey is part of the County, the letter thus being from a county taxpayer/voter not believed to be a county employee.) There is more to the LTE than its final concluding paragraphs, presenting the rationale leading to the conclusion, so readers are strongly urged to read it in its entirety.
Strib reported:
The Anoka County Board is moving ahead with an internal search to replace retiring County Administrator Jerry Soma, ending an unusual stalemate over the top job.
The board is poised to vote Tuesday on its new plan after deadlocking on the issue at a recent meeting. Commissioners were split over launching a formal search for Soma’s successor or directly appointing their colleague and board Chairwoman Rhonda Sivarajah, who is vying for the position.
Some residents have criticized the county’s practice of appointing internally for its top job without a formal search as lacking transparency.
County officials again took up the debate at a special work session called earlier this week by Commissioner Matt Look, who backed an internal search along with commissioners Mandy Meisner and Mike Gamache.
No votes are taken at work sessions, but Sivarajah recused herself from the discussion and did not attend. Commissioners generally agreed at the recent meeting on keeping the county’s leadership in-house and sketched out parameters for the job posting.
“We need to come up with a compromise here that works for everybody,” said Commissioner Scott Schulte, who had earlier favored appointing Sivarajah directly.
[...] A three-person search committee will then conduct candidate interviews and make a recommendation to the full board for an appointment. Commissioners Robyn West, Schulte and Gamache will make up the interview panel — a point of concern for some.
West and Schulte had earlier backed Sivarajah for the job, along with Commissioner Julie Braastad.
[...] Meisner pushed Tuesday for the committee to be made up of the three commissioners who had originally advocated for a formal search process. She also voiced support for public candidate interviews with the full board involved and opening the position up to external applicants.
“I truly want the best person for the job,” Meisner said.
Soma, who supervises about 2,000 county employees and earns $149,000, will retire May 1 after 52 years with the county. He was appointed by the board to the role of county administrator in 2011 without a formal search process.
[links omitted] So, who is Matt Look's dog in the hunt? That is not reported by Strib. (If Matt wants the job for himself, and a contest evolves solely between him and Sivarajah, then in a heartbeat Rhonda would be the better choice. A meritorious third choice, not a board member, might be best. Presumably Matt would favor keeping a seat subject to an electorate that has given him comfort rather than holding a paycheck subject to a change in the makeup of the Board. But then, who's his dog in the hunt?)
Next, what are the backroom politics of the setting of the constitution of the search committee? And why in the world is this incestuous Board policy being followed? Why not follow the wisdom of the LTE, an internal and external solicitation for who's going to get a hundred and fifty thousand buck job? That's a lot of grease for somebody's skids, and if you want the best person it is debatable whether the best person for such a job already works for Anoka County. Likely the opposite is true, but without testing the waters, things seem far too clubish for the public to accept. Too clubish for the public to be best served.
That board is not all that smart. Putting any one of the bunch into the Caesar spot, why?
_____________UPDATE_____________
This websearch yielded this item, stating in part:
Schulte proposed the subcommittee comprise himself, as board vice chair; West, who chairs the Management Committee, which deals with personnel issues; and Gamache because of his hiring experience as a former mayor of Andover.
The candidate interviews will not be open to the public because the subcommittee does not represent a quorum of the County Board, but the group’s recommendation for a new county administrator will still need approval from the full board at a regular meeting.
Look, who called the work session in an effort to come to an agreement on hiring a new administrator, said he still preferred an internal hiring process, not external, but he was no longer in favor of an open interview process involving all board members because eligible candidates might shy away from applying with a public interview.
“I want to encourage people to apply,” he said.
Schulte said he would support Look’s proposal because of the need to come up with a compromise. “The internal process makes sense,” he said.
Aside from that work-session consensus, a formal board meeting is set for today. Interested readers who cannot attend should await reporting of that meeting's resolution as a final decision on the issue.
_______________FURTHER UPDATE________________
Thrus. 4/11/2019: A before and after, per Sun Sentinel, of how an internal job search shall happen.
First, before. The item fleshes out the initial situation with facts not reported in earlier links, and Schulte surely seems Rhonda's very best friend; knowing best without input from "constituencies," etc.
After the meeting this past Tuesday, the process. Smart money bets that after all the sound and fury, Rhonda's got the paycheck in the bag. Bless Rhonda. If she's as great as Schulte would have you think. Some may doubt the judgment. Small pond.