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It was surprising when the city of Fairmont called a special meeting to discuss the hiring of a liquor store manager. The city council in recent years has had special meetings to discuss the hiring of a city administrator, which makes sense, given the importance of the role and the fact that the city administrator, along with the city attorney, are the only two positions the council oversees.
I'm not saying the liquor store manager role isn't important, but the city is currently looking for a full-time lineman and it's also been looking for a community development director for the past year, yet there hasn't been a special meeting solely to discuss the hiring process for those roles.
So why was this one any different? From what I can tell, it's because when information about who was hired for the role-- and who wasn't-- got out to some members of the public, and they didn't like it, a slight uproar broke out and councilors Randy Lubenow and Britney Kawecki felt like it warranted a special meeting.
Last time I checked, members of the public don't get an outright say in who is hired for a city position, unless it's an elected position. For that matter, other employees don't get a say, either.
Only a select few would have sat in on the interview process and I trust they went with the best applicant and that there were reasons why they were chosen above others. It's as simple as that.
Now though, it seems that the person who was chosen has since withdrawn, as councilor Jay Maynard said, after being confronted by a massive pressure campaign on social media. Now that's unfortunate, but sadly, it's not the first time someone has withdrawn after being selected for a city position after criticism online emerged.
I think some members of the public need to consider whether what they're doing is really helping the city at all. We had someone who was qualified and willing to work here and it appears they've been chased away.
Does it really come down to the fact that they live outside of Fairmont? Lubenow said in the meeting that that's what he had heard. I don't know anymore beyond that and I'm not sure how others in the community seem to know this information or why they care so much.
If that really is the sticking point though, has it not been considered all of the other people in city positions, or county positions that live outside of Fairmont or Martin County? In fact, there are people in many prominent roles (doctors, teachers, executives) in the city and county who live outside of the area. I'm not going to name any here because I don't think that should be the end-all be-all indicator of whether or not they can do the job well.
Sure, we want people to live here and pay property taxes and shop here, send their kids to school here, etc. But we also want a job done well and I don't think the city is in the position to turn qualified people away.
But again, it wasn't the city here who did this, but seemingly members of the public who think they should have a say in who gets hired. That's just not how it works, nor how it should.
The city and the council have bigger things to work on than getting together for a special 20 minute meeting where not much can be discussed publicly anyway due to protections under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, as the city attorney said.
If citizens want to get involved in city matters, great, come to the city council meetings, attend the open houses looking for feedback on projects like the downtown improvements, show up at the truth in taxation meeting to ask about proposed spending and tax changes. I'd suggest though leaving the hiring to the staff who sit in on the interviews and who have the information and insight into who is the best fit for the job. Not only is it not okay to bully someone into a job, it's really tasteless, too.