Acknowledging that it’s not easy to run the borough as more projects are added to the borough manager’s work list, the assembly has decided it may be time to add a deputy manager at city hall.
The assembly at a workshop Aug. 11 directed Manager Lisa Von Bargen to start toward creating the new position, though final approval will be up to the assembly.
“This has been in discussion for well over, I believe, three years,” Mayor Steve Prysunka said. “I’m just going to generally state that this position, at least my understanding, is not necessarily an assistant to the city manager in the classic sense. … This is an assistant manager who would carry their own platform and portfolio of work, and work independently at a much higher level than a traditional assistant.”
Assemblymember Patty Gilbert said consideration of the new position came up again during their recent evaluation of the borough manager. The assembly wants to try and create the new position, she said, as more and more projects get added to the city’s plate.
“Lisa never asked for this, this is what we said three years ago we wanted,” Prysunka said. And though Von Bargen had previously voiced reservations about the idea, the assembly still wants to move forward, the mayor said.
“You absolutely are accurate that I have had concerns about this,” Von Bargen told the assembly. “That being said, there are a number of things that could get done far more efficiently if there was someone tasked with doing them.”
There was some discussion among assembly members how the position would work, whether the deputy manager would report to Von Bargen or work fully independently of her. It could cause some confusion, she said as an example, if somebody came to her with a request but could then go around her to the deputy manager if they did not like the manager’s answer.
“I would be entirely uncomfortable and would not function in a situation where you brought in somebody to be a peer of mine,” Von Bargen said. “The buck stops with one person and that person is me.”
Von Bargen suggested the deputy manager could be in a position higher up than city department heads, but still report to her.
Though no formal decision was made in the workshop, Prysunksa said the manager had assembly direction to start moving forward with creating the new position.
Von Bargen said she would open up the position to in-house hiring first, to which assembly members gave their general approval.
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