The Mysterious Matter of the Management of the Manager

This week's stunning news that City Manager Laurie Lile is suddenly retiring raises many questions about the state of City Hall.  While Lile has put a palatable aura on the news, underneath lies one of two very simple facts:  Either the City Council recklessly hired someone who was mere months from hanging it up, or something about the relationship between Lile and the Council was so toxic that she elected to end her career rather than hang around a few years longer -- not even long enough to find another city manager position.

It is nearly impossible to think that Lile simply retired because, after a mere 18 months in the big job, she's suddenly done with municipal government work. That requires Monrovians to believe that she made this life altering decision in just a few months, and did not foresee it when she applied for the Monrovia job so recently ago.  Don’t most people know roughly when they will retire?  Especially if they make major life and career decisions as they approach that window of life?

Moreover, you must believe she did this having no problem forcing the city to go through the challenging and expensive process of selecting a City Manager all over again, from scratch in less than two years.  Any fair senior executive with a sense of justice would say “I want to retire, but I owe the taxpayers at least three years given what they’ve invested in me.” Not doing so is a blatant bridge-burner and the kind of thing that will prevent her from getting another city management job -- but that hardly matters if in fact she simply (if callously) retired.

Believing the “official” story also requires us to believe that after many years in the High Desert, she pulled up stakes, bought a house in Monrovia in a topsy-turvy economy, then suddenly decided to move again a few months later. 

The only benefit to such a callous course of action is a nice boost to her PERS retirement, when she eventually collects it.  But it’s hard to believe she would end her otherwise stellar career so suddenly and strangely for a few extra dollars.

However, if this story is true -- if our City’s senior executive really did punch out after barely getting known in the community -- there are serious questions to be asked about the City Council’s hiring process. 

Did anyone ask Ms. Lile “how long do you expect to stay with us?”  In almost every job interview I’ve been in – whether as the hirer or applicant – career intentions and goals have been a primary topic.  Surely the Council didn’t hire someone who stated her intent to retire in less than 18 months. Uh, right?  

Did the executive search firm that led the council to Lile do any kind of due diligence on the candidates’ career intentions?  Just as Councilman Alex Blackburn demanded the City seek recoupment for monies paid on the undelivered City web site, one should hope a similar refund will be sought for a poor executive search.

Which is to say, the idea that the idea Lile actually merely retired is unlikely at best.

This leaves us with the other possibility:  Something about Monrovia City Hall was so intolerable that Lile feels it better to leave immediately.  Was there some sort of impropriety swept under the rug with a quick (if ungraceful) retirement?  Was the condition of the City misrepresented to her in the hiring process, making her feel hopeless?  Was the council-mayor-manager relationship so volatile behind closed doors (in public it seemed pleasant enough) that she felt the atmosphere unbearable after such a short stint?  Did the council have buyers’ remorse, and nudge her out?

I’ve received whispers regarding one particular set of alleged facts, but little corroboration. The truth may out eventually.  Until then, the people of Monrovia are left with a management mystery – and a plainly unbelievable story on which to base our judgments. Which is to say, we’re obviously not being told the truth.