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Once in awhile, not often, City Manager Jerry Fulwood fights back, as he did last night in Council Chambers. Good for him. Good for those of us who have observed his work the last five years, albeit not uncritically.
As Mr. Fulwood’s lone journalistic critic, I have come to appreciate his authentic smiling responses after his work has been faulted.
He is more courtly, more gentlemanly after a critical piece appears than he is after a laudatory story.
Mr. Fulwood, soft and seldom spoken, is the class of City Hall.
How could he get into trouble? As a habit, he is as circumspect, as utterly conservative, with his answers in interviews as a man balancing himself on a tightrope between the Twin Towers in Manhattan in the 1970s.
I am certain that in the privacy of his office in City Hall, he has periodically lost his temper.
But when he is out front, in Council Chambers, representing the city, and certain members have acted almost genetically disposed toward whacking the City Manager, he merely has stared back at them, stoically, when you know that a furnace must be roaring inside of him.
Class Distinction
A less classy gentleman would allow his seething feelings to peek out because it is natural.
How humiliating must it be, Monday after Monday, to sit in the chair of the chief executive of the city and hear a part-time elected official — with decades less experience and expertise — spank you, publicly, for performing below his expectations?
Some — heaven forbid, not I — would say it is getting a little gray out there. Steve Rose, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce and two-term former Councilman, is celebrating his 62nd birthday this afternoon.
Almost in tandem, Mr. Fulwood catches up with him two days after Labor Day.
I point this up to illustrate that the City Manager has been playing in this glasshouse sandbox a long time, since even before He Who Is Without Sin realized he was Messiah Sr.
Never Let Your Guard Drop
But when you are destined to be constantly on trial, there is no rest.
With the departure of Councilperson Carol Gross last April, Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger eagerly stepped in as Mr. Fulwood’s new chief critic.
In the early weeks after Mr. Fulwood was hired, I thought he was a bass drum in real life, and that it was the legal obligation of one Council member every week to tattoo the drum until we were forced to cover both ears and shout “Enough.”
Repeatedly this summer, Mr. Silbiger has strongly criticized Mr. Fulwood for approving agendas that were unacceptably lean since numerous prickly issues lie unresolved, even unaddressed, week after week.
Early to Bed, Early to Rise?
When meetings end barely into the 9 o’clock hour, after being in session for two hours, the ice Mayor scolds the City Manager.
Upon checking, the debate over who is right turns out not to be clear-cut. My conclusion is that a preponderance of evidence seems to favor Mr. Fulwood because he is deploying a small staff with many duties..
However, let us assume Mr. Silbiger is correct.
Wouldn’t his critique be more effective of it were discreetly dispensed, away from prying eyes, instead of when the City Manager is at his most vulnerable, on view before the whole community?
The judgment of the audience, both in Chambers and at home watching on television, probably depends on their opinion of the sometimes-controversial Vice Mayor and the rarely controversial City Manager. Facts be darned. How can they know who is right?
Meanwhile, the jousting works:
Mr. Fulwood takes a shot on the chin from the Vice Mayor, which is likely to damage the prestige of the City Manager without affecting the agendas one drop.
The scenario differed slightly at last night’s City Council meeting. Mr. Silbiger complained there were errors in the agenda. How could this be? he wanted to know.
A New Strategy?
Eschewing swallowing and disappearing for a change, Mr. Fulwood, calmly, as usual, explained that Mr. Silbiger previously had been informed that the City Clerk’s office was short-staffed last week, and that the errors had been caught and corrected a wee bit later than desirable.
If the Vice Mayor indeed knew the circumstances, what possibly could have been his purpose in re-introducing the matter when everyone was watching?
Surely, the reason could not have been the most obvious one.
