For more than four years the Town of Cave Creek has struggled through a period with virtually no management. None. The Town Councils that created this rudderless tragedy seated two town managers whose incompetence was exceeded only by their indifference, and to add further insult to Town residents, the Council not only kept one of them but actually increased his salary. Even the most casual observer of the Town’s operations during this period could see that the issues that should have been resolved in the normal course of events went to the Council that was never, and should never, have been required to try to resolve such issues. This, of course, resulted in the mess we see today.
Not even today’s Town Council that has been so foolishly tolerant of the current situation could stand to continue the status quo and finally voted to replace the Town Manager (except the Mayor and Vice Mayor who seem to have thoroughly educated themselves to mediocrity). Cave Creek now has the opportunity to move past this sordid chapter of its history and I understand that it has some excellent applicants for the Town Manager position.
My vote goes to Ian Cordwell. He is exceptionally well qualified because:
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He is a Cave Creek resident who has lived here forever – or so it seems.
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He has served the Town for some 20 years, 17 of which were as Zoning Administrator and Director of the Planning Department.
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He has had the unique and invaluable experience of serving as a major Department Head under, and learning from, the best (Abujbarah) and worst (Glassman & Jankowski) Town Managers Cave Creek has ever had.
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He will have no learning curve as he is intimately familiar with the Town, its issues, policies, personnel and politics.
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He is well known and popular in the Town and respected by his colleagues on the Town staff.
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He successfully managed many of the most difficult issues in the Town for years.
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He has the background, experience, judgment, management acumen and temperament to excel as Cave Creek’s Town Manager.
My final suggestion is that the Mayor and Vice Mayor remove themselves from the selection process due to their alarming lack of judgment on personnel issues. This selection is just too important to leave the door open to the kind of ludicrous personnel decisions that have left Cave Creek where it is today.
Bob Williams
Cave Creek
