Interim city manager Michael Long will soon face his first major challenges when it comes to his new management responsibilities at city hall. It falls to him to appoint a permanent fire chief as well as a leader for the Office of Planning and Economic Development, a department from which he once came. His actions, or possible non-action, will be a good indicator of how he perceives his post, both in the interim and, as he has made clear in a recent interview, permanently, should he be offered the post.

Since the early retirement of Fire Chief Michael Quill in June, Assistant Chief Terry Winslow has been “acting” chief. His provisional appointment was made on the premise that city council might be changing the way it operates its public safety operations. On Sept. 30, Winslow#'s “provisional” status lapses and it is unclear if the mayor and city council have made any headway at restructuring. While Winslow's “provisional” status could be extended, the interim manager does have the ability to make permanent the appointment, if he chooses.

Long is also faced with the departure, likely sometime this month, of Planning and Economic Development Director Stephen Lynch, who heads over to the county office building. With Lynch's departure, the department is really down two full-time people, the director and the capital improvement program director - Long.

While the planning director's position may be kept vacant for a time, especially since there is talk about combining some of the office's functions with the county, one has to ask if any and all vacancies at city hall will be kept either “provisional” and/or vacant in lieu of the naming of a permanent city manager or the a formal re-structuring of city hall management (ditto on this as well)?

Just as importantly, will Long be able to make these appointments on his own, using his own best judgment? Or will he have to kowtow to the wishes of the mayor and city council, who also have the power to offer him the manager's job permanently?

Since rightly putting in place a hiring freeze earlier this year to control finances, the mayor and city council have taken a much more active role in the hiring and promotion of city staff than may be good for Auburn over the long term.

According to a top management source at city hall, when the issue of making promotions at the Auburn Fire Department came up recently, the issue was discussed in executive session as “personnel.” The question is why? Hirings and promotions are the responsibility of the city manager. The mayor and city councilors should have confined themselves, in open session, to discussing whether hirings and promotions were needed - not who would get them - which smacks of the pre-reform days of city hall where such decisions where based not on merit, but political connections.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be e-mailed at cozguytho@aol.com