Greetings! 

 

Sometime ago we brought you the story of Mayor Putoff and the dawdling Council ... you may remember it.

Long ago and far away, in a small province, there was a little town that had a reluctant Mayor and a dawdling Council.

 

 

 Most of the key town staff in the little town had announced their plans to retire.  

 

  

 

So, it really came as no surprise when the CAO, the Treasurer, the Recreation Director and the Public Works Foreman (all "Baby Boomers") moved away to Pleasantville to put their feet up and enjoy the 'peaceful life' for the remainder of their days; everyone, that is, except Mr. Notsofast, the town dogcatcher.

 

 

Not long after our last report, the Mayor and Council approached Notsofast about becoming the new Town Manager. It just seemed easier and less expensive (who knew) to hire someone who was already there ... and anyway he could learn to be the CAO on the job because to them the job looked so easy they said even a dogcatcher could do it! "It's not complicated" said Mayor Putoff, "he can still keep his job as dog catcher".

 

 

Today we are going to look back in on the little town to see how things are going.

 

 

"You could say that things aren't all that bad ... if you wanted to," squawked town secretary, Mrs. Knowseverybody, "but you'd be lying. Since Notsofast became CAO and he began doing things his way, services in town have slipped a notch or two. Okay, maybe even three.

 

"The new CAO pretty well hired his whole family to fill other vacancies. He believed sincerely they could all learn on the job because, after all, if a dogcatcher could be the CAO, a bus driver could most certainly handle the roads, and a former bookkeeper could figure out the taxes, It only followed that any idiot could line the soccer fields.

 

"Notsofast's idea of appeasing disgruntled rate payers by offering them a dog biscuit - which might work if the complainant had a dog - isn't working all that well. Another thing, Notsofast has developed a nasty habit of chasing people when he wants to speak with them ... an ability that was surely very useful when tracking down stray dogs, but one that most of the citizens find rather disconcerting."

 

Mrs. Knowseverybody continued, "It looks rather odd when you see someone go tearing by town hall ... then, moments later, here comes Notsofast chugging along in hot pursuit, invariably yelling at his intended victim between breaths, "Stop I only want to speak with you." When he does come inside, he works as hard as a dogcatcher can, doing reports, scratching town staff behind the ear (he's a motivator he says) and organizing the work of the municipality. One thing you can say about our little town is, it sure doesn't have a stray dog problem!

 

"Everybody in town is wondering what the mayor and council could have been thinking the day they decided to hand the badge of office over to Notsofast. But, as they said at the time, and still insist on to this day, 'Who else was available?'

 

"Now, after he's been on the job just over a year, things aren't good. There are potholes everywhere, the taxes aren't being collected and some idiot forgot to line the soccer field ... town staff totally lacks direction.

 

"Just recently, several members of the town's new Council have suggested a call to Ravenhill Group Inc. Ravenhill is a search company that specializes in municipal government searches. In fact, that's all they do from coast to coast! It has even been suggested that Ravenhill will provide a temporary CAO while they perform the search. If everyone agrees that Notsofast should just go back to being the dogcatcher ... an idea I might add that Notsofast supports whole-heartedly, then perhaps things could get back to normal."

 

There are 1000 Baby Boomers turning 65 every day in Canada - that's 30,000 a month and it will continue like that for the next 18 years! If, like the Little Town, your municipality is starting to lose its talent and brains to retirement ... don't make the mistake of hiring the best available person. Call Ravenhill Group! We will find the right person for the job - guaranteed!

 

How many of your staff have already purchased retirement property in Pleasantville, where they will put their feet up and enjoy 'the peaceful life' for the remainder of their days?