The City of Indianola is on the verge of losing two very important employees.
In mid May, we learned that Police Chief Edrick Hall had been chosen to fill the position of assistant chief in Columbus.
When Hall and Mayor Steve Rosenthal confirmed this news, it was clear to The Enterprise-Tocsin that Hall was dissatisfied with the lack of unification among city leaders, as well as other issues concerning the city fathers and his department.
The community was very outspoken when it came to its support for Hall. As we noted in previous articles and columns, Hall has definitely won over individuals and business owners within the community.
There is also better morale within his department.
Hopefully, the positive comments received by Hall in the wake of this announcement, and an eleventh hour effort by Rosenthal to keep him, will change his mind.
This week we learned that interim City Clerk Charlotte Kilgore submitted her resignation to Rosenthal.
While Kilgore says she is opting for a well-earned retirement, I believe she would have preferred to stay on with the city as the full time city clerk.
Otherwise, she would not have allowed Rosenthal to recommend her for that position on three separate occasions - twice with the previous board and once with the current.
The first time she was recommended under the current group, the city opted to advertise the position.
Fair enough.
But this too led to zero action by the board of aldermen, and with the city having no other qualified candidate to interview, Kilgore said, “that is enough.”
I cannot imagine the frustration on Kilgore’s part, and now the city is left to scramble to figure out how to perform the dozens of duties it has taken for granted for many years.
That includes payroll.
Rosenthal has proposed divvying out these duties to his board.
I think that is a good idea.
If the board’s ability to cut checks for city workers reflects in any way its ability to hire a full time city clerk, there are probably going to be a lot of angry unpaid employees at the end of the summer.
This board obviously is willing to ignore the scarcity of qualified labor in this region and is willing to let well-qualified people slip away.
It would be one thing if Hall and Kilgore were victims of normal small town politics and were being pushed away so that other people could fill those positions, but no such candidates seem to be there.
It appears this board is just irresponsible.
They are on the verge of losing two good public servants due to inaction and stubbornness.
The only question is, how many more will follow?
