It was predictable as a summer heatwave and the accompanying humidity, as a late day thunderstorm in July or August. And sadly, here in East Providence, it was inevitable. It was really only a matter of time before there was friction and therefore a fracture in the relationship between the city council and the city manager.
It happened last Friday afternoon, July 29, when an agenda for a special session of the council was posted at the secretary of state's website. The meeting didn't take place, though doesn't mean it won't. Still, the docket read in plain english, the East Providence City Council was planning a vote to oust City Manager Richard Kirby from his position less than a year after hiring him for the job.
Sure, the agenda outlined the council's perceived case against Mr. Kirby, but cutting to the chase the reason for his planned termination is the manner in which he fired embattled City Human Resources Director Kathleen Waterbury. Should she have been canned? The actual case for her dismissal has never been made public. What we do know is Ms. Waterbury sued and a Federal Court judge agreed she wasn't given due process. Mr. Kirby, in turn, dug in his heels and she remains on the sidelines with pay.
Regardless of the basis for the council's displeasure with the manager, let's all understand this…it's about power, political and actual. The very people who pushed for Mr. Kirby's hire, both elected officials and those who seek to wield influence from the periphery, are now the ones who want him gone. It's that's simple. Mr. Kirby was expected to play ball, but didn't.
Was the manager wrong in firing Ms. Waterbury? We don't know that yet. Did he screw up big time in the way in which he went about it? Of course. Unfortunately, however, that's par for the course when it comes to many of East Providence's top administrators. Everything in the city, really, is inherently political even if the city charter states it isn't in writing or alludes to it in statute.
Once more, though, it's not the folks directly involved who are affected the most. They'll get their money eventually and move on. No, it's the residents of East Providence who yet again are sullied by the stain of incompetence and hubris. Our city, as it all to often has been, is looked upon as a joke, but it's not funny, not to those of us who live here.
This latest fiasco makes even the poorly proposed, poorly conceived and likely poorly written ballot referendum item for a change to a strong mayor form of government seem palatable. At least in that case we'll know exactly the politician in charge is really playing politics, not the farce of a situation we have now.