Our View: Time for leadership

Ever since the retirement in March 2001 of much-liked Sarasota City Manager David Sollenberger — liked by taxpayers, city commissioners and city staff members alike, City Hall has hobbled along, a man with an iron leg — tentatively, unable to walk with a strong, steady, optimistic stride.

Tumultuous might be a more apt word for the decade that has passed under Sollenberger’s successors, first Mike McNees and now Robert Bartolotta. Proverbial square pegs in round holes, neither of them ever able to appear as though they fit like comfortable shoes and a part of the Sarasota culture.

It’s a difficult culture to maneuver, mind you, with its myopic factions, cranky coots and listless leadership. So it’s not all the fault of the two managers. Like most life-long municipal government managers, McNees and Bartolotta have their technical attributes — both good with the numbers and budgets. But in those skills that are often connected to character and personality — leadership, communication skills, personal effectiveness — neither of them ever developed that fan club that raved about them as a strong leader who was liked and respected.

There’s that old saying, of course, about good managers and leaders. They’re not supposed to be everyone’s friend; they must be able to make tough, unpopular decisions. But somehow the good ones earn the respect of their colleagues to the point their colleagues would jump off a cliff for them and their enemies respect their principled character.

Sarasota city commissioners ultimately forced out McNees when, after a series of events and miscues, former Mayor Lou Ann Palmer rated him “below expectations” for his leadership, communication, management, personal effectiveness, customer focus and team approach. Talk about a loss of confidence.

And now we see Bartolotta shrouded in a similar cloud, a thickening fog of commissioners and taxpayers becoming increasingly dismayed with all of City Hall. Taxpayers don’t want to try and convict him without due process. But at the same time, we can all see it: There’s a pall hanging over all of City Hall, and it is creating an atmosphere of darkening uncertainty. We all look to the daily headlines to see what next piece of bad news surfaces.

This is no way to operate. This is déjà vu. Remember Police Chief Peter Abbott?

Now put yourself in Mayor Suzanne Atwell’s shoes. The business of the city is becoming overshadowed by the daily buzzing over what its city manager did or did not do. This consumes conversations and time. City staffers — caught in the crossfire between Bartolotta and his antagonist, City Auditor and Clerk Pamela Nadalini — operate tentatively. To try to act as if everything is normal is simply that — an act.

At the same time, law-enforcement investigators are prowling City Hall looking for truth and dirt. This is disruptive.

And it’s going to go on for six to nine more months. What will be the adverse effects and damage on the city if this pall hangs over City Hall for six to nine more months?

Think further ahead. What is the likely outcome if it turns out Bartolotta is vindicated, that he didn’t do anything wrong, or at least not so wrong to be fired? Will the atmosphere in City Hall and confidence in city leadership suddenly become sunshine and happiness? Will the relationship between Bartolotta and Nadalini be reconciled to create an atmosphere of teamwork and cohesion?

We know Commissioners Paul Caragiulo and Shannon Snyder for the next six to nine months still will won’t be fans of Bartolotta. And even if he is vindicated, it’s not likely they will become Bartolotta fans. That kind of tension between commissioners and city managers is normal and can be minimized, but it doesn’t help the overall culture at City Hall.

If you were mayor, what would you do?

This is a test of leadership for Atwell. And it is a test of character for Bartolotta.

Though Atwell is only a figurehead mayor and has no more power than her fellow commissioners, as “chairman of the board” she can set the tone and take initiative. She needs to take the temperature of her internal and external “customers,” city staffers and taxpayers and citizens of Sarasota. And she needs to analyze Bartolotta — where his head is and whether he has what it takes to be the city’s CEO.

Bartolotta must do likewise — examine whether the city of Sarasota will ever be the right fit for him and whether he has the personality, character and inner strength to do what is necessary to win the confidence and respect of the city’s employees, his adversaries, taxpayers and his immediate bosses, the commissioners. Bartolotta technically must please only his board of directors, the commissioners, but if the city — the greater organization — is to move forward, upward and succeed, he ultimately must win the confidence of many more.

Atwell and Bartolotta need to meet for a long discussion. Should he stay, or should he go? They should not wait for the end of the investigations. They need to act and act decisively. They need to show leadership.