Councilman Lindemann suggests CAO position be eliminated

In the council comments of the city council meeting, Councilman Weston Lindemann is once again raising concerns against Mayor Percy Bland and Chief Administrative Officer Richie McAlister. Lindemann claims the mayor is refusing to answer questions brought to him about virtually any issue and that he simply diverts any and all questions and issues to CAO McAlister. Mayor Bland says this is simply not true and that the CAO has played a crucial role in moving the city forward the past five years that he has been in his position.

“People familiar with city hall know that it’s mostly the CAO doing everything, as far as the day-to-day operations go. If we remove the position of CAO, something that the council created a long time ago, that forces the mayor to step up to the plate, do the job he was elected to do, and if these problems continue after some period of time, then we know that the issue was never just the CAO, but also the mayor.” -Lindemann

“A lot of the work that we’re doing currently is work that he’s had his hands all involved in. I think Mr. Lindemann is very political in our council meetings. He has not communicated to me nor to Mr. McAlister one time in the almost two years he’s been in office anything that is going on directly in his ward. He continues to want to play the role of Executive, and if he wants to be the mayor, he has his opportunity to run and campaign to be the mayor.” -Mayor Bland

There has been no further comment on the matter from other city council members.