An apparent breakthrough in the selection of Burlington’s next city manager proved to be something of a false alarm on the part of the city’s elected leaders.
On Monday afternoon, Burlington’s city council convened a special-called meeting that, from all indications, seemed like it would end months of speculation about the successor to Burlington’s outgoing city manager Craig Honeycutt.
Yet, instead of revealing the name of the next city manager, the council’s members wrapped up their special-called meeting with the rather anticlimactic news that an actual announcement would come during their next regularly-scheduled meeting on October 7.
In spite of Monday’s inaction, the city’s leaders have come rather far in their deliberations since Honeycutt announced his impending retirement at the end of July.
Just this past week, the five-member council went into closed session twice to discuss its impending appointment. This deliberative marathon began last Monday night when the council spent roughly two hours behind closed doors to discuss the city manager’s selection as well as an unrelated economic development matter. Then, on Tuesday, its members remained in closed session for more than four hours to mull their options for the successor to Honeycutt, who plans to step down from his post on December 31.
Monday’s special called meeting appeared, at first blush, to be the culmination of last week’s extended closed-door conversations about the next city manager.
According to a meeting notice that the city put out on Friday, Monday’s proceedings would begin at 1:30 p.m. with a closed session “to review and discuss prospective Burlington city manager candidates.” Its members were then expected to return to open session in order “to take action on the city manager appointment.”
As if to underscore the purported significance of this council “action,” the city’s administrators had ordered all of the city’s department heads to be present for Monday’s special-called meeting.
Much as anticipated, the council began that afternoon’s proceedings with a closed-door conversation, which lasted the better part of 40 minutes. But once the council emerged from its conclave, Burlington’s mayor Jim Butler launched into a short statement that proved more of a teaser than a ground-breaking reveal.
“I do appreciate council how deliberate they’ve been and how much thought they’ve put into it,” he said at the time, “the plans are to expect an announcement at the council meeting on October 7.”
Absent from Monday’s special called meeting was councilman Ronnie Wall.
