Jennifer Bramley and Susan Grant, two deputy city managers who have been with our city for more than 15 years, make it to the final 4 candidates out of 46 for the position of City Manager. Instead of going with who you know, and superior qualifications, the city commissioners, 4 out of 5, all males, went to a man even though he has only 3 years experience as a Assistant City Manager ( only 3!!!!) , never worked for our city, never lived here, and had inferior qualifications .
Maybe it was because there was no swimsuit contest. Maybe it is because male chauvinistic attitudes still exist, and the Male commissioners simply could not have a Female City Manager telling them what to do. Shortsighted or no balls?
When Erdal Donmez decided to announce that he was retiring as city manager a few months ago, the first thought that came to mind is which of the two qualified deputy city managers will be getting his job. Was it going to be Jennifer Bramley or Susan Grant? Both have been ‘groomed’ by two different city managers. Both are current employees of the city and both are well aware of running this city efficiently and with proper focus. Both have great experience. They in fact made Erdal look good. Even he will say it. They were always on target and always representing the city in a positive way. The City Manager even made them ‘Deputies’. Not just assistants. Either Susan or Jennifer would make a great City Manager.
However, both are women. This city commission did not want a woman in charge. So they went outside into the world and hired a man from Texas, who has less qualifications but met their one criteria; Balls. He had a set of Balls. He was a man.
More than 50% of the city residents are female, yet we have only one city commissioner that is a female. Less than 12 percent of this country has a mayor that is a woman. There are less than 18% of the City Managers in this country that are woman. Far be it that our city commission would even think about putting a woman in charge as a city manager. How would that look? Certainly women have other positions that they would be best suited for. Like Deputy City Manager. The city commission wanted a man. This city commission had no balls to go with a woman – since most city managers around the country are men – There is an equality gap. However in our city, there should not be one.
I really do not know why Jennifer and Susan were not called Assistant City Manager instead of Deputy City Managers. Assistant is like ‘ Secretary’…as in here is my Assistant. Yep….Assistant city manager no problem. Deputy city manager is something more manly so to speak. Deputy Barney Fife for instance. The Deputy – should be higher in status than ‘Assistant’ don’t you think? Maybe a woman can be deputy however, but City Manager …. City Manager needs a set of balls.
Interesting how Commissioner Dan Daley, a man, wants to take this city in a different direction:
“I want somebody hungry who wants to make a name for himself.” he was quoted as saying to a woman reporter in the SunSentinel article by Lisa Huriash.
HUNGRY? HIMSELF?
Hungry, implies a male dominance as in he was Hungry for a job, or he hungered for revenge…. He is not hungry enough. He hungered for a good meal prepared by a woman. Then Himself, as in not HERSELF or THEMSELVES? Perhaps in a Trumpistic ( editor’s note to Howard: Is that a real word or did you make it up. I can’t find it on spell check ) society where males no longer have to worry about political correctness or any respect for the females that are a majority of our population, the new direction that Dan the Man wants to take us to is to not hire a competent city manager, male or female, but rather someone, with balls, who is going to use our city as a stepping stone to something greater….like city commissioner… as he did. ( Editor’s note: Wasn’t Dan was the only one that spoke to the reporter. The mayor was smart enough not to say a word, and Vince was busy. ). What direction might that be? Perhaps 50 years ago when Women knew their place in our Male world. They weren’t promoted back then…and certainly not now. They don’t need to make a name for themselves and they do not hunger….as Men do. ( I am being sarcastic).
(Editors note to Howard: make sure before you publish this article you remove the balls since it may be offending many people in this city. BaseBALLS is ok. This city lacks Baseballs or meatballs…no meat balls my indicate male….. chicken balls…no we are not talking about various members of the city commission….NO don’t use the word MEMBERS of the city commission either as Members might imply something else, and you don’t want to stick it in their face…Stick…no I don’t think think that males would understand that. Maybe just write ‘B _ l ls’ or say that the City Commission lack the fortitude of thinking about the future of the city and removing their male chauvinist bias and go with one of two well suited employees of the city. Good….go with that. Don’t even mention that the two competent employees are females – since it is obvious that females do not have balls….if they did they would no doubt be city managers . )
Apparently, Mike Goodrim ( Editor’s note to Howard….make sure to check the spelling) was chosen from over 50 people and the person that won out was Texas A&M graduate from Sugarland Texas. Roll that city name around your tongue a few times if you will…S U G A R L A N D Texas. Sounds like a place where they had a plantation – Pretty stupid considering that the City of Coral Springs has a 20% black population. They do have a .17% Jewish Population compared to our 23%. I am sure Mike will ‘catch up’ and fully understand the needs of the Jews.
The SunSentinel article did not ask Dan Daley why they passed over two female deputy city managers – and no reason was given by Dan Daley…a male…as to why he did not even consider hiring a woman. How many woman were considered? Did you need to have balls to get this job?
Dan is not the only one that had decided this. 3 out of the 4 males certainly had agreed to it. Mayor Campbell? The right honorable Vince ‘ the man’ Vignola? No doubt Lou voted for the man as it would be unethical to vote against Dan and Vince-Men need to be united against those evil forces of feminism. Commissioner Joy Carter voted against the male choice as both female candidates where better qualified. She was manhandled into saying yes only to show unity of the commission. Another Female mishandled and pushed around by our city commissioners!
Who did they hire? Mike Goodrum, (Editor’s note to Howard: this is how you spell it. Goodrum…. Make sure you change Goodrim to Goodrum in the paragraph earlier before you publish this article. Some people may be offended. ) a #3 assistant city manager currently working in Sugarland Texas, a city with half our population, a staff of 500 less than ours and a smaller police force. They do have an airport. Mike Goodrum is the last assistant manager of a team of 3 – All men. In Sugarland, they make sure to have a MAN as assistants. He is a Man. He started with the city as an INTERN ( Editor’s Note to Howard : which means he was in school at the time).
(( 04/26/17 – Doing some additional research on Goodrum, I found that he was only promoted to Assistant City Manager in February of 2014.
With only 3 years of experience as an assistant ( 3rd assistant) to the city manager in Sugarland, he is now given the top job here in Coral Springs with a $200,000+ Salary and the keys to the vault! How stupid can our city commissioners be? ))
To be fair, I am really not sure what criteria they used to decide that this guy was the best choice. I never met him and have no malice towards him. However, I am fearful of this new direction that the city commissioners want to take us. I only know that how stupid can the city commissioners be to not choose from the 2 candidates with great experience who made it past 46 other candidates that are already working for us??
The old direction was bad enough…and the new old direction was terrible. So which direction are we now to head? Definitely not in the right direction.
There is no question in my mind that the best choice for this city would have been to hire either Susan Grant or Jennifer Bramley. Here are their qualifications:
Jennifer Bramley
Jennifer Bramley, a Woman, joined the City of Coral Springs in August 1990 as an Assistant Planner. She worked progressively more responsible positions in the Community Development Department from Assistant Planner to Chief Planner. During those years, Jennifer was instrumental in the development the Slice of the Springs meetings, the Development of Regional Impact for Downtown Coral Springs, the Community Redevelopment Agency and special projects, such as Public Art and traffic management. She was pleased to contribute to the City’s efforts to win the Governor’s Sterling Award for quality and organizational excellence in 1997 and 2003.
In 2007, Jennifer joined the City of Tamarac as Director of Community Development where she was responsible for five divisions, consisting of Code Compliance, Planning and Zoning, Housing and Neighborhoods, Economic Development and Business Revenue. Jennifer returned to the City of Coral Springs as Deputy City Manager in August 2013.
Jennifer holds a Bachelors of Art in Political Science from Florida Atlantic University. She completed the University of Virginia Darden School of Business Leadership Development course in 2007, and the FIU Academy of Strategic Management in 1998. She is also a member of the American Planning Association.
Wow. A woman that actually has great experience, who joined this city with a real job : Assistant Planner. FAU graduate ( FAU is 10 miles NW of Coral Springs…. Texas A&M is somewhere in Texas).
However, she has one strike against her. She is a woman.
Susan Grant
Susan Grant, a woman and a Certified Public Accountant, joined the City of Coral Springs in March 1991 as City Controller. In 1993, she became the Director of Human Resources, where she was responsible for recruitment and selection, policy formation and interpretation, training and development, classification and compensation, rewards and recognition, employee relations (including labor negotiations), and pension and benefits administration. Susan was also instrumental in the City receiving the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award as the lead application writer on the senior management team, as was also a Baldrige examiner. In April 2010, she also took on the City’s financial responsibilities when she became the Director of Financial Services.
Prior to working for the City of Coral Springs, Susan was the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Ambassador Savings and Loan Association from 1987 to 1991. There, she supervised and directed the accounting, financial reporting and treasury functions of this $250 million financial institution.
Susan holds a Bachelors of Science in Accounting from the University of Florida.
However , poor Susan has a strike against her. She is a Woman. Certainly in all the time she had developing her career should could have done something about that.
Susan and Jennifer are definitely two quality individuals that could do an outstanding job as city manager for our city.
( Editor’s note to Howard: Did you notice that Mike , the new city manager, was still in elementary school at the time Jennifer and Susan began working in Coral Springs, working his way up to Intern in 1999? Why don’t you state the both Women have more experience than the man.Never mind….that is too obvious .)
A further slap in the face to Women
It was bad enough that they did not consider Jennifer and Susan for the position of city manager, that they went out of their way to slap them both in the face. When Erdal the current city manager leaves at the end of April, the City Commissioners decided to put the the Chief of Police as the Temporary City Manager – Even though he has no experience at running a city! However, he is a man. I know….. They must have had a hard time choosing between Jennifer and Susan, two extremely competent individuals who already know how to manage this city. Deputy City Managers require a Police Chief who know how to handle deputies. Certainly we can’t have any woman running our city.
Every man in the city commission can tell you that no woman should ever be a city manager. Look around the country. So few of them. They are not hungry enough. They do not know how to make a name for themselves. So why should we be any different ?
Why not protest this decision? You can Tweet Dan Daley or Vince Vignola. You can also email them at the following link :
http://coralsprings.org/government/contact-us
Let them know that you don’t need balls to be a city manager. ( Editor’s Note to Howard: Isn’t that obvious? )
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