Looks like my Oct 10th rumor rumblings were true – Gary Cox ‘resigned’ back on October 1st. I find it very weird that this is just NOW being reported on November 5th – and it is jammed at the end of an article about a butterfly park on page 8 as an afterthought – hidden from view of most people.
When the Number Two guy in City government abruptly resigns to “be closer to his son in the Houston area” (yeah, right), that is what I call “newsworthy” – apparently Spinley doesn’t think so. Nor do The Seven Goldfish, who only discussed this in ‘executive session’ away from the prying eyes of the pesky public (which is also why I never saw this appear in the Council minutes, which I watch like a hawk).
Also telling is the fact that Spinley had none of his usual feel-good b.s. spin like “Gary did a fantastic job and we wish him well” or something like that. Nope -Spinley had no comment at all, which makes me suspect the OTHER part of the rumor (that Cox was shown the door and allowed to ‘resign’ gracefully and that there was quite a bit of yelling involved) was also true.
You’ll recall, Misti Talbert was one of the HUGE proponents of creating this “Assistant City Manager” position a couple years ago. They received over FIFTY resumes – possibly because the pay and benefits were worth about $120,000. I have always maintained the position is not needed and the only reason Spinley needs help is because Spinley wastes a LOT of time on foolish projects like the $1.5 million Fishbowl.
If I may make a suggestion to The Seven Goldfish? How about NOT filling this position at all. After all, now that the Spinley is all done spinning his wheels (see what I did there?) on the Old City Hall $1.5 million Fishbowl Debacle, he should have LOTS more free time to do his REAL job, which is making sure the boring stuff like water and electricity and roads are in working order.
Also, by NOT filling this position, the city will have an extra $120,000 every year to waste on stupid stuff like an overpriced A/V system or a survey on SurveyMonkey.com.
Oh, and Gary? My inbox is always open!