Several years ago, Cara Pavlicek lost her job as village manager of west suburban Downers Grove as the result of a political split on the village board. It happens. It happened here in Oak Park nearly a year ago, though it played out a bit differently. Here Village Manager Tom Barwin chose to resign rather than be forced out in a political split on our village board.
Like baseball managers, city managers are hired to be fired. They last two years, maybe five, seldom much longer. In part it happens because the city manager is the one and only staff member an elected board can touch. So when internal frictions develop on a board, and they sometimes do, there is only one relief valve and that’s the manager.
The heave-ho. By mutual agreement. The search for new opportunities. Whatever the personalities allow, whatever the contract demands, whatever political points need to be scored, separation happens.
Now Oak Park’s village board has made its single hiring decision, choosing to promote Pavlicek from interim status as village manager to the full-time post. Originally hired by Barwin to run parking services in Oak Park — talk about a thankless task — Pavlicek took his office last February as the village board launched the proverbial “national search.”
We don’t understand why this process took this board 10 months. Blaming “the holidays” only explains so much. But we have no quibble over the $20,000 spent on a search firm, and we strongly agree that a serious search was vital. That the board concluded that its strongest candidate was in-house is a credit to both Pavlicek and to Barwin’s decision to hire her in the first place.
Our sense from talking to board members is that Pavlicek grew in their estimation over the many months she served as interim. They saw her work preparing a budget. They got a sense of her, perhaps, more collaborative staff leadership. They saw her responsiveness to key issues the board wants to focus on, specifically ways to measure performance of village hall departments for greater efficiency and better service to residents. Barwin, they felt, never bought the concept. Pavlicek, they believe, buys in.
Also, board members who had grown wary of a perceived alliance between Barwin and Village President David Pope, have found Pavlicek more even-handed in her approach to the board.
Now we’ll see. Oak Park has a manager with several years experience in town and nearly a year in the manager’s chair. There’ll be no learning curve, no need to see if she has the stuff to deal with “The Oak Park Way” of long process and heavy opinion.
Manager and superintendent hires tend to swing on the pendulum between technocrats and innovators. We’re looking for that sweet spot in the middle. Strong, focused management with a clear appreciation for Oak Park’s bold history and many possibilities. We are hoping that Cara Pavlicek will bring, will be encouraged to bring, both efficiency and energy to this new and (semi)permanent position.