Retiring or leaving for greener pastures?
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DANETTE GOULET
When did the meaning of the word retirement change? According to
Merriam-Webster it hasn’t.
Retirement
Pronunciation: ri-’tIr-m&nt;
Function: noun
1 a : an act of retiring : the state of being retired
b : withdrawal from one’s position or occupation or
from active working life c : the age at which one
normally retires
2 : a place of seclusion or privacy
But according to the practices of many -- especially in city
government it seems -- it has. It now seems to mean: the age at which
you can change jobs and yet continue to get a paycheck from your
previous employer.
We see it all over, people “retiring” to go take a different job
elsewhere. And I’m not talking about a little sideline thing to keep
busy. The retired Costa Mesa police chief, for instance, is now the
full-time police chief in Beverly Hills.
Our city administrator announced in the fall that he would retire
in July. He has now moved that date up by two months, leaving the
city in the lurch a bit, because he “has a business opportunity,”
according to the city’s public information officer. I don’t blame Ray
Silver for wanting to get out. Heck, it’s not really even his fault
the city has taken its sweet time finding a replacement -- although
after 13 years he should know they’ll need all the time he initially
gave them. But it doesn’t sound like retirement to me.
And now, despite assurances that we’d have a new administrator in
place by the time Ray left on April 30, the council has named
Assistant City Administrator Bill Workman -- who is in the running
for the job -- as interim city administrator. Talk about having an
edge.
City officials need to get serious and get on this issue. We
cannot afford to let this city flounder. Already Huntington Beach is
in financial straits when our neighboring cities seem to be faring so
much better than we. There are several huge development projects on
the horizon, which Surf City residents notoriously love to battle. We
need to find someone, someone permanent, who is ready to tackle the
job. Someone who will get things done and turn this city around. It
shouldn’t take a decade to refurbish a decaying mall.
This is not to say just throw the first guy you see in his chair.
Find the right person for the job. We need someone with the
enthusiasm for Surf City of Doug Traub, but the business sense of
Donald Trump.
Workman is a nice guy, but we can’t just throw him in that office
and say good enough. Someone needs to turn this city around in many
areas.
As for this hot potato we call retirement, it seems to me you just
don’t want to be the one employing people as they reach that age of
profitable job switching. Maybe we can hire a retiree.
* DANETTE GOULET is the city editor. She can be reached at (714)
965-7170 or by e-mail at [email protected].
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