Monday, February 13, 2012

Oller out, now what? Over.

Acting City Manager and Director of Public Works Rich Oller resigned today amidst allegations of inappropriate language usage by saying the N-word. Mr. Oller firmly denies using language in a denigrating way. Instead, Mr. Oller says that he used the N-word in a description of it’s use by someone else and his disgust of the way it was used. He maintains the description of the conversation has been taken out of context.

League City recently changed its form of government from strong mayor form to council-manager form. Traditionally in council-manager form of government, Mayor and Council set policy, while the day to day operations of the city are left to professional managers. In his letter of resignation, Mr. Oller describes the issue he has with City Council. His description is the the Council “stays in the operations and assessments of staff and renders the position of city manager ineffective.” in contradiction of the Charter Change that made League City a council manager form of government.

Political Jocularity in League City has been cited over the past so many years for the government’s inability to manage itself and properly plan for the future.