CONTENTS
Acknowledgements iii
Author v
Table of Contents vii
Introduction xi
Why Tell All? 1
What a Crazy Way to Make a Living 3
What Is a City Manager? 5
What Is Courage? 9
Adventures Along the Way 11
Check for Guns 15
"Fire the Staff" 17
"Fire the City Manager" 19
The City Manager Is Awesome! 21
Fame 25
Lost Vote 27
Why We Do Emergency Preparedness 29
We Know They're Dirty! 31
Caught in the Middle 33
That 3:30AM Phone Call 35
And I Thought I Had Trouble! 39
Drug Running! 41
We're Being Followed! 45
Of Course They're Listening In! 49
Being Spied On 51
Paranoid Politicians 53
The Fourth Estate- What a Disappointment! 57
What Do Heroes Look Like-and What Makes Them Heroes? 67
Thanks, Sam 73
Just Send Them a Check 75
Why I Get Into Trouble 81
I'm a Sheepdog 87
Commitment to Good Government 89
Was It Petty Corruption? 91
Get Back Here, Quick! 95
Don't Go Home the Same Way 97
Someone Really Is Stealing the Taxpayer's Money 99
Miscellaneous 103
And the Wall Came Tumbling Down 107
"Kids with Guns" 109
Don't Mess with Commies 111
The Bridge at Remagen 113
Bringing Democracy to Eastern Europe 115
3-3-1
Japanese Protest 119
Monkey Business 121
Everyone's Rights 125
Ego Check 127
Didn't Get the Job (Whew!) 131
"We Need You" 139
The Cardboard Box 143
How Do You Mend a Broken Heart? 147
Reflections on Perfection 151
Evaluation Gems 155
You Really Can't Go Home Again 157
Management Is So Dumb! 161
Will I Get Any Severance? 163
Prominent Citizen Sells Out 165
They Had Their Chance 167
Did I Make a Wrong Turn? 171
Rescued from the Beach 175
Reasons to Be Let Go 179
On My Watch 183
Dear John 185
Some Real Leadership 189
The Thin Gray Line 193
It's All About the People 195
I Did It My Way 197
Closing 203
Appendix: Job Interviews 205