Beside the Point

In the press conference immediately following Marc Ott's naming as city manager last Thursday, he sought to impart to the assembled journos his hands-on, in-the-field style. "I know what it's like to stand there," Ott said – "there" being outside a crack house in the night air, "with a bulletproof vest on, watching the K-9 unit go in first." After getting a point-blank barrel blast of Aus­tin democracy in action, he's probably wishing he'd already packed the Kevlar. After that morning, he could be excused for thinking he needs it.

Ott's selection had been leaked to the 10 o'clock talking heads the night before, and the chambers were crowded with cameras and onlookers with Ott; his wife, Pamela; and their children, Gabriel and Carly, sitting in front-row seats marked "Reserved." The idyllic, historic moment was interrupted minutes later, when council gadfly and Eastside politico Gus Peña, signed up to comment on the item naming Ott, used the occasion to embarrass himself, frantically attacking council for a lack of public input in Ott's hiring and decrying the process as flawed – without once mentioning what input might have been required or what specific flaws compromised the search. (A more politically jaundiced observer might argue that Peña, a self-fancied Latino political power broker, didn't raise any such objections until Assistant City Manag­er Rudy Garza was out of the race.) All in all, Peña's histrionic performance made the next speaker, Jennifer Gale, and her suggestion that we keep runner-up Jelynne Burley around in a co-city-manager capacity, by comparison sound well-reasoned.

Things calmed once council chimed in – for a minute, at least. Lee Leffingwell offered Ott his "full support going ahead," while Mike Mar­tinez intoned, "Your success is our success; your failure is our failure." (Distressingly, he then stole BTP's joke about Major Applewhite being Austin's next city manager – we gotta hide our notes.) Betty Dunkerley lauded Ott's "warm and open and outgoing personality," while Brewster McCracken called him a "major ­figure" on Texas transportation and land use. A visibly moved Sheryl Cole added: "It is a change, it is historic, and in the words of the old Negro gospel [hymn], it is a 'Happy Day.' I cannot tell you how ecstatic this entire community is to have you, including the African-Amer­i­can community, and it pleases me to tell you that this council has unanimous support behind you."

The reference to council support wasn't exactly a throwaway. Jennifer Kim, while "thrilled" over an African-American city manager and certain Ott will "do a tremendous job," said that due to a lack of "adequate public input in the process," she could not vote for Ott and the process that selected him. To audible gasps, murmurs, and scattered applause, Kim said, "It is because of this lack of process that I must in good conscience abstain from today's vote."

Kim's abstention was instantly seized upon by her May campaign opponent Randi Shade, who argued the council member had ample time to raise such concerns earlier in the process – instead of at the end, after the Statesman and the Better Austin Today PAC (strange bedfellows, indeed) started complaining. "Protesting in the 11th hour, and only after it appears politically advantageous to do so, is classic Jennifer Kim. Instead of working with the council to create good process on the front end, Jennifer Kim consistently waits until the last minute and then cries foul," Shade said. Afterward, Kim told BTP her concerns were "raised with [search firm] Arcus earlier to ask them how we could get public involvement, and that response always was: 'This is not something you want to do. This is not how this is done.' ... I wish we had really had more of a discussion about it, gone beyond them to get advice and find out what other cities do."

At the press conference afterward – in between questions about public-safety contract talks, broached courtesy of the Statesman's mono­maniacal obsession with police spending (if not with union salaries for Austin's workforce in general) – BTP asked Ott how he plans to serve effectively in the midst of such consternation. He answered: "I may be a slim guy, but I have broad shoulders and a thick skin. ... There is no facade here. What you see is what you get."

Mr. Ott, we wish we could say the same about the Austin politics you experienced. Welcome, and good luck.

Council takes a breather this week, returning to the dais Thursday, Jan. 31. In the meantime, write to BTP at [email protected].