News

Appointee takes name out of hot for director post

Amid recent criticism, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz’s appointee for director of Economic and Community Development withdrew his name from the consideration of the City Council Friday.

Bill Clingan, whose appointment last month has been controversial ever since, had been meeting independently with the city’s alders during recent weeks to garner support within the City Council, which is responsible for approving mayoral appointees.

Business advocacy groups, such as Smart Growth Madison and Downtown Madison, Inc., which had lobbied hard for the creation of the position, believed the commission’s recommendations were going to be honored by the mayor’s office.

"There’s a feeling this was more of a political maneuver," said Carole Schaefer, executive director of Smart Growth Madison, at the time of the announcement.

According to Schaefer, business groups fought for the post’s creation and compromised by supporting an expansion of the role to include both economic and community development.

Such compromises were made, Schaefer said, were made under the assumption someone very qualified in the economic field would fill the post.

As a result of Clingan’s nomination, two members of the Economic Development Commission resigned, saying Cieslewicz ignored the commission’s recommendations for the new post.

According to Ald. Robbie Webber, District 5, support for Clingan within the City Council was "pretty split."

The approval process, however, was still in the early subcommittee stages, and the entire council had not yet had a chance to weigh in on the appointment or debate it.

Webber said she supported Clingan, however, adding Cieslewicz went through a thorough and proper process for naming an appointee.

"The mayor needs to have discretion to hire who he feels is appropriate for the position," Webber said.

Clingan was scheduled to meet with Ald. Zach Brandon, District 7, last week but canceled at the last minute. He officially withdrew his name from consideration the next day. According to Brandon, there had been recent speculation of Clingan’s withdrawal.

"He made the right choice for the city when he decided to withdraw his name," Brandon said.

George Twigg, communications director for the mayor, said Cieslewicz had discussed the situation with Clingan a number of times but still supported his appointee. Twigg said he believes Clingan’s decision was based largely on his desire to not be a divisive and counterproductive official within the city.

"[Cieslewicz is] disappointed in the way things turned out, but he very much respects Bill’s decision," Twigg said.

According to Twigg, the mayor’s office is now planning to make changes to the current position. The next step for Cieslewicz is to introduce, at the budget talks for the city this year, a division of the economic development and community development position into two separate positions.

Webber, however, said she would not support the creation of any economic development position that does not address workforce development, housing and community development. According to Webber, a pro-business approach to economic development is too one-sided, and that is why the City Council approved the current job description that places economic and community development together.

"It’s important for whoever gets that job to understand that you cannot ignore the employees, the workforce development and the social environment of the city," Webber said.