Reporter Diaries
Don’t push my freaky buttons!
Well, here I go again. With the resignation of McMinnville City Administrator Nolan Ming, I’m staring down the barrel at a few rounds of ‘who gets this job.’ I sat through the hiring of David Rutherford, Bill Brock and Nolan. The name of the guy who had the job when I was first hired at the Southern Standard 21 years ago escapes my memory. I bet James Clark remembers. I’ll text him.
While we wait, I’ll share with you some memorable moments. Every politician knows that I’m waiting on the line that I will use to the top of my article. I’ve sat in government meetings, and elected officials have pointed at each other as if to say, “Use that quote, don’t use mine.” It was hilarious.
Nothing changed for me during these interviews. I’m waiting for candidates to give me one quote that will shoot to the top of the article. One stands out. He said he had “freaky buttons” and staff will learn not to push them. I was shocked that he said it. Not sure if he knew that one admission just cost him the job, but I did. Talk about a red flag.
Brock was interim city administrator – I remember the chaos that arose when he wanted to drop the temporary. He did get the job. I liked Brock. I left him a message once and he didn’t reply. The next time I saw him, he said, “I got your message and ignored it.”
I laughed and said, “Honesty works with me. If it had been all that important, I would have reached out a second time.”
Rutherford, during his interview, asked if officials used a street sweeper before he came to town, because of how clean everything looked. He was very complimentary. No red flags. His hiring kicked off a difficult relationship between him and I. After one meeting, I went to ask him a question and he tossed his hand into the air, turned on a heel and walked away saying, “No comment!!!!!”
I didn’t expect that, and I giggled at the comical absurdity of it.
In another instance, I’m in city hall, upon seeing me, Rutherford exclaims, “Who let the press in?” and stated something about improving security. I could tell that I was growing on him like a wart.
The next time I was at city hall and he wasn’t, I walked into his office and left a sticky note on his desk, “Your security sucks!!!” I added a smiley face and walked away laughing.
I eventually won him over enough for us to work together. One day, I’m sitting in his office on the third floor of city hall gathering some info about an article I was doing. He asks about The Hole, which is right across the street and was an eyesore.
If you don’t remember it, it’s where The Lot currently is on Main Street. It was, as its name implies, a hole. It was filled with some junk and debris and remained like that for years.
Rutherford wanted to know why that spot wasn’t included in the downtown revitalization project. I told him that it was, but officials removed it when they were trying to find cost-saving measures on a multi-million-dollar project. That week, he instructed McMinnville Public Works to remove the mess, fill it in with dirt and cover it with sod. It went from The Hole to The Lot, also known as The Grassy Lot, in just a few days, thanks to Rutherford.
James just replied that Herb Llewellyn was city administrator when I was hired. He also added, “The freaky button guy wasn’t hired.”
Told you it was memorable.
I’ll leave you with this: did you know that The Lot has an actual name? Officials named it “Court Square South” years ago. It is in the south of court square; that is a location and not a name. I took a stand and refused to use it in the newspaper. I’m still standing. Other than this mention of it, you won’t hear it used again.