Junction City problems with debt and infrastructure needs are due to past dysfunctional leadership and lack of basic professional management practices.

The city manager who has just been on the job five months, has spent that time researching past history that led to the city’s major funding problems, and has developed a series of recommendations to begin dealing with them.

He told a State of the City audience at the C. L. Hoover Opera House that the results of past and current debt obligations was brought about by dysfunctional thinking and the belief the bare minimum is an acceptable standard for Junction City. “In addition to that misguided belief is this theory that no one outside of Junction City knows best how to govern, lead, or even manage Junction City than the actual property taxpayers and business owners of Junction City.”

Smith stated, “With this kind of bizarre stewardship and thinking, the full faith and credit checkbook from this community was placed in the hands of poorly qualified staff and community advisors, all be it unintentionally,  but recklessly went all in, to borrow a poker term, on economic development initiatives and development of lopsided development agreements. And the city taxpayers lost.”

Smith makes it clear the debt load will continue for many more years.

The City Manager is making a series of recommendations to deal with it. They range from business licensing  and multi-family rental preservation licensing programs to raise revenue to the hiring and retention of professional staff. He wants a compensation study done every three to five years to support compensation for recruitment and retention of competent personnel. He is also suggesting employment of a fulltime city planner, who would also oversee economic development operations in the city.

No final action has been taken on the proposals. The City Commission would make the final decision.