Taylor Reinstated in Plainfield, But Mayor Still a Big Concern
Don't be too hard on Plainfield Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs wanting to fire City Administrator Bibi Taylor on Christmas Day, nine days before Taylor had been due with her third child.
After all, the mayor loves children. She said so. "I actually gave Mrs. Taylor a baby shower last month."
Small comfort for Taylor, who gave birth on Wednesday and would have been shown the door if the City Council hadn't stepped in late Monday night to reinstate her to her post after word of the firing last week triggered a firestorm of outrage from residents and officials.
This is the just the latest in a troubling and sometimes baffling series of missteps by Robinson-Briggs that are accelerating concerns about her competence to run the city.
Even Assemblyman Jerry Green, her mentor and presumed puppetmaster earlier in her mayoral reign, publicly called her out, imploring Robinson-Briggs to withdraw the termination.
Robinson-Briggs, in her usual fashion, has said little about Taylor's firing and has ducked many phone calls seeking further comment. The mayor has only suggested vaguely the presence of "internal issues" regarding Taylor of which the city is unaware.
It is difficult to imagine what Taylor could have possibly done to warrant this kind of heartless treatment after a tenure in city management that has been widely praised. Taylor was appointed the city's director of administration and finance in July 2009 and was promoted to city administrator in February for a term running through 2013. Taylor, in fact, is the employee on whom Robinson-Briggs relied heavily — too heavily — for financial administrative duties for many months while the mayor failed to move on filling a pair of vacant top finance posts.
The outpouring of support for Taylor, and the council's quick action to preserve her job, suggests that whatever "internal issues" may have justified the mayor's actions seem only to be known to Robinson-Briggs. And that quite rightly breeds plenty of skepticism. Anything egregious enough to warrant a firing in this fashion would certainly require more explanation to the public, even understanding legal restrictions on personnel comments.
"We'll do what we can to make things work," Robinson-Briggs said after the reinstatement, and any long-term effects from this debacle on working relationships within City Hall won't be immediately apparent while Taylor remains on maternity leave. But this story is far from over. For Plainfield's sake, we recommend Robinson-Briggs put aside her substantial ego and indeed make an honest attempt to "make things work." That's the least she can do at this point.
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