Yesterday, I shared my conversation with a city employee. Let’s call him “Deep Disillusion.”

He said when Carty Finkbeiner was mayor, there was boosterism and beautification and the mayor riding herd. Jack Ford, he said, actually paved more streets than any of those who followed and did a lot for the inner city. Mike Bell balanced the books and courted business. Now, he said, it is all political calculation about the next election.

We are “adrift,” he said. A real absence of leadership.

He also said there is an absence of policy chops and professional administration. Though there are some fine people — like Department of Neighborhoods Director Tom Kroma and code enforcement Commissioner Cindy Geronimo — there is little real management from the top.

Let’s give Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson and her top staff the benefit of the doubt. Let’s say trying to pass the 0.25 percent hike preoccupied them as the mayoral election did, and that they have not had TIME for governing.

Well, now the time has come. It is the time to think about the two levels where there have been almost total nullity and void thus far: Vision and direction; policy and administration.

The mayor’s slogan — that she wants Toledo to be “a city of the 21st century” — is just that: a slogan.

And a lame one at that.

It sometimes seems the mayor cannot tell the difference between public relations and substance; a slogan and a vision. That is the deformation professionnelle of the politician. But the announcement of the seven monitors who would guard the incoming new tax money for streets (had it been approved) was a doozy. The seven seemed to be selected on the basis that they would either not have the time or not have the inclination to ask any tough question. Seven seers? Seven blind mice, more like it. Nice folks, all of them, but with no clear mission or legal authority. This was a bad joke intended as a slick maneuver. Insulting to the citizens, city council, and, actually, the mayor and her staff. THEY are supposed to be the junkyard dogs guarding our tax dollars.

Here are two things the mayor could and should do to help get out of the cul-de-sac she herself has made:

First, hold a weekend retreat with the best and brightest of Toledo — everyone from Dan Rogers of Cherry Street Mission to Randy Oostra of ProMedica — and all the failed mayoral candidates as well. In brainstorming sessions, identify three short-range goals and three long-range ones for the city. Short-range might be, for example, freeing up more building space for downtown residential. Long-term might include a plan for the unused property bought up for Jeep. Or uncovering more of the river. Then assign one person in the private sector and one in city government to work together to develop an action plan, with target dates. Set specific goals and hold specific people responsible for implementation.

Second, hire a managerial consultant, with experience in other cities — one from outside of this city. His job would be to work for the next two years with the mayor on reorganizing city government, eliminating cronyism and featherbedding, and, generally, to tell the mayor the truth, not what she wants to hear. 

Call this person an inspector general, a reorganization czar, a special assistant for management — any title you want — but he or she has to have experience, independence, and authority.

I don’t think the public is going to give the city any more money until there is evidence of change — some sort of reform and some attempt to set policy goals and actually manage city government.

And I don’t think it should.

Keith C. Burris is a columnist for The Blade. Contact him at: kburris@theblade.com or 419-724-6266.

First Published March 18, 2016, 4:00 a.m.