Charlotte's new boss is getting his keys and passwords. Ron Carlee begins work Monday as city manager. He'll be sworn in Monday night at the city council meeting.
It's a turbulent time for the city, what with the fight to maintain control of the airport, keep the Panthers happy and resolve deep divisions over a streetcar. So maybe that's what Mayor Anthony Foxx was thinking when he said this at the meeting announcing Ron Carlee's selection in February?
"I will say a couple of things about him that are pretty remarkable," says Foxx. "The first is that he had a fairly long tenure as the county manager in Arlington county Virginia and has managed to do that job with virtually no one still mad at him. There's, very, much to be commended about that."
Carlee certainly is optimistic, judging from his assessment of the city's aforementioned struggles: "I'm looking forward to getting here quickly. Getting engaged quickly. Getting a deeper understanding of the issues which I don't think are so much problems and challenges as opportunities."
Carlee starts the city manager's job with a total compensation package of $290,000. That's $30,000 more than his predecessor Curt Walton made and quite a bit more than the $171,000 salary he got in 2011 at his last job consulting municipalities at the International City/County Management Association.
In Charlotte, the city manager is a powerful position, responsible for the city's 6,800 employees and $1.7 billion budget.
