Bill Widmer cooked his own goose. He obviously didn't think this thing through when he accepted the City Manager position with Rancho Palos Verdes. How could he possibly think he could serve both cities in a part-time capacity when Rancho Palos Verdes needed him in a more than full-time capacity? Being a City Manager is not like being a City Council member - not even close. For someone with zero municipal management experience, who would essentially be learning how to manage a City from ground zero once he arrived, he would need to spend way more than a full-time employee just to be brought up to speed.

Widmer touted his experience as a City Council member as his "public administration" experience. Are you kidding me? No comparison! City Council members do not run the nuts-and-bolts, day-to-day operations of a City. They typically meet for a few hours a couple of times a month to approve policy recommendations, approve contracts, conduct public hearings, etc. I'm shocked that the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council didn't recognize this when they hired Widmer. Their bad. And where was Bob Murray during this whole process? Asleep at the wheel, apparently.

Then, after the community came unglued, they had to pull the plug on Widmer's job offer and be forced to eat humble pie. Apparently, the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council enjoys learning things the hard way.