Syracuse fires its city manager

SYRACUSE — The Syracuse City Council and Mayor Fred Panucci have opted to fire the city's relatively new city manager, Ken Hubler.

"He was taking the city in a different direction than we felt comfortable," Panucci said Tuesday.

The council will meet Thursday at 5 p.m. in a public meeting to ratify the decision to fire Hubler, Councilman Phil Orton said. The termination will be effective as of Feb. 2.

Hubler could not be reached for comment.

Panucci and the five-member council unanimously voted Friday to fire Hubler, who came to work for Syracuse in July 2006 after longtime city manager Mike Moyes retired.

Councilman Danny Hammon said that although some may suspect that the decision stemmed from disagreements between the mayor and council, it had nothing to do with that or recent changes in the city's form of government.

During an Oct. 10, 2006, meeting, the council voted 4-1 to elevate Hubler's job title from city administrator to city manager and make him, rather than the mayor, the city's chief executive officer. Panucci and Councilman Wallace Peterson were against the change.

"It was a consensus to bring Ken on board and a consensus to part ways," Hammon said. "Both ways were unanimous. As a city, we're still objective and concerned about how things are run. We can still work together, despite our differences."

Hammon said nothing illegal or unethical brought about Hubler's termination; it was a difference of opinion.

"He was going left, and we were going right," Hammon said.

Panucci said the differences couldn't be worked out, and Orton agreed.

"We just weren't clicking," Orton said.

Syracuse is taking applications for city manager until 5 p.m. March 5. When the council replaced Moyes last year, Orton said, it selected Hubler out of 35 applicants.

Depending on experience, the position pays $90,000 to $110,000 a year. More information is available at the city's Web site, www.syracuseut.com, by clicking on the "jobs" link at the top of the page.

The city manager is responsible for running the day-to-day operations in the city and reports to the mayor and City Council. The city is requesting that any applicants have a master's degree in business or public administration and at least eight years of experience in municipal management.

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