CHAPTER 1. The Great Society Gift Horse
Discusses the quandary between violating federal hiring rules and employing a questionable person. Examines competing values: safety of children or abiding by the letter of the law.
CHAPTER 2. Gotta Love Those Bread and Butter Unions
Presents the dilemma created when marginally performing police officers support a candidate for mayor who wins the election. Is the mayor beholden to his supporters’ desires even when their police union is concerned about other matters?
CHAPTER 3. Trust Your Gut or Go With the Flow?
Evaluates the hiring of a poor performing police chief. He was hired under a well intentioned but flawed selection process, and against the intuition of the manager.
CHAPTER 4. Oh the Tangled Web We Weave
Relates an unfolding drama of a city manager who falsified his credentials when he applied for the position seventeen years ago. Is or should there be a statute of limitations on such matters?
CHAPTER 5. To Tell the Truth
Reviews the saga of an incompetent and dishonest community development director.
Should a subordinate be willing to “blow the whistle” when a politically motivated governor gives him a call?
CHAPTER 6. Dirty Job. Hire a New Person to Do It
Demonstrates how something as simple as setting up a telephone hot line for a large public works project can become extremely burdensome for a new employee. Is it fair to dump the job no one wants on the new person?
CHAPTER 7. A Time for Action, A Time for Reflection
Discusses the problem of a police officer who is also a “hero” volunteer fire fighter. Does his good judgment in one area make up for bad decisions at other times?
CHAPTER 8. A Deadly Deed
A city and its manager are forced to deal with a situation where one of the city public utility employee runs afoul with the law. Is a municipality ethically responsible for emotional behavior of its employees?
CHAPTER 9. Punishment to Fit Crimes; But Keep it Quiet
Presents a case of blatant plagiarism by a personnel director while pursuing a graduate degree. Does such behavior disqualify one for holding a position overseeing ethics of others?
CHAPTER 10. Boss, We’ve Got a Problem
Reviews the challenges faced by a city when it learns that its popular police youth officer has a hidden secret. Is it appropriate to keep the investigation from the governing body?
CHAPTER 11. Sometimes It Is Tough to Explain
Discusses difficulty faced in dealing with a malingering incompetent police officer who refuses to work.
CHAPTER 12. Building Inspector
How to handle an aging, incompetent building inspector whose lack of code enforcement caused problems for the community, and how to hire a replacement that seems just too good to be true?
CHAPTER 13. Loose Lips Sink Ships
Evaluates a rivalry between two high ranking police officers, and why it is so important that confidential investigations not become part of conversations at the “office party.”
CHAPTER 14. Peter, Paul and Mary: Ethical Quandaries or Managerial Issues
Discusses the application of the “Peter Principle” and considerations of competence in local government politics.
CHAPTER 15. Elected Officials At Work and/or Play
Addresses three situations where a township manager faces three separate incidences of elected officials patronizing the world’s oldest profession. Are or should elected officials be held accountable for their moral behavior? Is there a different standard for appointed officials?
CHAPTER 16. The Tax is Illegal – Getting the Story Out
Discusses how a township addresses a near thirty-year tax levy and collection that was violative of state law. How do you say “sorry” to all the taxpayers?
CHAPTER 17. Betty to the Rescue
Evaluates how a high-ranking elected official copes with a patronage appointee who turns out to be lazy, incompetent and a drug user.
CHAPTER 18. Not Following the Letter of the Law is Best Sometimes
Discusses the demands of a major taxpayer to have their property assessment significantly reduced. Is a plea that the company may have to close its doors viable at tax assessing time?
CHAPTER 19. Because of Good Intergovernmental Relations Some Things Could Be Buried Quickly
Evaluates how good intentions regarding the purchase of property for a cemetery by township officials can go awry, and how good relations with fellow governments can help hide some unethical activity.
CHAPTER 20: The Rarest of the Rare
Explores the trials and tribulations of a community and its local government dealing with an employee and his family whose ten year old daughter is dying from an incurable disease.
CHAPTER 21. Hire the Hardcore Unemployed
When you hire someone you may have them for a very long time. Shows the downside of the CETA program that funded hiring the hardcore unemployed.
