Abstract:
In early 1981, after his first few months as city administrator of Lakewood, Colorado, Bill Kirchhoff slumped to his desk and pulled from his file "Lakewood-Issues and Problems." The two-page summary had been supplied to him several months before, by Korn/Ferry International, the consulting firm which had recruited him for the administrator's position. The "Issues and Problems" listing had appeared straightforward, perhaps even unexciting, and had been headed by topics such as "street improvements", and "surface storm drainage needs." An item concerning the city's revenue base had appeared further down the list, but the topic of budget-cutting had not been a major item on the Korn/Ferry list nor distcussed at length in his interview with Lakewood City Council members during the recruitment process. Neither had labor relations problems beencited on the listing--there had been little hint of the unionization movement already budding within the city's largest agency, the Department of Public Safety.
