Tag Archives: Steve Gantt

Steve Gantt’s contract

By Adam Beam | Published: February 11, 2010
City Council members have approved a contract for City Manager Steve Gantt through May 29. Wait a minute, I thought you reported that Gantt would be city manager through the end of the year? I did, and he will. City Council just can’t tell him that. As I posted previously, Gantt is taking advantage of the state’s TERI [...]
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Steve Gantt still doesn’t have a contract

By Adam Beam | Published: January 21, 2010
In December, I told you that Columbia City Council members were halting their City Manager search and instead chose to offer interim City Manager Steve Gantt a one year contract. All of that is still true, except the contract part. Gantt isn’t pulling a Don Draper. He wants a contract, he’s just trying to figure out how [...]
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Council decides to save money by not spending it

By adam beam | Published: September 3, 2009
After council members had to massively cut the budget this year — including laying off employees and reducing staffing at two fire stations — they decided it would be a good idea to spend up to $225,000 to study how the city could save money. Wednesday, council members were supposed to select a consulting firm to [...]
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Columbia's monthly magic numbers

By adam beam | Published: August 24, 2009
Interim City Manager Steve Gantt likes to budget in twelfths. That is, he likes to break everything down by month. If you are a department head, and your total budget is $1 million, then you should not spend more than $83,333.33 per month. The city’s largest expense is the salaries and benefits it pays its employees. [...]
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Prayer at City Hall

By adam beam | Published: August 18, 2009
Richland County Council members begin every meeting with a prayer and the pledge of allegiance. But at Columbia City Hall, meetings start with a gavel and a roll call. That could change tomorrow, with City Council members scheduled to vote on a resolution to adopt a formal invocation policy for City Council meetings. The idea came from Councilwoman [...]
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