Reference no: EM131801419

Scenario You are the Director of the Parks & Recreation Department for the City of Blaylock, Michigan. You have been in your position as Director for five years, but have also worked a variety of positions within the department before you became Director. In total, you have worked for the Department for fifteen years. Blaylock is a mid-sized city with a population of approximately 50,000 individuals. It has a counci manager form of government. The current City Manager, your boss, is Ben Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln has been the city manager since 2013. During his time as manager, he has cut your Department's budget three times even though the City of Blaylock is running a healthy budget surplus and has no real need to implement a budget cut. Your Department is the only Department that he has cut in terms of budget. In 2012, before Mr. Lincoln became City Manager, your Department's budget was $1.5 million. However, now in 2017 your Department has an annual budget of $500,000 after the following series of cuts made by Mr. Lincoln and approved by the City Council: 2014-reduction of $500,000; 2015-reduction of $490,000; and 2016-reduction of $10,000. During the last four years, you have repeatedly tried to personally contact Mr Lincoln about these budget cuts. However, Mr. Lincoln refuses to meet Department Directors face-to-face or by the telephone. Instead, he only communicates via email and mandates that all communications be conducted via email even though he is always physically present in Blaylock's administrative offices. Write an effective, persuasive memo that directly addresses and solves the management challenge delineated in the scenario.