So what’s wrong with Bainbridge Island? Some blame city government and believe our ills can be fixed only by replacing the mayor with a council-manager system. Others believe our mayor-council hybrid (with a city administrator) isn’t the culprit, faulting instead a lack of political leadership.

And others, including the consultants who created a “benchmark study” a couple of years ago, point fingers at the community as a whole. Perhaps it’s all about our discordant makeup and our inability to have a unified vision of what’s best for the core. Are the community’s values and aspirations so fractious that we are incapable of coming together?

Maybe we just need a community psychiatrist. Or a self-proclaimed savior (a demigod?) who can help us find our way. More realistically, how about just hiring an economist who has the moxie to stop the bleeding at City Hall. Someone who doesn’t think it’s a good idea for the city to have spent about a million bucks more than its revenue during each of the last eight years. You know, a management professional who takes over during a time of crisis, then reorganizes and supervises the daily operations of a city that seems bent on scuttling itself.

It took Mark Dombroski about six months to get his arms around the depth of the city’s financial dilemma, which was brought about by a combination of problems, including: an oversized staff, especially at the top; too many capital projects and land purchases, leading to increased debt service; and several other unwarranted expenses that had been subsidized for years.

Essentially, the government became too big for a small, rural community with a limited revenue base. You would think someone would have seen it coming, but the real estate bubble masked the imbalance until the tipping point (the lousy economy) occurred.

Dombroski is no white knight, but he thoroughly laid out to the mayor, council and community exactly what needed to be done to stop the city from foundering. Notably, his actions were strongly supported by the city’s elected officials and department heads.

His strengths are in business analysis and management, with some experience in turn-around work in the private sector. At the city, he has established a more timely and accurate accounting system, and is instituting a more efficient staff.

How did this happen? Dumb luck for the city, perhaps, but Dombroski, a resident since 2005 and once a Planning Commission member, knew what he was doing when he applied for the job a year ago.

He was aware of the change-of-government movement and negotiated a contract that would make him the interim city manager for at least six months or, if not, receive a severance of roughly $200,000 ($144,000 annual salary plus benefits).

Dombroski said it would be unethical for him to discuss the situation, but presumably it’s a job he would covet. He’s running the city’s day-to-day operations now and he’s doing it openly, he believes.

He’s even open to people who have been highly critical of the city and staff, “because they have some good points and I have to listen to everyone if we’re going to fix what’s wrong here.”

Now that’s a novel approach.