Interesting situation we have here with the local paper of record and the supposed conflict between Greensboro city staff and the City Council.
Today the N&R issues an editorial correction stating “(i)n response to an editorial published July 3, former Greensboro Environmental Services Director Jeryl Covington said she left her job for personal reasons, not because of policy differences with the City Council.”
After readin that, my gut reaction was a correction would be necessary for the June 26 front-pager citing Covington and Water Resources Director Allan Williams as examples of staff members frustrated with the council. But reread the article and note that it is very carefully worded (emphasis mine):
J. Rita Danish may be the most prominent example.
But the former city attorney is not the only staffer to leave her job with apparent frustration.
Danish is the third city department director to announce she will leave in the last six months. Two others — Water Resources Director Allan Williams and former Environmental Services Director Jeryl Covington — lined up private-sector jobs after long careers in city government.
Williams had been at odds with the council over water rates. In the last year, members reduced the rate twice — against Williams’ argument that it might hurt the long-term health of the system.
“I am going because I have another good opportunity,” Williams said. “It’s also because at the wizened old age of 60 … I just don’t have as much tolerance for this stuff as I used to.”
Some City Council members are concerned with what they fear is a trend: employees leaving, at least in part, because of the behavior of the council.
The article does state toward the end that Covington “said she left because the job took her away from her family too much. But she said the city of Greensboro is getting the ‘worst reputation’ as a workplace.” It does also note that Covington did conflict with the council over the White Street landfill, though it fails to mention her conflict with a previous council over whether to close the landfill in the first place. Covington recommended that the landfill not be closed, but the council voted to do so anyway, and now the city’s waist deep in this mess.
Indeed Williams —- a respected staff member —has sparred with the council over water rates. But they did heed his warnings about the Jordan Lake Rules and successfully negotiated a postponement, although whether or not that constitutes a victory for Mayor Bill Knight is in my opinion debatable, because the cost is not sustainable whether they effect in 2016 or 2020. A fact sheet issued by the city states “based on our understanding, we believe it is likely that the cost of compliance will be far greater than what DWQ has estimated in the fiscal analysis, currently at almost ¾ of a billion dollars.”
So some might say the evidence supporting the theory that staff is frustrated with the city Council is a little shaky. Hey, that’s journalism. Perhaps it’s the other way around —– the council is growing frustrated with city staff. The Rhino’s John Hammer would tell you that.
