AKA dysfunction in action. Mecklenburg County government certainly was dysfunctional when Harry Jones was county manager and his firing was certainly justified. But don’t think that he was let go the Mecklenburg County Commission because of the county’s past managerial mistakes. That really has very little to do with it.
City and county managers come and go largely based upon their relationship with the elected boards they ultimately serve. So it really comes down to interpersonal relationships — does a manager click with a board. And that means today’s board. And that would be what ultimately did Jones in.
Unfortunately, what this incident has helped bring out is exactly how dysfunctional the current county commission is. From the Charlotte Observer’s coverage of last night commission meeting:
In one exchange, commissioner Vilma Leake, who is African-American, told commissioner Dumont Clarke, who is white, “You go back to the old time when white men sat in rooms and made decisions for poor people.”
“You called me a racist,” Clarke said.
Leake responded: “I sure did.”
The spectacle did not stop when commissioners abruptly ended the more than two-hour meeting. Commissioner George Dunlap, a Jones supporter, angrily spoke to board members afterward, telling one “that’s not how you do business.”
Wonderful.
