ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 22, 1997 TAG: 9704220032
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SERIES: Rocky Mount Low: Third in an editorial series.
Rocky Mount's bills get signed, but at what risk? In two years, two finance directors have left and an applicant has declined the job. Little wonder.
ROCKY Mount is having a hard time hiring a finance director.
No one should be surprised.
In two years, two finance directors have left the town. The last one was Donna Coleman - well-qualified, effective, professionally meticulous about standards and procedures.
In short, a poor fit for the kind of government the current Town Council apparently prefers.
How, you have to wonder, would a new finance director react to situations like some of those Coleman confronted?
Like the time Town Manager Mark Henne asked her to abate Councilman Bobby Cundiff's estimated water bill.
An abatement may or may not have been legitimate. But Coleman refused, properly so, to reduce the bill without a written request from council or minutes documenting the decision. A reportedly enraged Cundiff paid his bill, but vowed revenge.
Or the time, also last year, when Henne told the finance director not to file 1099 tax forms for the town's volunteer firefighters.
Federal law in fact mandates the filing of such forms for anyone receiving more than $600. For compensation to qualify as nontaxable reimbursement, detailed expense reports are required.
Unwilling to risk her ethics or career by skirting the law, Coleman sent in the tax forms amid a barrage of insults. Twelve days later, she was instructed to file amended 1099s using expense reports submitted by Councilman/Fire Chief Posey Dillon. Guess what: The expense reports, featuring big mileage figures, reduced most of the 1099-reported amounts to zero.
Or the time, on April 24 last year, when Henne in front of a witness went on and on about Coleman's skirt - about how she'd been pulling it down all day, about how she must be trying to get a raise - until the finance director had to leave the room in embarrassment and disgust.
Or the times she received what she describes as hectoring, intimidating phone calls from Town Attorney John Boitnott - finally prompting her to declare that she would accept his calls only on a speaker phone, and would not meet with him alone.
Or the time, in 1995, when Henne asked Coleman to hire Rebecca Dillon, daughter-in-law of Councilman Arnold Dillon, for a job in the finance department. Other applicants were more qualified, Coleman insisted. Too bad. Henne hired Dillon anyway, without the finance director's consent or presence.
Also hired then was Amy Dooley, the girlfriend of Arnold Dillon's friend and business partner. After Coleman - with an MBA and 14 years' management and accounting experience - quit the town last year, Dooley was named acting finance director despite her lack of accounting skills and a college degree.
"We've got to have someone to sign the bills," said Dillon, neglecting the town's risk in the absence of a qualified finance director.
An applicant was offered the post earlier this year, but declined it after speaking with council members.
Little wonder. Under Rocky Mount's current leadership, who'd want the job?
LENGTH: Medium: 62 linesby CNB