ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 24, 1997 TAG: 9704240054
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-14 EDITION: METRO
SERIES: rocky mount low - fifth in a series
In Rocky Mount, disarming the town manager has helped keep municipal government in the thrall of a domineering Town Council clique. Last in an editorial series.
A TOWN without pity? Not Rocky Mount.
Consider the government's retention of Town Manager Mark Henne despite, among other examples of dubious and potentially disqualifying behavior, the case of the missing audiotape.
In 1995, a developer who wanted to build low-income housing - which Town Council, therefore Henne, didn't want - was preparing a lawsuit against Rocky Mount.
At a public meeting two years earlier, the planning and zoning commission had said the housing project complied with all legal requirements. But the minutes were missing from the town's log book, and Councilman Arnold Dillon was denying that the commission had made a recommendation.
The developer's attorney asked for the tape recording from which minutes are transcribed.
Whereupon the tape, which had been in Henne's possession, disappeared.
On March 10, 1995, council members convened an illegal "emergency" meeting to approve a search of the town manager's office. The tape wasn't found, but liquor bottles were - at least one of them open, in a closet.
Some employees weren't surprised. Henne had been convicted of driving under the influence in 1987. The town suspended him for a month in 1992 after he was arrested again for DUI while driving the town car in Vinton. He flunked a blood-alcohol test but passed field sobriety tests, and was found not guilty.
Around the same time the tape was lost and liquor found, town employees had sought an audience with council to discuss Henne's behavior, including swearing and door-slamming and sexual comments. But council rebuffed the petitioners.
Henne was shown a measure of pity denied other employees. In fact, he has been effective at times in his work.
But if council feels his pain, that's not why he remains town manager.
Henne keeps his job, above all, because self-serving council members have him pinned under their collective thumb. Council favors a disarmed Rocky Mount town manager for the same reason:
That nepotism and favoritism prevail.
That elected officials recognize no distinction between policy-making and administration.
That council has routinely made decisions behind closed doors.
That the town frustrates downtown revitalization efforts and resists cooperation with Franklin County.
That competent employees who take their responsibilities seriously have been mistreated and provoked to leave, while less-qualified but compliant employees stay.
All this happens, it should be evident, because some council members with authority to wield and axes to grind are more interested in having their way than in upholding reasonable standards of public service.
Councilman Dillon and his allies are on a power trip. Its continuation, if Rocky Mount voters allow it, would be a pity.
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