
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 10, 1994                    TAG: 9406080220 
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER                     PAGE: 08    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: Short 
DATELINE: 940610                                 LENGTH:

CITY GARAGE\

{LEAD} Chesapeake's City Garage, lately a disgraceful example of government waste, inefficiency and corruption, is better now.

Mechanics who once took two hours to change the oil on a city car, now do the job in a quarter of the time and at half the cost. Expensive overtime expenses have been greatly reduced. Body work is let out on competitive bids rather than channeled to favored cronies. At least some of those who so flagrantly abused the public trust have been brought to justice.

{REST} The taxpayers finally seem to be getting what they are paying for.

Vernon Lee Whitehurst, a businessman who was put in charge of the garage after the mismanagement there was exposed, deserves credit for the improvements he has made.

But if city leaders learned anything from the scandal at the garage, we hope they learned not to depend solely on the inclinations of mid-level managers to make things right.

However honest and competent Mr. Whitehurst is, we trust someone is watching every move he makes. Closer scrutiny of the previous managers could have saved us a great deal of trouble and money.

by CNB