THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 28, 1994 TAG: 9407270149
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: John Pruitt
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
City Manager Richard L. Hedrick's resignation may reflect more inclination by the newly changed City Council to look back than to gaze into Suffolk's future.
It's incredible that, after only one meeting as an elected body, the council was ready to cast votes of confidence, delivering a clear message that Mr. Hedrick should be looking elsewhere for a job. Some of the same people are incapable of deciding even routine zoning matters without prolonged, often off-track discussions, yet they're ready to can the city's top executive - supposedly in search of a new direction, which no one has bothered to share with the taxpayers.
Mr. Hedrick surely knew after the May election that dramatic change was in store. The city manager serves at the pleasure of City Council, and the pleasure of some of the new representatives was to see Mr. Hedrick ousted.
The new council members are: Thomas G. Underwood, a 25-year local-government worker - 20 as assistant city manager - whose job was eliminated by Mr. Hedrick; J. Samuel Carter, a 45-year Suffolk firefighter who retired as fire chief and reportedly did not wish to retire after 20 years at the top; Charles F. Brown, a former board member of the Redevelopment and Housing Authority and civic activist who has made numerous, agitated speeches before the City Council.
Mayor S. Chris Jones was re-elected. While he was never able to forge effective partnership among previous council members, he clearly saw no hope of it now if Hedrick remained.
The remaining members: Marion ``Bea'' Rogers, whose constituents are among the most vocal in the city, some of whom have vowed to work for her defeat in the next election; Curtis R. Milteer, the vice mayor who's always pushing the council to ``bite the bullet'' and make decisions on controversial matters; and Richard R. Harris, a downtown businessman who continues dealings with the city despite appearances, if not real incidents, of conflict of interest.
This council, then, is not a happy camp in which a city manager can expect easy going for ideas to move Suffolk out of its ``sleeping giant'' designation to a city coping effectively with problems that have been more commonplace in such growing cities as Virginia Beach and Chesapeake.
Council members represent boroughs, and some of them have problems that long precede any Suffolk growth spurt. Mr. Underwood's Holland, for instance, lacks municipal water and sewerage, and his election reflects the community's determination to exercise political muscle to get the vital services. Ironically, Mr. Hedrick has shown more concern for Holland and Whaleyville than some other city managers.
At the same time residents are lobbying for expanded services, some council members are reluctant to accept anything but tried-and-true measures for such vital needs as business and industrial growth. One thing is clear: With or without it, Suffolk's residential stock will increase. And rather than add to city coffers, this will mean more demands.
While he tried to put the focus on the future, Mr. Hedrick was crippled by micromanaging by council members. Mr. Hedrick's successor, whoever it is, shouldn't be so impaired.
The city needs a visionary as well as a detail persons. I'm afraid we'll have to look outside for the visionary. There are already detail persons on the staff; they should be left to their jobs.
Mr. Hedrick is not perfect. Senior staffers complain about his manner, primarily that he gives so much independence that staffers could figuratively hang themselves before he rescued them, and he does not suffer those who will not offer ideas yet resist his. He is a contemporary manager. The question is whether the City Council wants that or a style that made them comfortable in the past.
KEYWORDS: SUFFOLK CITY COUNCIL
by CNB