THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 13, 1995 TAG: 9508130245
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
Former City Manager Wayne Orton's failure to keep City Council and the taxpayers informed about the city's slip in bond ratings was a severe lapse in judgment. Keeping the Moody's rating a secret since May makes it appear that the city's hiding something.
City Council members profess to have been in the dark and express concern that the change has the potential to run up the cost of building an already expensive new high school.
Why Orton thought he could keep this a secret we'll never know. He just wasn't thinking straight.
Meanwhile, council members are keeping some secrets too - among them, the results of a survey to find out how citizens rate their city government. The results were in hand months ago. The survey was on the council's work session agenda a couple of times but pulled without explanation at the last minute.
Word around city hall is that the survey gave the city good and medium marks but no F's. Why council has avoided a frank and open discussion of the survey is as mysterious and as stupid as Orton's decision not to discuss the bond rating.
Citizens participated in the study and also paid for it. They are entitled to see the results. The longer council waits to release it, the more questions it may needlessly be raising in the public mind.
If council members were upset at Orton's failure to be open with them, then they certainly ought to understand the need for them to be honest with the public. by CNB