Taking a hard look at Hopewell

HOPEWELL -- A group of Hopewell residents and business leaders will conduct a review of the city government's efficiency.

City Manager Edwin C. Daley has assembled a seven-member committee responsible for studying areas such as accounting, customer service, development, communications and use of technology. The group will have access to city financial books and will be able to interview department heads and employees, Daley said.

Former Mayor George Elder, chairman of the committee, said the group will meet for the first time on Wednesday and will seek the participation of others in the community.

"We would hopefully be able to use some of the talents in the group," said Elder, noting that volunteers with an expertise in an area will be asked to look at a related area in the government. "If they run a department for a large corporation, [they] will be able to compare how they run it with how the city runs it."

The other committee members are Honeywell production manager Charles Welch, businessman J.W. Enochs, attorney Jack Gould, School Board member Ann Y. Williams, Dominion Virginia Power employee Earnest Greene and SunTrust Bank employee Bud Yerly.

Daley said he wanted to get a diverse group involved who could represent the industries and aspects of the city.

The City Council last year considered spending $50,000 to pay an independent firm to conduct the review.

"Given the current financial constraints, that is not feasible," Vice Mayor N. Gregory Cuffey said.

Petersburg paid $150,000 for an independent efficiency report released late last year that was critical of the city's agencies.

Daley said letting citizens do the job is an approach with unique benefits.

"I think they can help us learn how the public views our business and how we can then improve it by looking at that," he said.

Eventually, Daley said, the committee would provide input on how the city is delivering public services.

Some recommendations could "be specific on how we can save money or how we can use the same money and being more efficient," he said.

The group will look at two areas of the city at once in a period of four to six weeks, Daley said. It then will report to Daley.

Daley sees this as an ongoing project, but he expects key areas of government will be reviewed in a year.

"This is not an investigation. It is simply to try to determine how efficiently the city is being run," Elder said.

Contact Luz Lazo at (804) 649-6058 or .