Richmond council members have mixed feelings about possible CAO

The possible appointment of Byron C. Marshall as Richmond's chief administrative officer is drawing sharply different responses from some City Council members.

Early yesterday, council members said they believed a formal request to approve Marshall's appointment could be introduced Monday by Mayor Dwight C. Jones. But the mayor's office said such a request is not imminent.

"There won't be a paper Monday," said Tammy D. Hawley, Jones' press secretary.

Councilman Bruce W. Tyler said that if Marshall is selected by the mayor, the council should not schedule a confirmation vote until an audit concerning his Texas-based nonprofit group is finished sometime this summer.

"I want to be very cautious about how we proceed with this," he said. "I respect the mayor's decision, but I don't want to do a rubber stamp."

But Councilwoman Ellen F. Robertson said she's not sure there's a need to wait if Jones decides he's ready to appoint.

"I have the confidence in the mayor that he would not make a recommendation to us . . . shy of a piece of information that would impact his recommendation," she said.

Council members were introduced to Marshall early this week as a finalist for the city's top administrative post. Under the city charter, the chief administrative officer is appointed by the mayor "subject to the advice and consent" of the council to run the city's operations by hiring staff, carrying out ordinances and preparing an annual budget and financial reports.

Marshall has executive-level government experience in five cities. He now serves as president and chief executive officer of the Austin Revitalization Authority, a nonprofit community development corporation that has partnered with the city to revitalize an area of East Austin.

The city of Austin has launched a performance audit to assess the success of its work with the authority and whether the relationship should continue. The review comes with no allegations or indications of malfeasance, an assistant city auditor said this week.

Marshall's potential appointment also has stirred up questions from his days as chief operating officer in Atlanta.

He resigned in 1997 after it was revealed that he held a consulting contract with an economic-development authority in Austin, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported at the time.

The newspaper said Marshall had not earned a bachelor's degree from Syracuse University as he had claimed when he applied for the Atlanta job. The university said this week that a bachelor's degree in history was awarded to Byron C. Marshall in 1997, but details were unavailable.

If Marshall is appointed in Richmond, "we'll have the opportunity to ask him questions about those issues and see if we're satisfied with those answers," Council President Kathy C. Graziano said. "There are always two sides of a story and, so far, all that's been reported is one side."

Marshall has declined repeated interview requests. The Jones administration has not officially acknowledged Marshall's candidacy, and it won't say how many people applied or were interviewed for the job.

Several council members contacted yesterday had little to say about a possible appointment.

"Anything I would say would be pure speculation," Councilman E. Martin Jewell said.

Tyler said it would be irresponsible for the city to make a decision on Marshall without seeing the results of Austin's audit. He said the next chief administrative officer must be someone whose integrity is without question.

"If you really want a bottom line, we need a William Harrell," Tyler said, referring to the city manager of Chesapeake who was Richmond's first chief administrative officer under its new, elected-mayor form of government.

Robertson said Marshall deserves a fair shake if he's selected. She said his résumé shows extensive and varied experience in city government as well as expertise in neighborhood improvement. During last fall's campaign, Jones promised to lift neighborhoods, not just downtown.

She said that when she looks at Marshall's résumé, she sees that expertise built in.

Robertson said Jones has expressed a desire to have a new chief administrative officer by July 1. But, she added, the mayor isn't one to let a deadline force a decision to be made.

"He doesn't let time control him," she said.

Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or .