City Government: Buried
Embarrassing as many of the audits produced by Richmond Auditor Umesh Dalal have been, at least the city has had the courage to give them a full airing -- until now. But recently the City Council's office stopped issuing press releases about Dalal's findings.
Council president Kathy Graziano notes that other localities don't air their laundry in public, either. Council chief of staff Daisy Weaver says doing so is "not necessary."
Both statements are true -- and disappointing. Richmond's practice of publicizing its audit findings set an admirable standard. The practice is commendable in its own right -- and it also builds momentum to fix the things that are broken.
Rather than the city falling in line with what surrounding jurisdictions do, they should be emulating the city's approach. Richmond's leaders might grow weary of the drumbeat of bad publicity, but the bad publicity is only a symptom. Burying the news doesn't solve anything.
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Reader Reactions
Well, we scrolled the City Auditor’s website, and there are two new audit reports recently published. Under the new policy, there has been no press release. The result? No one has noticed them. Worse, there are problems noted in both of the reports. One report says that it’s possible that substantial revenues may be lost. The other says that lost productivity could be costing the City millions! And taxpayers don’t know. The taxpayers should know that all is not well even though there is a new Administration. The waste continues, and there is nothing to impel City Hall to publicly account for the problems and then fix them. Apparently, the City Auditor is instructed to keep his mouth shut. The watchdog is muzzled! His terrific work continues, but his effectiveness is now blanketed in silence, and he works in obscurity. Mediocrity is free to reign once more at City Hall, and the new policy enables the problems to remain concealed from public view. The new policy is not in the taxpayers’ best interests. The public probably thinks that the problems have all gone away! This is why it’s very unwise to follow what other localities may be doing because those localities too may have problems that aren’t being exposed to public scrutiny. The emperor is parading naked, and no one is aware of it! Sheepish policy doesn’t and won’t address the problems. We elect leaders who have the temerity to lead, not sheep!
Agree with editorial and all comments.
And on a related note, how about being able to FOIA Center Stage?!
Well put Awraith. As a fomer city employee, I can assure you that there are more problems than the auditor was able to find and report. Previous administrations made sure mum was the word. Now council agrees to limit the exposure of fixable problems. It would seem that council should want to identify and correct these issues so the city gov’t can operate more efficiently. What better way to show the voters of your district that you have the best interest at hand than to fix a know problem. Now it seems they want to hind the problem. No news is no news. Keep us in the dark and we’ll put someone in office who will keep us informed.
This is disappointing. Informing the public is direct and to the point. Citing the practices of other localities appears to be little more than a transparent excuse. Who knows what problems are being buried elsewhere? The logic used to justify this new “policy” at the City of Richmond is specious at best.
We elect our officials and pay them through our tax dollars. They’re supposed to serve us. Now, we will not have the courtesy of being informed of the problems that still keep emerging at the City. Now, we have to comb the auditor’s website daily to find out what’s new. Okay—if that’s we have to do.
This misguided action embraced by our local leaders does not earn our trust and confidence. Instead, we are compelled to ask, “what don’t you want us to know?“ Our skepticism will build, not abate. This is not an action born of strength; it is conceived out of weakness and fear. That’s not the kind of leadership we expect or deserve. We’re keenly disappointed.
Are there no steely-resolved problem solvers at the City?
Have the strength to inform us—and then work to fix the problems! That’s what we want you to do! C’mon—make us proud!!
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