Underlings don’t do oversight. Subordinates don’t supervise the boss. Giving Richmond’s mayor the power to appoint the city auditor is asking for trouble. It’d be a license to steal for hizzoner, who would pocket the one person more capable of keeping him honest than the City Coun cil. A commission charged with reviewing the Richmond City Charter has advanced a preliminary recommendation that the mayor hire the auditor “subject to the advice and consent of a majority of council.“

Some Richmond City Council members are thinking twice about sharing oversight of the city auditor in light of his revelation that the city violated purchasing rules on a nearly $1 million contract to buy police cars. The auditor currently serves at the pleasure of the council. But under draft recommendations of the Richmond City Charter Review Commission, he would be appointed by the mayor subject to the approval of the majority of council.

Well, you can’t say you weren’t warned. Early last year, Richmond Auditor Umesh Dalal wrote a scathing report saying that the city’s poor purchasing habits left it susceptible to fraud. Among his findings were that the city ignored its own bidding procedures and didn’t always shop for the best price. City officials tended to skirt requirements for competitive, sealed bids on purchases of more than $50,000. At least nine cases were uncovered in which no bids were sought for purchases exceeding that level.

A Richmond commission has released preliminary recommendations for changes to the city charter in hopes of avoiding clashes like those between the City Council and then-Mayor L. Douglas Wilder. The council last night received a memo on suggestions by the Richmond City Charter Review Commission. The commission hopes to get feedback from the public, council members and Mayor Dwight C. Jones through next month before holding a forum in September. A final report is to be released in October so that changes can be presented to the General Assembly for approval early next year.

Highwoods Properties drops plans for Shockoe Bottom ballpark, Boulevard development. Mayor says while baseball will return to Richmond in the spring, a long-term plan must be developed.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones is showing signs that he’ll soon fill several top positions in his administration. The city has pulled its recent advertisement for a deputy chief administrative officer for economic and community development, and an appointment is pending, according to Tammy D. Hawley, the mayor’s press secretary. The position offers a salary range of $111,957 to $168,732 per year.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones took control of City Hall in January, promising an era of openness in the administration’s dealings with the City Council and reporters. “I’m going to take the muzzle off,“ he said, referring to employees who feared a backlash from Mayor L. Douglas Wilder if they spoke to council members or the news media.

A former Richmond official has filed a $1 million lawsuit against the city, alleging that he was forced to resign and was defamed after resisting a plan to evict the School Board from City Hall. Benjamin Johnson, who worked as the city’s emergency management director from 2004 to 2008, filed the lawsuit April 10 in Richmond Circuit Court.

The U.S. National Slavery Museum might still be planned for Fredericksburg, but it’s based in Richmond. The project led by former Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder listed a local post office box and phone number as contact information in a recent filing with the Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs. The registration form, received March 23 and pending approval, is supposed to be filed annually for the museum to legally seek contributions in Virginia. The group’s prior filing expired Aug. 15 and listed the group as based in Fredericksburg.

Wilder’s unit had seven wrecks from 2005 to’08 Richmond police officers blamed for three crashes but charged in none At 1:40 a.m. on a Thursday last October, a 2006 Mercury crashed into a deer on state Route 5 in Charles City County. The wreck caused $1,713 in damage to the car’s front end but no injuries to its occupants. It’s an accident that typically would get little notice, except it involved a Richmond Police Department unit assigned to provide 24-hour security to then-Mayor L. Douglas Wilder.

Richmond Jones proposes budget solution Compromise for the current cycle melds council, Wilder plans Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones is proposing a fix to the 10-month-old budget dispute between City Council and former Mayor L. Douglas Wilder. As he prepares to submit a spending plan for next fiscal year, Jones has offered a $655.3 million substitute budget for the current year.

Wilder: Slavery museum still on He says Fredericksburg remains target site but admits financial troubles Former Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder isn’t abandoning plans to develop a slavery museum in Fredericksburg. Through an aide, Wilder notified state officials yesterday that the U.S. National Slavery Museum intends to re-register by next Friday so it legally can seek donations in Virginia.

In the more than 15 years since Doug Wilder floated the idea of building a slavery museum, nearly nothing has come of the notion. Momentum in Fredericksburg—Wilder’s odd choice of location—has deflated. In the meantime, Richmond is moving forward with efforts to improve the Shockoe Bottom area and to preserve the nationally significant history there: the Lumpkin’s Slave Jail, recently unearthed and now an archeological dig site.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones has ended the legal fight between the City Council and former Mayor L. Douglas Wilder. Taxpayers have already spent more than $1.1 million in legal fees.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones announced today that he’s dropping the appeals of two lawsuits brought by then-Mayor L. Douglas Wilder to try to establish broad authority for the mayor.