The Failure of City Management and a Citizens Review Panel
With each passing day and the latest news of our local government in disarray, I am convinced that the City of Savannah is being mismanaged into the ground. Now comes the news that the budget has already been blown for the current calendar year and that your city council wants to raise your property taxes to make you pay for their ineptitude and mistakes. Whether council squeezes more money out of the millage rate or finds some other source of revenue, we're all going to end up having to pay for the single worst case of graft and corruption I've ever seen anywhere in America.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: so many of the problems we face could be improved or resolved simply by taking a good, long, hard look at the office of City Manager and finding the best talent available to take over the single most powerful job in town. Regardless of who occupies that office, Savannah could use the services of a Citizens Review Panel empowered to investigate issues submitted by department heads anonymously and without fear of reprisal. Presently, there are department heads who clearly should be encouraged to retire. But there are some who would be far more effective if their ideas regarding efficiency were supported by the city manager instead of suppressed and ignored. These department heads have nowhere else to go outside the chain of command and the entire city suffers because of it.
Whether or not Savannah sweeps clean City Hall in the November elections, I will continue to advocate for a Citizens Review Panel so that department heads can bring their issues to light without fear of being fired.
I'm sick and tired of just about every single issue being traced back to a city manager who is clearly out of her depth.
