Dumfries council is doing its job

Fred E. Yohey
Published: August 19, 2008

Unlike the position taken in your August 13 editorial, I believe the Dumfries Town Council is doing the job it was elected to do.  That is, trying to follow the prescribed process for executing contracts and
obtaining all information before voting on expensive contracts. 

Since 2000, town law has required that contracts be approved by council only after “all financial terms and provisions” are known.  In addition, the final vote on contracts is supposed to be taken only at
the regular town council meeting held the first Tuesday of the month. What your editorial didn’t take into account was that all the financial terms were not known when the vote was taken on June 24 and
that it was taken at a work session, not the regular monthly meeting. 

For some reason, there was a sense of urgency in late June to get this lease approved before the new Council took their seats.  Stranger still that nearly 60 days after the agreement was approved, our
town manager hasn’t presented a final lease agreement for my signature. Perhaps the reason could be that the incoming council on July 1 voted 6-1 to further examine the lease agreement at its July 22
work session.  If this fact had been disclosed in your editorial, I don’t think there would have been any basis for your criticism of the town council. 

Another fact that you failed to mention was that the town attorney and I independently found over a dozen cost elements that were not previously discussed at council meetings related to this lease.
These included annual utility expenses, security doors and equipment, carpeting, computer relocation and hookup, etc.,  and were important because the budget had only $77,000 approved for rental
space and remodeling. 

Finally, in a recent article your paper referred to the current town council being more “divisive” since three new members (Dorothea Barr, Willie Toney, and Nancy West) took office. Instead of being
criticized, they should be praised for coming to meetings prepared to ask pertinent questions before voting. Slowly, but surely, our image is changing to one that our citizens can be more proud of. 

FRED E. YOHEY, Jr.

Mayor

Town of Dumfries