New Start

With the Recreation Department treading water and Human Resources with barely a nostril above the surface, the city is facing some tough personnel decisions that promise not to get any easier with the newly sworn commission now in charge.

New people. New agendas. New ways of looking at things.

Change, when it’s across the board, can be swift and decisive. You only have to look as far as the Sheriff’s Office to see that. But change on a commission can be slow and ponderous, which of course leads to more of the same by sheer familiarity.

For Donnie Smith and Mary Davis, the learning curve will be steep and therefore potentially slow going. While both have a track record of service, neither has been on anything as big and lumbering and public as a commission, and with the racial division now even again, their votes will count in a way they might not have had Matt Aitken not squandered the goodwill he was given by the voters of his district the last time around.

William Fennoy managed to inflict rather than absorb the bumps and bruises during his time on the Coliseum Authority, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t take his political knocks, and it certainly wasn’t under the same bright lights he’s under now.

Not only that, but he’s inheriting a district with a newly empowered constituency that will likely hold his feet to the fire right from the start.

Marion Williams can certainly just jump right in where he left off, which if history is any indication could tie things up in a great big Gordian Knot that the mayor insists he doesn’t have the power to break no matter how shiny and impressive his sword.

So while the dysfunction of the former commission was noteworthy, perhaps it will be known more for slow coast to the finish line than anything else.You Might Also Like: