Reasons why Walker was not rehired

By Stewart Hall
Published: June 23, 2008

For those who ask why City Manager Doug Walker was not re-hired, consider the following.
First, his consummate incompetence in revitalization by discouraging business and industry with penalizing taxes and “special fees,” while offering no incentives.
While routinely shunning councilmen Frank Lucente and Tim Williams, Walker played politics with council members Tom Reynolds, Lorie Smith and Nancy Dowdy, who not only gave their poster boy the inconceivable salary increase of $11,000, but also allowed him to set policy by approving 99.4 percent of his proposals! The council is supposed to set policy.
This inefficient foursome has put the community in debt for decades to come by catering to special interest groups and pork barrel spending at the expense of the maintenance of a deteriorating infrastructure. Consequently, Reynolds, Smith and Dowdy can take much of the credit for his demise.
The News Virginian stated it best on April 9, “… the city’s proposed spending plan carries the distinction of offering less while taking more.”
Walker worked with Reynolds, Smith and Dowdy to hand Bill Hausrath and the Wayne Theatre Alliance $300,000 and obligate another $700,000 of our taxes.
The answer to the initial question is crystal clear. Lucente, Williams and Councilman-elect Bruce Allen are doing their jobs. They are responding to the demands of the voting taxpayers, who elected them by landslide margins.
The citizens of Waynesboro won this election and now have three good men whom they can trust and who will faithfully serve them with no hidden agendas.
Stewart Hall
Waynesboro