Wake Up People, It’s Time for Change

A reader who wishes to remain anonymous submitted the following essay to us for publication:

Venality in the corridors of power, especially within local government, can erode the very foundation of public trust and hinder effective governance. Raleigh, like many cities, is not immune to these challenges, where these instances of corruption can manifest in various forms, from minor indiscretions to significant abuses of power.

There have been actions in recent years that not only betray the electorate’s trust but also failed to meet the expectations of tax paying constituents in our capital city. Under the Raleigh council-manager form of government, the manager is the chief administrative officer responsible for everything that happens in the city day to day. The manager supervises and coordinates the departments, appoints and removes their directors, prepares the budget for the council’s consideration, and makes key reports and recommendations to the council.

The council serves as the legislative body and is responsible for providing guidance and direction to the manager based on community goals and strategies. They approve the proposed budgets ensuring responsible fiscal stewardship and effective use of taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars. They also focus on major projects like affordable housing, community growth, land use, sustainable infrastructure, safety  and  other long-term considerations. However, their guidance and direction are only as good as the information provided by the City Manager and her administrative staff.

The rapid decline of the city after the previous city manager Ruffin Hall’s abrupt departure in 2021 seems to be brushed aside and replaced with popcorn worthy infighting at council meetings.  Meanwhile, the manager remains a spectator and veils in the fog of discord blanketed by secrecy and a lack of transparency. Is it really that difficult to see?

Let’s just peek at it:

• • A self-admitted botched response to Hedingham shooting which placed the City’s lack of crisis response on full display.
  • A parade incident that should never have happened but took two years to resolve what could have been resolved in two months.
  • Failure to respond to post pandemic and inflation indicators which resulted in the highest vacancy rates in the history of the city placing critical services at risk.
  • Transit issues, one of which placed the City’s most vulnerable citizens at risk and could have been avoided if the staff had been more attentive to the input of the people they serve.
  • The “additional leave” debacle that not only violated state law but broke promises to employees; some of whom must now work an additional year before they retire.  No responsibility taken by the City.  
  • A mammoth $37M capital reserve left over in one year. A clear sign of fiscal mismanagement then parceled out for individual agendas diverting resources away from public services and employees that are crucial for the city’s future development.
  • Intentionally muting the voices of constituents in areas of resolutions, voting, employee care by manipulating public input conduits.
  • Crime increases—RFD response times to fires does as well–yet minimal effort to divert resources to the first responders. Separation pay is likely dead in the water. New equipment and infrastructure is a low priority.
  • The Capital city has no ethics policy, nor do they want one, to address the misuse of taxpayers’ dollars.  Establishing checks and balances, transparency and accountability must be at the cornerstones of any functional government. This means implementing stricter oversight mechanisms, such as independent auditing bodies and ethics commissions, to monitor actions and expenditures and public access to government proceedings and records. This is nonexistent.
  • Meanwhile, the manager’s office is quietly receiving pay increases and adjustments triple that of city employees who are struggling with the high cost of living and inflation. Something’s off when a manager receives a total pay increase of 11.5%  in 2022 and then quietly again in 2023 another 10%.  For this kind of performance in our city?  The last thing we need is decisions that impact constituents and their tax dollars to be made in a figuratively smoke-filled room bearing no input from the public.  

This is us Raleigh. Wake up people!  It’s time for change and it’s going to take quite a bit of time to get this turnaround.

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