Published: March 28, 2008 02:01 pm            

Will the city commission learn from the Camp Catalpa fiasco?

On Feb. 26, Richmond City Commission unanimously approved an order leasing 15 acres at Camp Catalpa to a private group for an RV park. Two days later, Mayor Connie Lawson executed the lease.

Now, they have unanimously decided it was a poor decision and reneged on another commitment they’ve made. The rescinding of this lease also might have possible legal ramifications if Lakeview RV Park LLC chooses to pursue them, which could cost the city public money.

Obviously, the commissioners are in hot water and I always thought the quick and quiet approval of this order would come back to haunt them and it did. It may have just sealed their fate at another run at public office.

For the city commission to rescind its previous decision and take responsibility for making a poor one, it takes guts. It’s not easy to sit in commission chambers and do that in front of its citizens. So, I commend them for their actions to correct a poor decision they made in haste; however, their handling of this issue is very embarrassing for these commissioners and the citizens of Richmond.

It does not cast a favorable light on their ability to effectively lead and govern Richmond, now or in the future.

It put the city’s planning and zoning commission in a very awkward, no-win situation affecting its ability to do its job. That’s disrespectful. Because of the controversial nature of this issue and how the process was quickly approved, it put Lakeview RV Park LLC in an unenviable position as a villain when they were not. They were simply trying to improve a neglected situation and make it better. You can’t fault them for that.

These commissioners need to clean up their act if they want to be elected again. They continue to set themselves up for embarrassment and unless they learn from this fiasco, it won’t be the last one while they’re in office. These mistakes should not occur with a veteran city commission such as this one.

Everyone makes mistakes and everyone can learn from them. But will they and do they even realize where they went wrong? Let’s hope so, because the answer is an easy one. It’s all about communication and dialogue. In many conversations with former City Commissioner Jim Barnes, the lack of communication and dialogue among the commissioners was his most frustrating issue as a city commissioner. It played a significant role in his decision not to seek public office again.

How can these city commissioners make good and sound decisions in the best interest of the citizenry when dialogue and communication are absent? They can’t and they need to fix that by doing their homework, conducting public work sessions and most importantly, community forums before ever making decisions involving public funds or the use of public land because public input and opinion does matter. It matters a lot as we found out this past Tuesday and Wednesday as well as with the Sunday alcohol vote last year. They should understand that.

The bottom line is their decision approving this lease in the manner they did was a huge mistake. It was in trouble from the very beginning because they didn’t do their research. They didn’t have public work sessions and they didn’t seek community input … now they have egg all over their face once again.

That’s embarrassing and it’s unacceptable from a city commission with this much experience. It’s time for a change.

        

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