OUR VIEW: New blood

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July 16, 2010

Anonymous Suwannee Democrat The Suwannee Democrat Fri Jul 16, 2010, 09:33 AM EDT

Live Oak — First the good news.

With new blood at City Hall, change is afoot. The veil’s about to be lifted, and we may finally get a good look at how things really work at 101 White Avenue.

What’s just been revealed, however, is troubling.

Councilman Adam Prins, on his first night in office, produced documents showing that Public Works Director Don McKenna has effectively been kept out of the loop for nearly two years on matters concerning OMI, the firm hired to perform public works operations. Emails and memos dating from September 2008 indicate OMI Project Manager Todd Hunt consistently ignored McKenna’s requests for documents and reports concerning day-to-day public works operations. McKenna, exasperated, finally quit asking.

Assuming McKenna is capable of the proper discharge of his duties -- were he not, the issue would surely have been addressed by now -- something doesn’t quite add up. After all, the real issue here isn’t Don McKenna, but rather the position he holds. The Live Oak Public Works Director is responsible, at least in part, for overseeing the day-to-day operations of OMI -- making sure the firm fulfills the terms of its multi-million dollar contract with the city. If McKenna’s not performing that task, who is?

An OMI official told Democrat reporter Jeff Waters that it’s been “common practice ... for several years” to deal directly with City Administrator Bob Farley instead.

OK.

But the question posed Tuesday by Prins then demands an answer. If the public works director wasn’t going to be allowed to perform a vital part of his job, why fund that position at all?

Farley wouldn’t talk to our reporter and OMI’s brief statement raises more questions than it answers.

This one is every bit as odd as it sounds, folks.

It does have a strangely familiar ring, though. A few years back the council unwisely chose to eliminate the position of public works director altogether and simply pay Hunt to do the job. Just as now, he reported directly to Farley.

Nothing improper occurred, best we can tell, but somebody must have finally realized that having an OMI man oversee his own work just didn’t look right, and pulled the plug.

We’re not sure what’s going on here, but it smells just as bad.

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