Sunday's edition of the Herald-Sun kicked off the paper's new Perspectives section, the Durham daily's version of a Sunday opinion section. Though it would be nicer to see a thicker section -- the inaugural edition consists of essentially three pages of expanded op-ed -- it's still good to see the Herald-Sun take a step forward towards broader, more analytical coverage of local issues.
Today's section focuses on how Durham moves forward from the drought, including a thoughtful background piece from Duke's Ken Reckhow and a perspective on the Durham's governmental approach from City Manager Patrick Baker. While neither covers strictly new territory -- many of the points in both have been captured in City Council meetings, the Herald-Sun, N&O, and Independent Weekly coverage, and on local blogs -- the presence of this level of discourse in the city's paper of record is a step forward for a daily that's for several years tended towards the depth (metaphorically and literally) of a box of tissue paper.
Baker's piece offered a nuanced, well-argued perspective on why continued conservation makes sense and why the city may not yet be out of the woods entirely on water use. Most ironically, his opinion piece ran the same weekend as the person Baker replaced as city manager, Marcia Conner, was indicted on misuse of funds charges in Atlantic Beach, S.C., where she'd wound up running the town after being turned out on her ear in the Bull City.
Conner's fall from grace was quick. The former Austin, Tx. assistant city manager took the reins in Durham in summer 2001; three years later, Conner was turned out on her ear, following a significantly botched police chief search, revelations of contracts outside a bid/RFP process given straight to old friends and colleagues, and turmoil in city leadership.
Marcia Conner ended up falling from a position running a city of 200,000 persons to one of less than 500 residents. Even then, it appears, Conner was overmatched for the role, and finds herself yet again out of a job, this time with the added benefit of criminal charges to boot.
There's no question that Baker's tenure hasn't been perfect -- and one hopes city leaders will in fact look for candidates with a history of deep experience at a similar-size or larger municipality. Still, former assistant city attorney Baker did a heck of a lot better without any city management experience than Marcia Conner did with a Texas-sized resume.
Under Baker's watch, the city led a swift and successful police chief search, with Chief Lopez proving a good fit overall to date in the Bull City. At the same time, employee morale improved markedly within City Hall, a turn of events to be expected with Baker's calm demeanor and insider knowledge of departments. Baker also led a well-managed campaign for $110+ million of general obligation bonds back in 2005 that may go down as one of the most important accomplishments of his tenure.
Baker also poured his heart and soul into the job, working long weeks and weekends to catch up on the tricky business of, well, running a $300 million business. And, hey, even if he was up for the occasional dig -- c'mon, you've got to admit he looks a bit like the Simpsons' Mr. Burns -- the wheels of government generally turned more smoothly under his watchful eye.
It's Durham's gain to get to keep Baker around as the city attorney. Though I certainly wouldn't blame Baker if he found himself looking for an assistant or chief city manager position in another city; he certainly has some of the right instincts for such a position, with more seasoning in perhaps a smaller fishbowl for a while.
The big challenge for Durham leaders will be to avoid another Marcia Conner experience. Frighteningly, some of today's Council members remained big boosters of Conner until very late in her three years holding the post. Let's hope their collective judgment is a little stronger this time around.
You forgot to mention that he needs to stick around for the resolution of the lacrosse suit. The city might not be so willing to pay his legal fees were he to move on.
It might also be the case that having Baker around makes us more/less likely to settle.
Posted by: KeepDurhamDifferent! | March 24, 2008 at 07:00 AM