Why don’t we all move to Henrico County for “social” reasons?
Richmond City Council positioned itself last night to consider allowing City Auditor Umesh V. Dalal to move to Henrico County.
By a 7-0 vote, City Council overrode Mayor L. Douglas Wilder’s veto of an ordinance giving City Council the power to set aside a city-residency requirement that applies to certain senior-level employees, including the police chief, city assessor and budget director. Councilman E. Martin Jewell abstained.
Dalal, appointed by the council in February 2006, said he and his wife would like to move from South Richmond to western Henrico.
“My entire community lives in that area,” said Dalal, a native of India. “We are socially disconnected right now. . . . It’s just for the social reasons.”
Even though I’m a huge admirer and supporter of Dalal, Mayor Wilder is right and City Council is dead wrong on this particular issue — although Hizzoner might want to consider being consistent and protesting ALL such waivers, not just the requests of those he fights with, like Mr. Dalal. Consistency isn’t just for good soup:
Asked if he believed Wilder’s veto was retribution for actions of his office, Dalal chuckled. “Could be,” he said. Wilder has criticized the auditor’s recent handling of investigations of school funding and city agencies.
“If he believes so much, why is he allowing his own directors to live outside the city?” Dalal added of the mayor.
City spokesman Linwood Norman declined to respond.
Two officials — Director of Justice Services David Avery and Director of Information Technology Gene Doody — have waivers from the city’s residency requirements, according to administration officials.
No matter who they are, this is b-a-a-a-d policy. The legislative body of the city should be standing tall with the Mayor on this point, instead of playing political games. It sends quite a message to have high-ranking city administrators in important positions of authority — overseeing the allocation of city tax money and resources is no small potatoes — and they can’t even live in Richmond.
Thanks to city council, that message is now a billboard-sized sign that reads: Our city sucks so bad that even the people in charge of running it won’t live here.