| Council:
Turn on the Light |
| The Herndon Town Council is down to five finalists for the
town manager position and plans to interview them before Christmas.
The Council hopes to hire a new manager before present Town
Manager Ed Moore retires Feb. 1, 2003. If someone isn't on
board before that, an interim manager will be appointed. |
| The town manager is responsible for Herndon's budget and
is responsible for hiring, or at least approving the hiring,
of all town employees--including the chief of police--except
for the town attorney. He is also responsible for communicating
with the residents of the Town of Herndon, being available
to listen to their concerns and praises, and to solve community
problems. The town manager also is the highest "non-elected"
representative of the town, and as such represents all town
residents. |
| Which is why the hiring of the town manager should not be
done in secret, as the council plans to do, but rather the
finalists for the position should be available to be questioned
by the public, or at least have the finalists present prepared
comments to the community upon which residents then could
respond to council members. |
| The council has asked the public for their comments on what
it thinks a town manager should be, but a face-to-face meeting
with the finalists would be much better. |
| However, Herndon Mayor Richard C. Thoesen said the council
does not plan to release any names until it has selected its
top choice. |
| "We want to keep this as private for the applicant
as we can based on the philosophy that we don't want to impact
their relations with their current employers," he said. |
| We should remember, however, that Herndon Police Chief Toussaint
E. Summers was one of five finalists for the Durham City,
N.C., police chief post this year while he was still police
chief in Herndon. He was cut from the final list of three. |
| "I think it really speaks well of him that he stayed
in the competition for an extensive period of time,"
Herndon Town Manager John E. Moore said in an Observer story
at the time. |
| After he was eliminated from the final list, Chief Summers
said, "I would say that I'm going to be here (in Herndon).
I'm not going anywhere." |
| Councilwoman Connie Hutchinson said, "I understand
that all town employees are welcomed and encouraged to always
be trying to promote and further their careers..." |
| Council members at that time said the bid to leave Herndon
did not affect their belief in Summers' ability to head the
Herndon police force. |
| That being the case, it's surprising that now they want
to protect the identity of the finalists for the most important
staff job in Herndon. |
| Selecting that person in secret, away from public input,
is not the best thing to do. We would hope the council and
the mayor would turn on the light so all of us could see what's
going on, and what we're getting. |
| |
| Merry
Christmas From Columbia Gas |
| Here's an early Christmas present to all of us who heat
our homes with natural gas. |
| Columbia Gas of Virginia announced this week an increase
in homeowners' monthly gas bills of 11.6 percent due to the
"quarterly purchased gas adjustment the company will
implement this month," according to Bob Innes, a spokesman
for the company. |
| The increase, according to the company, will run through
December, January and February pending monthly review by Columbia.
The increase coincides with the coldest months of the year,
and this week weather forecasters are predicting highs in
the low 30s, or about 15 degrees colder than normal. |
| "Columbia's gas costs are adjusted on a quarterly basis
to reflect the price the company pays for natural gas, which
by law is passed on to customers without markup," according
to a press release from the company. |
| "The average residential customer using 110 Ccf (11
Mcf) of natural gas per month will pay $99.32 beginning with
meter readings effective immediately," the press release
continued. "This compares to the same bill of $89 in
December 2001." |
| The price of natural gas is based on supply charges, service
and delivery charge, and state and local taxes. Columbia Gas
has 200,000 customers in Northern Virginia and in other parts
of the state and is one of 10 energy distribution companies
of NiSource Inc., which has 3.6 million customers in nine
states. |
| An overnight increase of 11.6 percent seems excessive, especially
in the economic crisis we all find ourselves. Wouldn't it
be nice if homeowners, wage and hourly earners, business owners
and non-monopoly enterprises could simply wave a wand and
have 11.6 percent more income? |
| You can contact Columbia Gas at www.columbiagasva.com.
E-mail the company and wish them a very Merry Christmas from
all of us in Northern Virginia. Ho! Ho! Ho! |
| And that's Our Town this week. |
