Minutes 01/08/1985 - Laserfiche WebLink

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'.j" .' .' l. TUESDAY JANUARY 8, 1985 received a letter from The Reverend James A. Dickerson, Pastor of Broad Street Christian Church, commending Mr. John W. Bouldin, Jr., City Treasurer, for the manner in which Mr. Bouldin has conducted the affairs of his office as well as urging Council to maintain the City Treasurer's office under the present structure. Councilman Groden then presented a prepared statement regarding this proposal, essentially as follows: I address this statement to the members of City Council, the citizens pre- sent, and all of the taxpayers of the City of Martinsville. - By prior unanimous action, your City Council has taken steps to put into motion a plan, developed and submitted by City Manager Edmonds, by which the City Treasurer, John W. Bouldin, Jr., is to be relieved of the duty and responsibility for the collecting of City monies. This plan came after some several years of critical statements made by independent auditors concerning the handling of the City's monies by the Treasurer's office -- bad accounting practices, poor record-keeping, and poor manage- ment of his (i.e., the Treasurer's) employees to whom the City pays portions of their salaries. Prior Councils saw the same reports by the independent auditors but never took the action that this Council has now initiated. When this Council recently decided to accept City Manager Edmonds' plan, it realized that its decision and action would not meet with the approval of some of our citizens who, with other citizens, elected Mr. Bouldin to the position of City Treasurer; nevertheless, these same citizens also elected us as mem- bers of City Council to serve them, to be their eyes and ears, to recog- nize and correct inefficiencies whenever they may occur, and to protect and safeguard public monies at all times. This I consider as the citizens' mandate to me and I expect and endeavor to discharge my responsibilities accordingly. ,- Unfortunately, City Manager Edmonds (having recently resigned as our City Manager, effective January 15, 1985) will not be here to carry out his plan. In view of this development, I urge Council to table this issue un- til Council appoints Mr. Edmonds' successor who, early on, would study the problems in the Treasurer's office and report back to Council his findings and recommendations thereon, following which CounciJ should take appropri- ate steps to make sure that these problems are solved and will not recur. Councilman Groden then offered a motion, seconded by Council Williams, that Council " table this issue until we appoint a permanent City Manager". There being no other persons speaking to this matter, Mayor Cole declared the public hearing closed; and, after some discussion, Councilman Groden's motion carried unanimously. In tentative acceptance of the Planning Commission's recommendation that Council approve