Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 17, 1993 TAG: 9301190307
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
'92 FULL OF LESSONS FOR HERBERT
City Manager Bob Herbert has never asked for sympathy, even in the worst of times. And he won't now.There has been enough bad news in Roanoke in the past year to last him a career as city manager. Herbert concedes it was the most challenging 12 months since he became manager in 1985.
But he is undaunted and upbeat as he starts the new year. He says he has also learned an important lesson: He must communicate better with people affected by his decisions.
"I still like what I'm doing. I still like helping people solve problems," Herbert said.
Herbert's litany of bad news for 1992:
Nearly 1,500 people in the Roanoke Valley learned they will lose their jobs because of several plant closings and the takeover of Dominion Bankshares by First Union Corp., a Charlotte, N.C.-based bank.
There was an emotional controversy over a pay plan for city employees that provided some with 28 percent raises and others with 3 percent raises.
Bowing to a bitter protest, council discarded a two-for-one pension plan that gave Herbert and five other top officials two years of retirement credit for each year they worked for the city.
Residents of Roanoke's Gainsboro neighborhood protested a plan for realigning and widening Wells Avenue to provide better traffic access to downtown. They accused city officials of trying to pave over Roanoke's oldest black neighborhood.
The purchase of a new automobile for Herbert also generated controversy. After it was discovered that city bidding procedures had not been followed, the vehicle was returned to the dealer.
Finance Director Joel Schlanger was forced to resign in December after it was disclosed he had not paid the city for more than $1,700 in long-distance personal calls on city phones.
Herbert blames himself partly for the protests over the pay plan and the Wells Avenue realignment.
But the other events, including the pension plan and Schlanger's troubles, were beyond Herbert's control. Schlanger reported to City Council and was not supervised by Herbert.
Herbert, a quiet, low-key manager, has survived the year of turmoil with the solid backing of council members.
He has developed a good relationship with Mayor David Bowers, but the change in mayors in July was another adjustment for him - Herbert had worked closely with retired Mayor Noel Taylor.
Not surprisingly, Herbert prefers to talk about the positive news and downplay the negative. He rejects any suggestion that the negative publicity has created a confidence crisis for city government.
When he was interviewed recently for this story, he filled a blackboard in his conference room with a list of projects and programs that the city has either completed or worked on in the past year.
He listed more than two dozen items - from the planned expansion of the Carvins Cove water filtration plant to a new fire station to the Hotel Roanoke project.
"I tend to remember more of the good news than most people," Herbert said.
Council members did not like the past year's controversies, but they do not blame them all on Herbert.
"Anytime there is controversy, there is a tendency to try to find someone to blame it on," said Councilman James Harvey.
"But you can't put everything on Bob. There was a combination of things - the pension issue, 10 percent pay raises [for top officials] and the pay plan," he said.
Harvey said council must share responsibility for the unrest over the pay plan. "We told him we wanted him to solve the compression problem [too many employees clustered together at the bottom of the pay range for their jobs], and he did that."
Nevertheless, Herbert thinks he should have had the foresight to realize that both the pay plan and the Wells Avenue project could become controversial.
In both cases, Herbert said he failed to communicate adequately during the early stages with the people who were affected.
He said the city has a history of involving citizens and employees in discussions about issues affecting them. He points to task forces on drug abuse, homelessness and race relations that have been appointed since he became city manager seven years ago.
But Herbert said he did not involve the Gainsboro residents or city employees during early discussions on the issues because he thought they would agree with his conclusions.
"I made the error of assuming that [the Gainsboro residents] had followed what was being said publicly and in the newspaper and would draw the conclusions as I had on the roads," he said.
"I didn't understand the breadth and depth of some of their feelings and frustrations."
On the pay plan, Herbert said he mistakenly thought city workers understood the issues and the reasons for the large raises for some employees. "It is a very complex issue, and it took me three or four months with some intense discussions to reach my conclusions," Herbert said.
"I should have stepped back and realized that I should have provided the same information and time for the employees."
After the controversies erupted over Wells Avenue and the pay plan, Herbert began intensive private talks to try to defuse them.
On the Wells Avenue issue, Herbert initiated talks with several organizations in the Gainsboro neighborhood to try to ease the protest. He proposed changes in the road's design to make it more attractive and offered several social and jobs programs for the neighborhood.
"I tried to show them that there was no secret agenda," he said.
Some groups now support the plan to realign Wells, but others, including Evelyn Bethel, president of Historic Gainsboro, still oppose it.
On the pay issue, Herbert created focus groups and an employees' advisory committee to review the plan and suggest changes to make it acceptable to the employees. He intends to make a recommendation to council in February.
Ed Crawford, president of the Roanoke Firefighters Association, said Herbert is "heading in the right direction" on the pay issue. But he said firefighters and other employees will withhold judgment until they know what Herbert will recommend.
Herbert said the longer he is a city manager, the more he believes that "communication, communication and communication" is the key to success.
"What I have learned is that this job in some ways is like being in the adult education business: explaining, teaching, listening and learning from the people out there who pay the bills," Herbert said.
Councilman Howard Musser said Herbert deserves credit for his willingness to work with city employees and Gainsboro residents to try to resolve the issues.
Bowers said Herbert has tried to transform the controversies into positive developments to improve communications with different groups.
If there is any area where Herbert needs to improve, Bowers said, it's doing a better job of telling city residents what city government is doing for them.
Councilman William White thinks Herbert is doing a good job. But he believes the manager needs a more diverse staff to help anticipate problems. "Everybody tells him what he wants to hear. I think that his staff is sincere, but they all have the same viewpoint," White said.
White thinks Herbert needs at least one black person and someone who understands what is happening on the streets.
A black man, Earl Reynolds, was Herbert's top assistant during his first six years as city manager. But Reynolds resigned last February to become Martinsville's city manager.
Herbert intends to fill the assistant city manager's post this month. He has given no hint about his choice or whether he is seeking a black person. Herbert's choice will be subject to council's confirmation.
Since Herbert became city manager, there have been no vacancies among his four top-level directors (all are white males) to give him the opportunity to choose a black or a woman.
Councilman Delvis "Mac" McCadden said he, too, would like to see more diversity on Herbert's top staff. "It's not that the current staff doesn't do a good job, but I think different viewpoints would be helpful," McCadden said.
Herbert has gone without an assistant city manager for nearly a year because he wanted to show city employees that he was willing to take on extra work, just as they have been asked to do more in a tight budget year.
Herbert has put in more work hours during the past year than ever before. At times, he spent up to 80 hours a week on the job, including travel and work on weekends.
The Hotel Roanoke project has been a top priority, with Herbert and other city officials devoting untold hours to it. It has required extensive travel and dozens of meetings.
Herbert said he spent a "dangerously disproportionate" amount of time on his work in the past year, adding that his wife and two school-age children began to question why he was away so much.
Herbert said his vacation was also interrupted by a reporter's calls with questions about whether the city had followed bidding procedures when buying a new car for him.
"I didn't have a very good vacation, and I don't mind telling you that," he said. "When someone raises an issue of ethics or the appearance of ethics, that hurts."
Six months after the publicity about the car, Herbert still has not bought another one and he has no timetable for it. He uses his personal car for travel in his work.
Herbert refuses to comment on Schlanger's resignation, saying it would not be proper because the finance director worked for council, not him.
Herbert won't say whether he thinks the finance director should report to him, instead of council. Most cities in Virginia have a centralized approach, with the finance director reporting to the city manager.
Roanoke council members prefer that the finance director report to them, thereby adding checks and balances to the system. If council seeks his advice on the issue, Herbert said he'll be glad to offer it. In the meantime, he won't lobby either way.
Herbert expects the city budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 to be tight because of the recession, layoffs and the state's financial crunch.
He said the city almost managed to escape the effects of the economic slump that has caused major budget problems in many cities in Virginia and other states. "Just when it looked like we might avoid major job losses, what has happened nationally and the Golden Crescent in Virginia [from the Tidewater area north through Richmond and Northern Virginia] has come to Western Virginia in a dramatic way," he said.
Despite the troubles in the past year, Herbert said he still likes Roanoke and gives every indication he intends to remain in his job.
Asked if he expects to be city manager for another seven years, Herbert laughs and says he has not asked himself that question. But he adds that Roanoke is a good place to raise a family and be city manager.
"I like Roanoke. My family likes Roanoke," he said. "I like working in Roanoke."
\ WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT BOB HERBERT\ \ Mayor David Bowers: "I think he's an excellent manager, although we do not always agree on everything. I think he has council's support. His major achievements have been the new airport terminal, the Roanoke River flood-reduction project, Dominion Tower, and now he's working on the Hotel Roanoke project."\ \ Vice Mayor Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr.: "Bob is a very responsible city manager who is people-oriented. Some people complain that he doesn't listen to them, but I think he makes a genuine effort to listen and work with citizens. I like his flexibility and his willingness to consider other viewpoints on issues."\ \ Councilman Delvis "Mac" McCadden: "He has come through some difficult times in good shape. He has been very helpful to me during my first few months on the job. He's hard to figure out sometimes. I can't always read him or guess what he's going to recommend."\ \ Ed Crawford, president of the Roanoke Firefighters Association: "In the past, the firefighters have not always trusted [him] because they feel that they have been misled sometimes. A lot of grief could have been saved if he had communicated better with the firefighters and other city employees. We'll just have to wait and see if that trust can be rebuilt."\ \ Evelyn Bethel, president of Historic Gainsboro Inc., the group that has fought the plan to realign and widen Wells Avenue: "In a nutshell, he is divisive, deceptive and unfair. It is my impression that his methods of management are not desirable for [Roanoke]. As a person, he can be very personable when he wants to."\ \ The Rev. Carl Tinsley, president of the Gainsboro Neighborhood Development Corp.: "He is a very conscientious manager. He has made some mistakes, but I give him credit: He learns from his mistakes. I think he has taken some licks in the past few months that have hurt him, but I think very highly of him."\ \ The Rev. Charles Green, president of the Roanoke chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People: "He has not been fair to Gainsboro. He was the cause of the breakup of the coalition that was working together on Gainsboro. He has made impossible promises just to get the support of some people on the Wells Avenue project. He's doing what City Council wants him to do."\ \ Councilman Howard Musser: "He has worked hard to recruit and keep new industries. He has tried to bring new jobs into the valley. He understands the need for that."
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