“Any manager who does not fully give his board the proper information sooner or later will get a pink slip.” Suffolk Vice Mayor Curtis Milteer. (Virginian Pilot)
More and more elected officials are saying that leadership at HRT must change at the top. $80,000 was apparently stolen. When did the Board find out? After a FOIA request was made.
“HRT President and CEO Michael Townes sent a memo to board members about the “possibility of a theft of cash” late Wednesday afternoon after receiving a Freedom of Information Act request from The Virginian-Pilot“.
This is on the heels of a resolution scheduled for Tuesday’s meeting of the Virginia Beach City Council saying either replace the CEO of HRT or kiss light rail goodbye in the largest city in Virginia, which would make light rail about as useful as an HOV lane for bicycles.
A $232 million dollar project leaps to $340 and gets pushed back half a year? $80,000 gets stolen, and no one mentions it until the newspaper FOIAs it?
City Council members throughout Hampton Roads should think about how popular they’ll be in May if they support and excuse this behavior.
The Virginian-Pilot editorial board goes even further, saying that light rail needs to be taken away from HRT completely, which I guess keeps Townes employed, but not involved with light rail. The Pilot fears Virginia Beach will walk away from HRT entirely, a strong possibility.
Will the HRT Board risk losing Virginia Beach and the entire management of the light rail project to save one person’s job after such demonstrably poor performance?
