Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Vice Mayor Sherman Lea and today's story

I received a call this morning from Roanoke Vice Mayor Sherman Lea letting me know that news would be appearing sometime today regarding an inquiry his employer, the Department of Corrections, undertook based on a hotline phone call received earlier this year. My understanding is that Vice Mayor Lea and his employer have resolved the issue, and any differences were reconciled.

As someone who also has to balance my professional life with my work on City Council, it seems pretty easy to me that administrative mistakes could occur in recording time and distinguishing between professional work and council work. For instance, I'll be driving back from a meeting in the New River Valley for my own business when I get a call asking me to swing by the City Building, so I've confused the two. Or I'll get a phone call or email that takes up a half hour on an issue relating to the City and that gets thrown into the mix. For someone like the Vice Mayor, who serves in a senior capacity with the DoC, I can imagine that confusion occurs when trying to administratively account for time.

I've known Vice Mayor Lea in a working capacity for 2.5 years, and have worked especially closely with him for the past two years. He is an honest, decent, hardworking and good man. There's no doubt in my mind that any mistakes that were made in accounting for time between his work on City Council and for the Department of Corrections were entirely unintentional. Mr. Lea has provided leadership during times when we desperately need it, and I have immense respect for his genuine love and concern for Roanoke and his willingness to work tirelessly on behalf of its residents.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Well said, Councilman. Salaried staff juggling multiple responsibilities often overlap those responsibilities or simply lose track of the time management between them. (As a minister, it happens with me all the time. :-) ) If this continues to be a recurring problem with Councilman Lea, then it will be an issue. Otherwise, it's a matter that has been rectified, and we should all move on.

Anonymous said...

You dont just put the candy back after youve stolen it and go unpunished.Lea should resign and face criminal charges.