City Manager Embodies Ethics, Honor
Published: August 13, 2009
Updated: August 13, 2009
Integrity. You either have it or you don’t.
Lynchburg City Manager Kim Payne has it, in spades.
And it’s on display for all to see in the legal battle between the city and a police officer.
From the onset of the recession almost two years ago, Payne and City Council determined they would try to weather the financial crisis without resorting to layoffs of city workers. In 2008, Payne and council were able to close the revenue gap by chopping the proverbial low-hanging budget fruit.
But devising a balanced city budget for FY 2010 would require some hard decisions to stick to the promise of no layoffs. Primarily with savings from an across-the-board, 3 percent pay cut for all city staff, that promise was met.
Listen to Detective John Romano’s 54-minute recording
But some thought their interests should stand above the needs of their fellow city workers, that their well-being was more important than others’. Is the public works employee who pushes snow from city streets and picks up garbage on 100-degree days any less important than, say, a police officer? No.
Officer John Romano evidently was one who thought differently.
Click to sendOn March 10, Romano stepped up to the podium at a council meeting, identifying himself only as the president of his neighborhood’s homeowners association. He then launched an attack on the city manager and council for even considering cutting police pay.
Oh, it was couched in polite language — for the cameras broadcasting the meeting to the public, but it was a direct attack on the personal and professional integrity of the city manager.
And Romano neglected to disclose, for the record, that he was police officer. His reasoning? He was “off the city’s clock,” speaking only as a private citizen, not the public servant he is.
And that was what Payne had a problem with. So, on April 3, he set up a meeting with Chief Parks Snead and Romano. Except there was a fourth figure lurking in the room, known only to Romano: his hidden wire.
Up front, Payne wanted to get on the table the fact he felt personally insulted by Romano’s remarks, telling him he was fortunate Payne wasn’t a “vindictive” city manager who believed in payback. He also gave the young officer what can best be described as “fatherly advice,” telling him if he continued to behave like that in future jobs, future bosses could stymie his career and he wouldn’t even know it.
That’s it. Period. And thereon, Romano and his attorney have tried to hang their claims he was threatened, filing a suit in federal court seeking $500,000, claiming improper workplace harassment.
Several times over the course of the conversation, Payne told Romano of his open-door policy for all employees, inviting him repeatedly to call his secretary to set up a meeting for the two of them to talk at length about city government. He also told Romano he would welcome the opportunity to speak to his homeowners association.
Those invitations fell on deaf ears. No call to Payne’s office to schedule a meeting. No call from the homeowners association to set up a presentation for its members. Nothing for almost three weeks until he filed a complaint with his lieutenant, alerting the city the entire meeting had been bugged.
Virginia law allows taping as long as one party is aware. That doesn’t make it right, especially in the workplace or in personal relationships.
Payne has handled the situation like the competent manager he is, going the extra mile to apologize in public. Let’s hope the court realizes that and dismisses this frivolous lawsuit.
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Reader Reactions
“So it has been more than a week now and I see InnocentBystander is still asking for Mr.Payne’s head. Is it possible that Romano has assumed the name IBS to persue his own agenda? Hmmm…I seem to recal that question about Mr. Payne a while a while back. What do you think IBS?“
Well Hawkeye, I’m not Det Romano any more than you are Alan Alda. And as Retiree stated, I’m not the only one saying he should be fired.
Why am I still vocal? Because this is not something that should be forgotten or swept under the rug. This is an egregious offense that could have been prevented by any number of things, the least of which being the city simply knowing who they were hiring in the first place, not to mention the chief actually being a leader and standing up for his officers, or even leslie knowing when to keep his mouth shut.
What does the proverb say? It is better to keep silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
You may call it beating a dead horse. I call it keeping people honest.
This Opinion sounds like a mother making alibis for her guilty son. This is a new low for the News & Advance.
To hawkeye: I don’t know any of the parties in this mess, and I say Payne needs to be fired….so do you question who I might be? If you do I’ll tell you this much, I have worked with people like Mr. Payne, and I use Mr. loosely, and I can tell you they will use their power to get rid of people that stands up to them, this time he was taped making his threat. I would say if it hadn’t been recorded, the officer would probably been fired by now or demoted to garbage collector…...
So it has been more than a week now and I see InnocentBystander is still asking for Mr.Payne’s head. Is it possible that Romano has assumed the name IBS to persue his own agenda? Hmmm…I seem to recal that question about Mr. Payne a while a while back. What do you think IBS?
“If Kim Payne is afraid of tape recorders, perhaps he should watch his own mouth and not issue veiled threats.“
That’s actually a good point that I have failed to mention. Don’t get me wrong, he shouldn’t have made threats in the first place, but the ones he did make were exactly as was commented…veiled. If he really had the cajones to do anything, he should have come right out and said what he had to say. Spineless actions of a coward on display.
Apparently, the News and Advance embodies fear, bias, and cowardice. Why is there NO author listed for this article? This is the most slanted article I have read in a good while. Were you people paid to write this piece of work?
For a newspaper who operates on the premise of freedom of the press, you certainly don’t seem to care about everyone else’s First Amendment rights. The law in Virginia regarding recording devices was created to protect people in instances such as these. If Kim Payne is afraid of tape recorders, perhaps he should watch his own mouth and not issue veiled threats.
If the writer of this article doesn’t think Mr. Payne wasn’t threatening the police officer, then he needs a brain transplant…If you are called into a meeting with the police chief, city manager, and you can bring a recorder in to record it without them knowing it, and do it legally. You better do it. I bet if Mr. Payne was told that it was going to be recorded he would have not said what he did. He probably would have left the meeting. He is a threat to anyone that wants to stand up for their rights, and what is right for others. The police officer should not have had to say he was a police officer. If you went by Mr. Payne way of thinking, the no police officer can go out with family or friends and have even 1 alcoholic drink, without violating policy, and risking being fired. Mr. Payne must be fired by the city council or the voters of Lynchburg should vote everyone of them out of office asap. Mr. Payne should have never been hired after his last job. Did the city know about that lawsuit before he was hired? If so, that should have been a BIG RED LIGHT to the people who hired him…Lynchburg- get rid of the trash in city hall by starting with Mr. Payne…..
“Let’s see if we can look ahead and see how this might unfold as all the facts emerge. Just imagining outloud mind you - A judge/jury looks at the situation and says - you know what the city manager made some comments that he probably shouldn’t have. He apologized. Turns out Officer Romano had already made a decision to leave Lynchburg PD before any of this happened and he stepped up to slam Payne and Council on his way out for not supporting them on salaries. No harm, no foul. The conversation with Payne was a gift horse - just the thing to keep it stirred up. Romano’s attorney turns out isn’t really his, but is one from Northern Virginia that represents an association and is being paid for by someone else. Turns out there really weren’t any negative consequences to the officer. Most of the people who are griping and groaning are either related to the PD or a couple of city council members who are throwing in there two cents just for the fun of it. No politics of course. My bet is the Judge/Jury says get over it people. Once again the drama wins the day. Why worry about real issues when we can all get worked up over something like this?“
If that were teh case, why did Spottsylvania County settle out of court? if there was no case against this man they would have fought it and HE would have fought it. Counter suit, defamation of character, etc. He didn’t. Why? Cause he was wrong, might even say guilty.
“And, by the way, it seems to me that most people not employed by the city think Payne is doing a good job…my guess is most people working for the city feel the same way.“
Might be right. People NOT working for him think he’s doing a good job. They’re stupid and ignoring the major mistakes being made (traffic circles everywhere, bluffwalk, etc), but the ky point here is, they don’t work for him. The man is a politician. If he were like this out in the open he wouldn’t have a job. (I refer back to Spottsylvania). He’s a glad-handing, apologizing-when-caught, double talker. Of course the outsiders think this is a good way to be (I again refer back to people being stupid).
City Council needs to do the right hing here, listen to their constituents, and kick this boob out of town.
Lynchburg police officers have had morale problems (of their own making) for decades. They seek employment, knowing what the terms are, and then gripe is they are not treated special.
This young detective will learn, quickly I suspect, that the city manager was correct when he said such behavior as the officer had exhibited would hinder his career.
The city manager is responsible for the behavior of every city employee, including the police. He has EVERY right to call them in for a meeting of the minds. When talked to rudely by an insubordinate employee he was only human to express his frustration.
I’ll bet a month’s pay that Virginia law which allows secret tape recording will be changed within two years as a result of this ridiculous lawsuit.
To any police officer who feels he is better than any other city employee and threatens to leave, I say good-bye.
Let’s see if we can look ahead and see how this might unfold as all the facts emerge. Just imagining outloud mind you - A judge/jury looks at the situation and says - you know what the city manager made some comments that he probably shouldn’t have. He apologized. Turns out Officer Romano had already made a decision to leave Lynchburg PD before any of this happened and he stepped up to slam Payne and Council on his way out for not supporting them on salaries. No harm, no foul. The conversation with Payne was a gift horse - just the thing to keep it stirred up. Romano’s attorney turns out isn’t really his, but is one from Northern Virginia that represents an association and is being paid for by someone else. Turns out there really weren’t any negative consequences to the officer. Most of the people who are griping and groaning are either related to the PD or a couple of city council members who are throwing in there two cents just for the fun of it. No politics of course. My bet is the Judge/Jury says get over it people. Once again the drama wins the day. Why worry about real issues when we can all get worked up over something like this?
And, by the way, it seems to me that most people not employed by the city think Payne is doing a good job…my guess is most people working for the city feel the same way.
As pointed out earlier though every couple of years we get a chance to say whether we agree or not. Vote your conscience and see if you’re in the majority.
By the way, who is Leslie?
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