City Manager Embodies Ethics, Honor

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

Click to view the lawsuit

Officer John Romano evidently was one who thought differently.

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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.