Probe aimed at fixing problems

The story that this newspaper printed last week has, in the words of one of our loyal Hillsboro readers, “stirred the pot” with an eye-opening story about the apparent misuse of public equipment and county inmate trustees who were under the care of the City of Manchester.

Nashville’s WSMV-TV picked up on our story, and we have been peppered with questions about our findings. Channel 4 News seemed to find merit in our piece, as did dozens of readers who voiced their opinions on the matter on our website and social media outlets.

More importantly, we hope the issue has drawn the attention of proper channels who can look further into what we maintain is a broken chain of management, checks-and-balances and accountability of the public’s trust. We did not undertake this story lightly.

Our motivations have been questioned about the political timing of the story’s release. To that, we offer this question: Would the story have been an issue had the mayor and four aldermen not unconstitutionally extended their own terms in office and extra year?

That was an argument we fought and lost. But it was an argument that was never well-reasoned by the other side. Constitutional issues about the term extensions were never vetted properly, and the head-spinning chicanery added a rule to force a seated alderman from his or her post to run for Manchester mayor.

But it happened. Under a guise of consolidating the election cycle – an option the same board passed on a year earlier – five aldermen and the mayor were given a free pass at City Hall without the legal consent of the people. Perhaps the question isn’t about our timing, but the timing of some members of the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen. One thing is certain, more questions are coming as we continue look into our local government.

Related posts:

1. New BOMA Tuesday Manchester will swear-in a new mayor, two new aldermen and a two incumbent lawmakers Tuesday at the regular meeting of the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen. After a raucous election and post mortem that ushered some political appointees out...
2. Manchester Board passes sale of police department land Manchester aldermen pass the final reading on the sale of a piece of property located on Interstate Drive that had been purchased to build a new police department. Those plans were scrapped last year when the city realized it did...
3. Misconduct story an ongoing probe tsi staff In the March 24 edition of The Saturday Independent, we penned a story that revealed a pattern of misuse of Manchester City equipment and county inmates by Manchester City elected officials and police officers. It was surface scratch...
4. Letters to the Editor Morse thanks his supporters To the editor: The voters have spoken! I pray I made a difference by running and bringing some fresh and new ideas to make Manchester a better place. For all of you who voted for me...