City manager deserves support

Published 10:16 pm Wednesday, September 20, 2017

On Monday night, the Hogansville City Council voted unanimously to name David Milliron as Hogansville’s newest city manager.

Every seat in the relatively small room used for council meetings at city hall was filled as citizens of Hogansville waited to find out which of the final three candidates would get the nod.

As it turns out, Milliron was the pick all along. The vote was quick, easy and straight to the point.

After the vote, several people yelled out from their seats, upset that they were not able to question Milliron after the vote was taken. We don’t blame the mayor and council for keeping the meeting moving, rather than turning it into a press conference for Milliron, who was more than happy to speak to the media after the meeting.

We’re sure anyone that wanted to say hello also could’ve stuck around.

However, we do understand why people were so interested in the meeting. The city manager spot is obviously important, since that person is over the day-to-day operations of Hogansville. It was also important that Hogansville get this pick right, so that Mayor Bill Stankiewicz could go back to his role as mayor moving forward. He’d been pulling double duty as mayor and city manager since May.

Many shared their concern about the final candidates and rightfully so. One of the final three had a criminal history and the other two had been relieved of their duties at their last stop as city manager. Stankiewicz said it’s not uncommon for a city manager to have been let go.

People have a right to question how a candidate with a criminal history as a city manager made it into the top three for the position. It’s head-scratching for sure.

But, many believed that person — and not Milliron — was the favorite for the position going into Monday. We’re not sure where these rumors start, other than people anticipating the worst from a situation.

It certainly wasn’t reported by us or any other media outlet.

Regardless, Milliron was the choice, and he should be given a fair chance in Hogansville. He has several ideas to move the city forward and should be allowed to do so before being criticized.

He said for the first six months he plans to sit back and learn, rather than jumping in and making mass changes. From this side of the fence, that seems like a good idea.

We wish him luck in his new role. We know we’ll be talking to him much more in the future.