Allen joins City Council for first time today, though presence already felt

The Waynesboro City Council will welcome a new face at the organizational meeting to be held this morning.
Bruce Allen, who won the Ward B seat to replace Mayor Tom Reynolds, has already made a name for himself on the council, namely in his support of Tim Williams and Frank Lucente’s decision to approach City Manager Doug Walker for his resignation shortly after the May 6 elections.
“A lot of the city, people I’ve talked to, understand why the decision was made the way it was,” said Allen. “Also, a lot of it is personnel issues that can’t be discussed. There are a lot of issues there. Citizens aren’t aware of all the issues and why the decision was made. I like Doug, myself. I just didn’t think he was taking the city in the direction it needed to go.”
Lucente said he feels residents and council members alike should recognize their differences and find a common ground.
“Personally, a lot of people don’t believe what I believe,” Lucente said. “I just consider them to have different philosophies and different ideas. Anyone out there has opinions. Maybe people disagree with Mr. Allen, but Mr. Allen has not been on council long enough for people to make a decision about him.”
Still, some members of the council have been left with a bad taste in their mouth.
“I’m very anxious to work with them [the new majority],” said Vice Mayor Nancy Dowdy. “I think that’s the only way to work as a whole. But I find it very disappointing that they made the decision [to fire Walker] and did not include us in the process at all. I see a pattern being set for the next two years.”
In the wake off Walker’s resignation, council members acknowledge the need to move past recent upheavals.
“The future [of the council] is very bright,” Lucente said. “We will look to help the citizens of Waynesboro to keep services high, taxes low and to look at all areas of spending.”
“All I can do is be hopeful,” Dowdy said.
Allen praises the council’s work on the final budget for fiscal year 2009. Council members found more than $600,000 to trim from the budget, without over-compromising services, he said.
“I just want to get our local government going to where we spend our money wisely and are accountable for how we spend,” Allen said. “[I also want to] work forward on our infrastructure. That is one of the big things I’m hearing from listening to people around the city and the city workers.”
As the council looks to the future, members hope to coalesce.
“It’s my hope that council can come together and have some cohesiveness,” said Councilwoman Lorie Smith. “And I think we need to do some repairing of some relationships. I also think we’ve got to reinstate some trust between each other. I am very hopeful that we can embark on that. We all want to see the city move forward.
“I had a good conversation with Mr. Williams, who wants to get some things done. I was very happy to hear that. We will need some time to acclimate to each other and the new council. I hope we can continue to do some envisioning. I also think we need to be held accountable for that by the citizens.”
Allen agrees, saying he hopes “our council can come together and become united and work together in decision making. I hope we can all come together on that part of it.”
The new council will be seated at 9 a.m. today at the Charles T. Yancey Municipal Building in Waynesboro.