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Children, everyone take a seat. I need everyone to hush and listen.
Durham politics has become a game of wars. The tussle for power between members of the Durham Board of County Commissioners is amplified by the intrusion of four political action committees – People's Alliance, The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, Durham Association of Educators and the Friends of Durham. A variety of perspectives have been pitched involving the core issue impacting division.
For some, it’s a philosophical gap between Durham County Manager Wendell Davis and the perception of Durham’s progressive reputation. People’s Alliance and Durham Association of Educators point to the manager’s funding of schools as an example of a philosophy they claim mirrors Ronald Reagan's trickle-down theory. Some residents attack the proposal to contract the services of the Robert Bobb Group, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm, due to Bobb’s involvement in closing numerous schools in Detroit, Michigan.
The back and forth is brutal. It’s the classic game of he says, she says with the contract of the county manager dangling as the prize. Lost in the maneuvering to be heard is the fundamental reason of how we got here.
Let’s review the Coleman Report. Submitted on August 2, 2020, James E. Coleman, Jr., the attorney retained by the county to review allegations made by Durham County Manager Wendell Davis that Commissioner Heidi Carter “demonstrated a consistent pattern of disparate treatment towards [him] and employees of color”, presented a firm conclusion:
The matters reflect a troubling lack of trust and meaningful communication between the Board, as the governing body, and the County Manager; and, to a lesser degree, a lack of collegiality among some members of the Board. As a result, the Durham County Government is in a state of periodic dysfunction, at a time when the residents of Durham County need it to be effective in dealing with several daunting issues, any one of which alone would be challenging. In the circumstances, it is critically important as a matter of first order for the Board and the County Manager to find a constructive way to move forward and put these issues behind the County.
Nothing matters more than for the board to “find a constructive way to move forward and put these issues behind the County.” The report notes a pattern of “micromanaging by individual commissioners as evidence of racial bias, in which individual commissioners bypass the County Manager and communicate directly with members of the staff about the details of their work.”
A majority of the senior staff agreed “that employees who experience it might reasonably perceive the conduct as biased, whether conscious or implicit. But there is wide agreement on the corrosive impact of the behavior on the staff; often, it puts the staff in the middle of disputes between the Board and the Manager”.
Let’s rewind to the March 8, 2021 board meeting where the Robert Bobb Group presented their proposal to members of the board. Durham County Attorney Lowell Siler was given the task of locating a consultant to address the findings in the Coleman Report. It’s his job. The county is in a state of crisis. Siler exerted time and county resources to locate the company he believes, based on his expertise, experience and time spent with the board, best aligned with the needs of the board.
What followed was massive intrusion of groups with their own political agenda. Members of Durham Association of Educators opposed the selection of Bobb due to actions that reflect what they believe to be in opposition to teacher unions. Siler’s selection of the Bobb Group took into consideration recommendations from county and city managers from across the country. It wasn’t a decision based on Bobb’s politics. It considered the merit of his current company.
This brief summation is important in exposing concerns in the Coleman Report.
In publicly shaming an employee, the board relates a lack of trust that impacts employee morale.
Siler’s proposal was dismissed by some members of the board with questions that attacked the credibility of the process. Given these questions were part of a public meeting, Siler may have been left demoralized after doing the heavy lifting of finding what he believed to be the best company to manage the county’s concerns. Employees who witnessed the exchange between Siler and members of the board may perceive this as an assault on Siler’s professional integrity.
The board allowed political agendas to undermine what the county needs.
Beyond the concerns of Durham Association of Educators and other advocates of unions, the ultimate concerns facing the county are the issues related in the Coleman Report. Dismissing the professional judgement of the county attorney in favor of political interest made a very public statement regarding how power dynamics can be used to circumvent an important process. The concerns of Durham Association of Educators are viable if the consulting involved public education. Making a statement of support and trust of the work of county employees matters during a time when employees feel attacked by members of the board.
Members of the board empowered themselves in setting the terms of selecting a consultant in addressing their personal dysfunction.
Residents have the right to ask if the board should control the selection process. Given Commissioners Carter and Jacobs are directly and indirectly named in the Coleman Report, the integrity of the work of a consultant is severely compromised by the board’s involvement in the process. Their participation compromises the findings of the Coleman Report, continues a trend of micromanagement of county employees, is tainted by the demands of individuals and groups with political interest and further divides a community fuming over allegations of a perceived pattern of disparate treatment towards the county manager and other Black employees.
It’s critical we remain focused.
