Boom Town Blues

The city manager answers too much to the police chief’s wife, who happens to be the mayor. Get rid of the city manager, police chief, fire chief, personnel director and finance director.

Such were a few of the anonymous comments made by Addison employees in a survey conducted earlier this year. The results, released in late May. sent Addison officials diving for cover.

Some 53 percent (101 out of 190) of employees returned the survey, although one maintained that some employees refused to take part because they feared there was a code on each questionnaire that could be tracked back to them. One described the Fear and Loathing atmosphere around Town Hall this way: “You have to watch your ass too much so you will not get fired.”

City Manager Ron Whitehead says the survey’s timing had a lot to do with its results. “A lot has changed since February” (when the project was commissioned), he says, referring to the four new members of the city council. “There were some valid comments, but many are frankly untrue and open-ended.”

Not all employee comments were negative, however. One respondent wrote: “I am lucky to work here. I believe there are many snot-nosed, spoiled employees that should get off their butts and be more thankful about what they have.”