Roanoke City Council members unanimously voted to hire Valmarie Turner as a Roanoke City manager. According to lame duck Mayor Sherman Lea, Ms. Turner was on the top of a strong pool of applicants. The Council members joyfully celebrated the hiring of the new manager and praised her qualification and diligence work in her previous jobs even before assuming her duty and see her work ethic in Roanoke.
The ambiguity of the current Council members’ work in the past has always raised questions and put them in a questionable position. Ms. Turner has been praised and cordially welcomed to Roanoke City with a $255,000 salary, while in all likelihood Roanoke has many qualified and experienced individuals who can take the role of leaders and manage the City wisely.
As they have always concurred during the Council meetings and effortlessly passed City’s laws based on their political interests, voting to hire a new City manager was as simple as pronouncing the word “easy” and indeed, this is what Councilwoman Trish White-Boyd said regarding the decision to hire Ms. Turner.
Throughout their time on Council, members have piled up problems for the City and created distrust among the majority citizens in Roanoke. However, for the first time since 2000, a Republican, Nick Hagen, was elected in November for the City Council and thus far Democrat Joe Cobb is only ahead of his Republican contender David Bowers by 69 votes. It is noteworthy that the recount for the Mayoral office is underway.
Even though, the newly elected Democrat council members would be on the same path of the current members, the Council members have rushed to hire the City Manager before the new members join and begin to work. This swift hiring of the City manager is definitely questionable, and people should always seek for the hidden reasons behind the current Council members’ actions.
During the hiring ceremony and according to Cardinal news, two of the three new City Council members Phazhon Nash (D) and Nick Hagen (R) were present. Councilman Nash, even before working with Ms. Turner, expressed his joy and said, “She is a great asset for our city. Councilman Hagen told The Roanoke Star that the current Council members could have waited on such a decision. “ I would prefer that if they had waited for the new Council members.” Hagen said. However, Hagen said, “ I do look forward to working with her [Ms. Turner].”
Finally, one has to wonder, is there a correlation between the zoning amendment in Roanoke City and the choice of Ms. Turner for the City manager position?
Ms. Turner is specialized in housing development and finance with real estate sale experience. She was a real state salesperson licensed from the States of Georgia and Florida. Ms. Turner has an extensive background in housing, which is likely to make her favorable to the current City Council members and potential Mayor, Joe Cobb as they recently approved the “anything goes” zoning amendment in Roanoke City.
– Serwan Zangana supported Operation Iraqi Freedom as a U.S Army translator before coming to the U.S from Kurdistan, Iraq in 1997 to seek political asylum. He was granted asylum status and years later proudly became a U.S citizen. He currently serves as a correction officer in Roanoke.
