I'm saddened by the layoffs at Paducah city hall, especially the layoff of Herchel Dungey, Paducah's city Human Resources Director. Dungey was one of two minority department heads getting the axe. It's bad for anyone to lose their job, and I'm sorry for all of the folks dealing with this, but I want to write a bit about Mr. Dungey. I got to become acquainted with Herchel at the
meetings of the Paducah Interracial Men's Group, which I used to attend monthly, but haven't for awhile for a variety of reasons, mostly logistical and economic. But I find Mr. Dungey to be
articulate, intelligent, well educated, and progressive. Oh, did I mention that he is African-American, and from my understanding, recruited into Paducah from Chicago several years ago to try and move the city into the modern era of minority hiring.

But now, he, of all people, in the entire city government, is one of several city employees, one of the highest level officials to go. The reason given is to "consolidate" departments to reduce
costs. No mention has been made that he didn't perform well in his job. It makes no sense, but it came originally "officially" as a recommendation from the city manager, James Zumwalt. This city manager has been in trouble, even within the last few months, for
at best, insensitivity to minorities. Mr. Dungey's comments to the press about being axed were blunt. "This is racism..."

I never liked the "city manager" form of government. The people end up with an overpaid, unelected bureacrat that has too much influence in many cases. I really that is the case here. The people elect a mayor, and should pay the mayor what he needs to be paid to do the job. Giving a 6 figure salary to an unelected person to have so much control over a city like Paducah takes away the people's choice and reduces democracy. That's just my opinion.

I see a lot of similarities in this situation with what is happening with the AIG bonuses. Consider this. The Paducah city government with the current city manager, has gotten into all kinds of
messes. The city is now running a large deficit, the Executive Inn debacle is on the verge of driving the quilt show away, a number of the key galleries in Lowertown have "for sale" signs in their yards, certain other neighborhoods in the city are getting less attention (and aid) than others, (and showing it), it has been reported that there are serious problems in the Paducah police
department, and the fire department has butted heads with city government often in the last several years. It isn't the best of times in Paducah.

So isn't allowing the city manager, who has been in this influential position through all of this, to come up with a plan to fix this like letting the fox guard the chicken house? It makes little sense. With Mr. Zumwalt's recent verbal insensitivies, and with other controversies surrounding race in which his name has arose, such as his clash with the Paducah Human Rights Commission, to allow
him to come up with the plan to reorganize the city government which doesn't involve, but removes two minority department heads strips the plan of credibility from the beginning. He simply has too
much baggage, deserved or not, to display the kind of objectivity that such a process would have to demonstrate in order to survive the public scrutiny and keep from fracturing the community. And besides, perhaps the city manger should be at the top of the "to go" list. An independent commission could determine that. Certainly, he shouldn't be rewarded for a less than stellar performance.

The interesting but sad irony here is that I heard Mr. Dungey, more than once, speak about a time in his corporate career when he worked on a team which reviewed potential new sites for expansion. Cities and regions, according to Mr. Dungey, are rated on a number of factors, as to their favorability. It isn't just transportation and natural resources, though, that many corporations consider. Race relations are important, and our area doesn't rank that high. Having an African-American leader, a
man of Mr. Dungey's stature, say bluntly to local press, that his firing was racism is shocking to me. Always Mr. Dungey was dignified and restrained. Although always proud of his culture, he
always took a tone about race more like President Obama takes. Of the African-American non-preacher leaders in town with whom I am acquainted, Mr. Dungey always seemed to me to be very diplomatic. Never so blunt as this.

That Dungey would make such a statement so bluntly seems to me to be like a flashing billboard, that Paducah still doesn't get it on race relations. Not good for image of the city, the region or progressive economic development.

While it is a great step for the city government to have hired an African-American chief of police, to try and justify this firing because of that hiring rubs salt into an already festering wound. I do not know Mr. Dungey closely, but if we meet somewhere, we shake hands and exchange a warm greeting. I did speak to him a number of times at the interracial men's group of the years.
But he has been here long enough to become a respected part of the community, and it would be my guess that he will have a hard time, in this economy finding another job in his profession around
here. I hope he can, because we need him and more like him. Losing him is going to be a blow, not just to the African-American community, but to the white community. Mr. Dungey seems to me to be the kind of leader that we want to keep, not run out of town. The city government should have thought this through more and not just rubber stamped the city manager.

I don't know the percent of minorities that are in the positions that the city is ending. I assume that will come out. But there is more than just sheer numbers here. A community is more than just a census count. It is an interaction of individuals that influence each other in unique ways. A community builds when it develops trust. Trust is built on credibility and transparency. This reorganization is neither credible or transparent. It should be ditched and an independent commission appointed to investigate and make public how this plan was drafted, and to come up with a
new, better plan.