Appears new City Council's first action a petty vendetta

To the Edito:

As someone who has lived in Poplar Bluff for more than two-thirds of my life (15 out of my 22 years), I have gotten to see firsthand the changes that have taken place in this vibrant town over that time. When my family first moved here in 1999, there wasn't a brand-new hospital I can see from the highway on my trips back from college. In '99, there wasn't a 200-acre development happening on the north side of the city, Shelby Road, the Industrial Bypass Road, and a five-lane Oak Grove Road didn't exist. Countless new stoplight intersections dot the landscape. Poplar Bluff didn't sit at the crossroads of two major four-lane highways in 1999. Poplar Bluff didn't just pass a $50 million tax levy because its schools had too much room. No, in the same way I have grown in leaps and bounds since 1999, so has this incredible city.

To what do we owe this pleasure of a growing city? I feel as though it is no coincidence that shortly after my family moved to Southeast Missouri, Mr. Doug Bagby became our city manager. The aforementioned progress Poplar Bluff has experienced in the last 10-15 years parallels nicely with the deft leadership of Mr. Bagby and I am incredibly grateful for the service that he has given to our city during that time. To think that life has gotten worse for Poplar Bluffians since his role as city manager began in 2003 requires either unconscious ignorance or conscious misleading. In short, thank you Mr. Bagby for making my life and the lives of all the citizens of Poplar Bluff better during your tenure.

In light of what I read in the DAR this afternoon, I am rather concerned at the nature of Mr. Bagby's firing. What does it say about the new members of our city council when their first order of business is to sack a public servant two weeks after being sworn in? To me, it appears that their first priority is to settle petty personal vendettas. These new members ran on transparency in city government but chose to do the dirty laundry in a closed session. How transparent! When asked about their actions behind closed doors, they had no comment. How mature! These new members ran on paving the gravel roads in the city limits, yet the first thing on the agenda is to fire a city manager with $300,000 rumored to be left on his contract. How intelligent!

Finally, for full disclosure, I would just like to say I have never met Mr. Bagby nor any members of the council. Furthermore, I am in full support of the populist politics that value the will of the masses over the connected few, but not when they cause decisions that hurt the future of the masses. Decisions that cost the city upwards of $300,000 and the priceless years of experience of a dedicated public servant. Perhaps the next order of business for the council is to be more accountable and transparent, but if the council's actions in the last two weeks are any indication, I wouldn't bet on it.

Anderson Gilberto

Poplar Bluff, Mo.