And why is this?? Simple junior, anytime more than three residents are gathered in the same room trying to make public policy, a fight is going to break out. The third grade classes at East Hancock Elementary gets on better than the folks in Diamondhead, especially the elected officials on the POA who are the biggest bunch of self appointed blowhards to grace a Mississippi common interest realty association that I’ve personally ever experienced. Going after Michael Shaefer’s widow was particularly bad form IMHO.
All that said I’ve received several requests to cover what is going on in Diamondhead City government. Doug Walker was around yesterday for WLOX as was Double D who is always around Diamondhead City Government. Poolman was around to fill out the peanut gallery yesterday and was quoted both in Dwayne’s piece and Doug Walker’s report.
The long and short of this is the Mayor and the City Manager/City Council are battling each other which as I pointed out above is the norm in Diamondhead. Allegations of malfeasance have been leveled and there has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth. One thing everyone agrees on is that Sam Atkins of the Performance Audit division of the State Auditors Office needs to come do a Performance Review like the one being finalized for the City of Bay St Louis, because according to Press reports (and despite the fact the City Attorney is a State Legislator), no one in the City seems able to read and comprehend the Mayor-City Manager section of the “Home Rule ” section of the Mississippi Code thus they do not know if they are doing things right. Worth mentioning is the City has been audited three times by local firms since it came into existence and the last report contained eight findings which laid out in detail the internal control problems in City government. Continue reading “I normally try to keep Diamondhead off my mind….”