Evening star., 1949-03-09

actlOn was taken the city man
ager was asked by Mayor William
T. Wilkins if he would prefer to
leave the room. Mr.. Colasanto
declined and listened impassively :
while Councilman Albert A. Smoot
introduced a resolution citing 10
reasons for the dismissal, which
becomes effective next Tuesday.
It was disclosed that the council
had asked Mr.. Colasanto to re-
sign on December 2. Members of
the council said they met with
him again yesterday afternoon to
warn him of the dismissal plans
and to give him another oppor-
tunity to resign.
Mr.. Colasanto's only comment
was: II am not disturbed" He
practiced law in Alexandria before
becoming city manager.
Lack of Experience.
The resolution declared that the
city manager has been earnest in
his efforts to give the city wise
and efficient" administration, "but
by reason of his prior training and
lack of experience he has failed to
do so on the following counts -"
Among reasons given for the dis
missal were that Mr.. Colasanto
had failed to maintain and employ
necessary personnel; he had failed
to properly prepare and present
the l949 city budget, and that he
had failed to pay off 100000
debt in December.
Non-payment of the debt almost
brought the city managers dis
missal to a head last month, when
Mr.. Colasanto informed council
he would not have sufficient funds
to operate the city after paying
the 100000. The council au-
thorized temporary loans to meet
the emergency.
The accusation involving the
budget. grew out of Mr.. Cola
santos refusal to bring depart
Iment heads before the council for
budget consultations, it was
learned.
Public Relations Hit.
Other charges listed were that
Mr.. Colasanto had failed to keep
the council fully informed on i'm
portant matters, had failed to-
maintain good public relations
between the citizens and the city
government, had failed to keep
the council informed of appoint-
ments and dismissals of city en-
ployes, had failed ito maintain
healthy morale in several city
departments =" had failed.
to see that necessary work was
performed as called for in the
1948 budget and had failed to
expedite curb and gutter i'm.
provements for developers and.
contractors.
The 10th reason given was that.
he had failed "for a period of
more than 80 days to give to the
City Council his resignation as
requested by committee of coun-
Gil on December 2. 1948 ="
The motion for dismissal was
seconded by Councilman Marshall
Beverley. Councilman R. Samuel
Luckett and Mayor Wilkins also =
voted for the dismissal. Council Z
man Leroy S. Bendheim. Roy
Bragg and Jack Tulloch voted no. I
Mr.. Bendheim said he believed
"the record proves that our pres
ent city manager has been =
economy minded. His very will
ingness to serve in his official
capacity for a salary of $500 hasf
saved the city between $4,000 tos
$1,000 per year. = I know thats
we could secure no one who hasS
worked longer hours or harder ins
the interest of the city, nor one
who is more conscientious in the
performance of his duty" 4
Mayor Wilkins said top rank
ing" city manager had been inter-
viewed for the job at a privates
dinner to which all members of
Council were invited. Mr.. Wilkins
said it was planned to pay the nexts
manager a higher salary. (
Mr.. Colasanto's appointment
followed the resignation of Carls
Budwesky, after a row with coun-s
cilmen over administrative pro-
cedures.