The City of Roanoke Rapids does not need to spend additional money to comfort me.

As a business person I know you need to consolidate and utilize what you already have in place during the lean times.

The fact that we have several good grant writers in our community that get paid for administering a grant makes me have to ask why we are paying $25,000.00 a year for that service.

Are we really going to even need those services in the next year with all the folks leaving who would help approve the service?

I know and respect Chief Hinton, but as the records states, we have managed just fine. Why pay out another $25,000.00 for something that is not broken? That does not comfort me it confuses me.

Within our city we have a great city planner in Amanda Jarratt, who is qualified to do a great job as a city manager, and goodness knows we need that now more than ever.

Ms. Jarratt has both a backbone and tact and could be great in promoting potential newcomers in the business arena.  Instead we are going to let a qualified person go who has proven herself?

She would have been able to lead our city in a positive direction for once. She has experience in the planning department, knows most, if not all, of the department heads and is qualified to become our city manager.

We have made some quick, not well thought out, decisions in our past hiring practices and we do not need a "job jumper."

I would find comfort in someone who has been an asset in her position and is a professional ready to lead this city into a new and better era. Let's not jump the gun.

We have been through enough. We need good, hardworking, intelligent people now from within our city employees and in our community.

Kim Simpson

Roanoke Rapids