What's going on at City Hall? That's what we wanted to know today when we got news that the mayor Darrell Bradley had packed up his office - the kind of thing someone would do on their last day of work. We are reliably informed from multiple sources that he took down all pictures, plaques, and even the clock, stuffed them all in a box - as if prepping them to leave.
Now, if this doesn't sound like anything that a mayor who's about to embark on a campaign for a second term should be doing - we thought the same - and we tried to reach him to find out what's up, but he didn't respond to our requests for a comment. One of the mayor's supporters in the council did text us to say that he's just renovating his office. Indeed, we had a news team posted outside City Hall and up to late this evening, nothing had left the office. Still, though, seems slightly odd to renovate an office with just three months to go before the election..,after all elections are never sure things…so let's just call it Christmas cleaning.
But, whether it's renovation or resignation, we do know that of late there have been thick tensions in the council. For one, the mayor has been privately and publicly resisting the commitment government made to re-hire all the BML workers.
Government has also taken over the process of acquiring all the equipment needed to manage the transition. Additionally, the mayor was recently outvoted in a key council vote to renew the contract of the city administrator. We understand that the mayor was voting against it - but his councilors outnumbered him. And then, it seems that most recently, the Mayor couldn't convince central government to underwrite his grand multi-million dollar plan to renovate the Commercial Center.
So, it's been coming up "no," a lot for the headstrong mayor recently - and we understand he's been left frustrated, and spending an increased number of hours at his private law practice.
Again, we'll continue to seek comment from the mayor to clear up these issues.
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