Communication breakdown is costing city residents

Editor,

Your front page article on City Administrator Doug Merriman’s departure in your March 3 edition was most interesting.

It’s an outstanding example of failure to communicate from the bottom to the top, or from the top to the bottom.

During my number of years in the United States Air Force, I was on the wing commander’s staff, but not one of his staff officers. Based on my exposure to that activity, I look upon the City of Oak Harbor as a similar command-type structure, with the mayor being the counterpart of a wing commander.

The city council is like a wing commander’s staff and the city administrator, chief of police and fire department chief are like squadron commanders.

The mayor, with advice from his staff passes down directives to his department heads, and follows up to see that they are being accomplished. The department heads are to see that the mayor’s directives are followed and keep the mayor advised of any progress or problems.

Information must flow in both directions at all times.

Years ago, the mayor and city council decided that Oak Harbor needed a new sewage treatment plant and passed the task down to the required level to draft what was needed. In time, a project plan was completed and signed with a construction contractor for $83 million. This figure has climbed since that date to its present $142 million.

It appears the personnel overseeing the program did not advise the upper command, and the upper command did not ask for weekly updates. It was a breakdown in communication and taxpayers get stuck with the outcomes.

In the Air Force, the commander would be relieved of command.

Robert Brown

Oak Harbor