To the Editor,
On Sept. 7, The Robesonian reported that the Pembroke Town Council had voted to give McDuffie Cummings, town manager, a $1,500 bi-monthly raise until his retirement in December of this year. The news indicated that the Town Council approved this raise; however, it did not say that I voted against the motion and Mayor Milton Hunt did not vote to the lack of a tie.
This amounts to $3,000 per month for September, October, November, and December, a total of $12,000 of taxpayer money.
What is sad is that people have to pay taxes in the town of Pembroke and the the town is always getting these grants, but where is the development going on to improve the lives of the elderly and senior citizens and extra housing for people in the Housing Authority?
Mr. Cummings was town manager when the jail house was torn down because it would be an eyesore. The results have been people walking the streets, people put out of low income homes and forced to bundle up in houses wherever they could, and while some houses were boarded up, depending on who owned them, others were left alone.
The Town Council had been led to believe that Mr. Cummings was going to retire so they agreed to bring in an assistant to be trained to take his place. Cummings decided he didn’t want to turn over his power to someone he couldn’t control, so he stayed until he got rid of a young man with experience and qualifications for Cummings’ job.
The justification for the raise was that the council would compensate Cummings for the extra work that had been done by the assistant. The truth of the matter is that Cummings stayed out of the office more than he stayed in and the town ran pretty smooth without him. Now, the Town Council has decided to pay him an extra $3,000 per month to come into work! Mr. Cummings has announced that he is running for a political office with the Lumbee Tribe. For the next two months Cummings will have an extra $12,000 of taxpayer money to politic and campaign.
Allen Dial
Pembroke councilman
both these dudes have a long history of deals and relationships with Pembroke's infamous drug dealers.......
Hoping for the best, too.......
So that's what happened to Channing! How unfortunate.
But thank you for telling truth! Finally we have a councilman who seems to want to do the right thing.
Even though our Town as grown, it could be so much farther if certain individuals just go to the HOUSE! Mr. Cummings, thank you for your years of "service." But as Carol Burnett use to say, "It's time to say so long!!!"
Now listen closely citizens of Pembroke and I do mean listen. When the time comes to hire a new Town Manager, hire someone who has vision, wants to see growth, is not part of the "Good Old Boys" system, is not self serving and is opened to the endless possibilities that Pembroke is capable of. Therefore do not hire what we already have. So LH, RML, and others who might have their eyes on the position, stay at the HOUSE! You had your chance at running other endeavors, but your greed or just shear stupidity got in the way.
Sincerely,
Wanting The Best for Pembroke