It’s way past time to explain yourself Councilman Roche, because you have brought the issue into the public domain by not accepting the Mayors decision on the matter and bringing it before City Council.

TOUCHE’, Gordon. Sounds like an attempt to vandalize Luke’s reputation without backing it up whatsoever — ergo, the pot calling the kettle . . . ?

Roche has greatly sunken in my esteem throughout these past few days.

“The political process” to which he refers sounds just like more politicking.

When he was “politicking” for office and some were grousing because Roche really didn’t “say anything,” I stuck up for the man, for some reason. Now I see their points . . .

Apparently, many are pleased with Mr. Howes’ contribution to the new official Doraville website. So understandibly there is quite a bit of confusion. If I remember correctly, Councilmen Roche, you felt you would be the peace keeper and mediator of City Council if elected to office. Now it appears we needed a mediator to take care of you.

Again, there are many people who are very confused by your actions, especially since you obviously have no regard for the people who ask the questions. So, maybe, these people are offended as well.

No one has heard any response from Mr. Roche, including some councilmembers who have asked.

I did make an open records request. As it is a personnel issue, there is a 10-day wait period. The City Clerk informed me that the 10-days would start once they receive a final report from the mediator that was hired to to deal with Mr. Roche’s issues.

I have requested a copy of both the list of complaints by Mr. Roche against Mr. Howe and the final report from the mediator.

I’m a homeowner and taxpayer who resides in Doraville.

Bob Roche, what problem or problems do you have with Mr.Howe and why do you want to fire him?

Unfortunately, I haven’t had the time to attend work secessions and / or Council meetings and I’m sure a lot of other fellow Doravillians don’t either. It is rather apparent others are quite upset with your modivations towards Mr. Howe.

Mr. Roche you are a public servant elected into office by a majority of the Doraville population and your wages and benefits are paid by the people of Doraville. I think when asked a direct question by a citizen, an answer should be given. If some of the posts on this site may appear to be somewhat hostile it’s probably because you will not answer a direct question? Obviously, there is some frustration exhibited and, to me, you are bringing this all upon yourself by not giving an explaination.

Siting “It is pointless to respond to those who aim to vandalize the reputations of good people and the political process; their words speak for themselves.” is evading the issue. The issue is, why do you have a problem with Mr. Howe and why do you want to have him fired? This is not a hostile question about your integrity or the political process Mr. Roche, it’s a question only you know the answer to.

I can understand your not responding to some of the comments, but if you think something I said in the initial post above was unfair or untrue, I’d be really interested in knowing it. Or if you could address any of the comments I made above about the benefits Mr. Howe has brought to the city, I’d appreciate that, too.

You and councilmember Fleming seemed pretty sure that you had some very damning information about Mr. Howe at the meeting a few weeks ago. Not only did you refuse to reveal this information to the audience (which you would be required to do as part of your Open Meetings responsibilities), but you had only revealed this information to Mayor Jenkins. If it is something detrimental to the city of Doraville, you should probably reveal it to Mrs. Pittman, Mrs. Alexander, and Mr. Bates. Mayor Jenkins did not seem to think you had a very urgent matter at that meeting, though.

You refer to policies for Doraville above. I’m not quite sure which policies you have proposed for Doraville that you think other people are opposing you on. The only thing you mentioned at the work session was firing Mr. Howe and giving other city employees larger raises.

I personally believe that if those are your two big priorities for Doraville, we need to get better job descriptions for the employees in question, to protect the employees, the city, and to give managers something to evaluate performance against.

Despite these people and those who condone their behavior, we have not and will not waver. We are committed to following the truth wherever it leads and crafting sensible policies to move Doraville forward in these critical times.

Thanks to all who sent messages of support,

Bob Roche

I’d be very surprised if all city vehicles weren’t reported on the city’s tax returns and depreciated, in which case, the city would NOT be paying tax on the vehicles; they’d be claiming deductions.

You’ve obviously missed the other discussions on this subject, I’m strongly in favor of officers taking cars home.

We’re discussing other employees, who get the car as an addition to their income, and don’t ever use it for any city service.

It is quite possible that the city is paying income tax on these cars itself. I look at that as yet ANOTHER thousands of dollars of benefits to certain special city employees, all paid for out of our pockets. I don’t know what the tax issues would be if the city somehow claimed that these vehicles were NOT a benefit to those employees. The city itself has not been able to dig up the information about how these cars are reported to the IRS in a couple of months of digging. It smells pretty rotten. It may be that the city doesn’t want to publicize the value of this additional benefit we’re paying for.