Lemmie: No leadership, no direction at City Hall

She didn't say goodbye to City Council and she refused interviews with the local media, but former City Manager Valerie Lemmie opened up to a wire service reporter on her last day at City Hall.

Still smarting from an Aug. 9 Enquirer report that she had sought seven weeks of paid leave to take an early exit, Lemmie declined repeated interview requests from the Enquirer over the past month.

But Lemmie sought out Associated Press reporter Terry Kinney for an exclusive interview in her City Hall office on her last day of work Friday. Kinney reported that she "looked as if a tremendous weight had been lifted from her."

Excerpts from that interview:

• On why she left: "I clearly expected a level of cooperation and responsibility. ... I found out that, ultimately, the recommendations the mayor and I made over day-to-day operations were very rarely accepted by Council. ... For me it's about growth, it's about change, and it's about having the opportunity for the first time in my life to have some flexibility. ... I get to sleep at night without being interrupted. I get to go someplace without somebody coming up with a complaint or a concern. It's a job that is often thankless, not recognized, and in this city we always found a way to celebrate and highlight the negative."

• On her early problems with City Council: "We couldn't reach an agreement that, first of all, we should meet. ... Secondly, we could not come up with a concensus on a vision and a value. It certainly made my job more difficult, because when I know where the elected body wants to go, it's easy. Without that vision, without that sense of direction, without that ability to have the elected officials collaborate on the big issues, it means that you never reach the potential to be as good as you should be."

• On her rocky relationship with Vice Mayor Alicia Reece: "My parents' generation worked very hard to get those doors open for me to be able to do what I do. ... I was first generation of African-Americans and of women to move into a position like this. So at some level, it hurts your soul and your heart when the people who are the least supportive are those that you expected to be most supportive."

• On rapid City Hall turnover: "It's the culture of the organization. ... When I look back at the history of the last several city managers ... it has been a history of tumult, and dealing with elected officials in that environment creates a sense of there being no leadership, there being no direction and it certainly sends a negative message to staff."
  

(Photo by Michael E. Keating/The Cincinnati Enquirer)