A City of Staunton employee who raised issues with the city’s administration of Community Development Block Grant funds and suggested that the city cut ties with a Pennsylvania-based consultant to help address the problems was fired last week.
“As shared with you in our meeting, my decision to terminate you effective immediately is based on your insubordination, unsatisfactory job performance and unprofessional behaviors in your role as a City of Staunton employee,” the city’s director of community and economic development, Billy Vaughn, wrote to Vincent Mani, who was hired in August to serve as the city’s housing planner and grants coordinator, in a letter dated Jan. 3.
Mani brought a strong resume to the position – an MBA from Old Dominion University, a Ph.D. in urban and public affairs from the University of Louisville, a work record including time with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development offices in Richmond and Washington, and more than 20 years of experience in housing and community development issues.
A few weeks into his tenure, Mani, in a Sept. 23 memo addressed to Vaughn, City Manager Leslie Beauregard, Cindy Fitzgerald, the assistant director of finance, and Rodney Rhodes, whose job title is senior planner, identified what should have been concerning issues with the administration of CDBG funds meant to assist low-income city residents.
According to Mani’s memo, the city, to that point, had only spent 30 percent of its CDBG fund for fiscal years...
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