The Political Agitator Response To The Retiring Of Rocky Mount City Manager Rochelle Small-Toney

It is no secret that when the city manager Rochelle Small-Toney came to town I was not a fan of hers and I published that.

I read some things about Small-Toney that was in the media before she came, after she came and now after she has retired. Racist White Folk didn’t want her and with the Rocky Mount City Council being a majority Black that made it even worse. There were some Black folk that didn’t want her. A lot of folk got a past and one does not know how a person will perform their duties until they are on the job.

After following Small-Toney attending the council meetings, I made it clear that from what I had seen she was a very smart woman.

What I don’t do is elaborate on mess that I hear about folk if it ain’t something that I can say is factual or not and because I am not privy to her from a personnel matter I don’t know how the city council rate her.

I will speak to what has been in the air since she has been here and the most I have seen is about the foods she purchased during retreats however the council addressed that and that is all I can say about that. It has been talked about how much the last retreat cost and again that is for the council and they addressed that.

Councilmember Lige Daughtridge has questioned a lot of things as it relates to the council and the manager and from what I seen he received a response to some or all. I don’t know if the responses are what he wanted. 

It appeared to me that Small-Toney did some good things while here and I base that on the audits and the awards the city has received. Sometimes a new manager can be hard to work with, some folk do not want to change when it comes to new leadership however I ain’t getting that deep into it because I have never worked for her and has not talked to anyone that has worked for her.

I do know that I have worked in the public sector for around 40 years and I have seen some things. I have worked for different managers with different expectations. I have had to deal with some stuff but quitting was not an option and they were going to have to fire me because I was going to continue to do all I could to not let what they came after me for be the truth.

Folk tickles me trying to figure out stuff. When a manager and someone in the business sector leaves leave for different reasons. Some leave on their own and some are given an ultimatum to resign, retire and/or be fired.

All the articles that I have read said that Rochelle Small-Toney retired and it appears she is on administrative leave to use up some accrued time will officially retire at the end of February. So therefore it appears that by her being in Rocky Mount for around 4.5 years that she has much time accumulated that she could use.

What I do know is some folk didn’t want Rochelle Small-Toney before she came, didn’t want her while she was here and now that she is gone folk still talking.

So for me my response is you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

The city of Rocky Mount will hire a new city manager and keep it moving no doubt.