We’re going to miss Ivan Whitfield when he’s gone.
Whitfield ran for reelection and ended up in a runoff. And then he lost in the runoff so when the year runs out, so will his term in office.
Whitfield is outspoken and has never held back in his dislike of Go Forward Pine Bluff and its initiatives. We’re guessing that’s what got him beat. But in a new segment of “The Newsroom,” recorded last week and aired Saturday and in today’s paper, he didn’t back up a bit from his previous stands. On the contrary, he cut loose with his in-depth reasoning for disliking Go Forward as well as the way the city has been run in many instances.
Don’t interpret this to mean that we are on the Whitfield wagon. Far from it. In most cases, we are on the opposite side of the fence from where Whitfield is holding forth. But that doesn’t mean we don’t respect the man.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Our missing him stems from the very fact that he questions pretty much everything. It is not a healthy situation when one side or the other is in absolute control of the legislative agenda. Without having to debate and compromise, political parties can run amok.
The same is true for city councils. If the council members are simply there to rubber stamp a mayor’s wishes, they probably are not doing their jobs.
Whitfield was feeling his oats Friday when he called a special meeting of a City Council committee he chairs. The subject was the Parks and Recreation Department, more specifically how the director has been spending money and running things, which has included hiring his own brother, something the city’s human resources director said amounts to nepotism.
Whitfield had asked for a smaller audit to be done of the parks department and now wants a more thorough financial analysis done.
This comes at a time when the parks department, which already has its hands full in tending to all that is on its plate, has been given Harbor Oaks golf course to operate. You can imagine how difficult it might be shoehorn in that new responsibility into the department’s daily routine. But that didn’t stop Whitfield from asking the tough questions and seeking answers to perhaps tougher questions.
Such a probe should hurt no one’s feelings. If things have been done by the book, great. If they haven’t, then changes need to happen.
It takes some grit from a council member to take on that role. And that’s what we’ll miss — someone who just doesn’t care what the world thinks about them but is going to say it if they think it needs to be said. Perhaps there are others who will step up to fill that void. You may disagree with them, but they do make the system stronger.