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CHARLES RICHARDSON LEONARD PITTS   OUR VIEWSPicture brightens on road projectR oad improvement consultant Walter M. Kulash was pleased with the reception he received during Monday's meeting with the top officials overseeing the project. It is encouraging news that solutions can be found to get the Macon-Bibb County Road Improvement Program moving. Kulash was brought into the process because of his neighborhood-friendly approach to transportation planning. While many neighborhood group representatives were worried that Kulash's recommendations would be brushed aside, nothing appears further from the truth. Of course, as in any endeavor, the angels are in the details, but we are off on a good footing to reconcile the concerns of affected citizens with those of engineering experts. A key element to his recommendations are narrower streets. He found little opposition. In fact, DOT board member Frank Pinkston announced he was changing his mind concerning Kulash's involvement. He proposed that the Orlando consultant was free to review any plan, no matter what stage it is in. His key proviso was that costs of Kulash's services above $10,000 must be approved by the road program's executive committee. This is a major concession on Pinkston's part and shows his willingness to meet road improvement critics more than half way. But on the subject of costs, Kulash's recommendations, if implemented, should result in vastly reduced costs in construction and maintenance for the projects he reviewed. Smaller roads obviously cost less than bigger ones. When asked how his recommendations would affect the match aspects of funding, Kulash said he didn't know, and, essentially, didn't care. The main concern, he said, is that local officials develop a plan that is consistent with the community's vision of itself. As to that vision, the memo in which he outlined his proposal calls for a comprehensive plan that acts as a focal point for transportation planning. "The specialists' view should be but one of the many inputs into the process, not the only or dominant one." Much work remains to be done. But critics of the road improvement project have every reason to be optimistic. Who knows? Perhaps when all is said and done, the county will wind up with a model plan that will be the envy of communities this size.
Of course the process will require the continued vigilance of informed, reasonable neighborhood groups.
- Ron Woodgeard/For the editorial board
Cochran mayor stands his (shaky) ground Killebrew had earlier opened a can of worms by ordering a police investigator to report directly to him instead of to the police chief. Last week his honor kept hearing things about that move he didn't want to hear. He heard it from the chief, district attorney, city attorney and others. He might as well hear it from us, too. As we understand it, the mayor, citing powers given him by the city charter, wanted to use the officer to help him keep tabs on activities in city departments. No, the district attorney told him, state law overrides the city charter (which Killebrew says also gives him and members of city council arrest powers). Besides that, the mayor was told, co-opting a cop to work for the mayor's office instead of the police department would deprive the officer of his arrest powers and cancel his police certification. While conceding that the officer could temporarily remain under the supervision of the police chief, Killebrew vowed to carry on with his own research into the point about state law overriding city charters. The district attorney apparently declined to assist him in that endeavor. Meanwhile, Cochran citizens must be pondering what's so amiss at City Hall that the mayor needs an investigator to spy on departments.
We do agree with the mayor that the city charter may need some updating. If it says what he says it does, it could be unconstitutional.
- R. L. Day/for the editorial board
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