To the editor:

The Suffolk City Council is neither in time nor on the same sheet of music with the citizens of this city.

Our city leaders have lost focus and have stopped listening to or paying attention to the citizens of Suffolk who put them in office. Instead, they do what they want, and a lot of that is done behind closed doors, without the citizens’ knowledge.

Our worthless council members and mayor gave the citizens another slap in the face when they voted to give the city manager a 14-percent pay raise. Instead of a 14-percent raise, the city manager ended up getting a 17-percent raise, because she got the same 3-percent raise other city employees already had received.

The city manager’s evaluation is coming up soon, and I can almost bet she will get another raise that will bring her up to the 22-percent pay raise she proposed for herself last year.

City Council waited until after the recent elections were over and the mayor was re-elected to give the city manager her raise, thinking the citizens had forgotten about the first pay-raise proposal that had been submitted.

Instead of giving all these behind-closed-doors raises to themselves and their buddies, the council should vote to give the school system more money to help the outstanding teachers we have in this city carry out their business of educating Suffolk’s children, because these kids are the future of this city and this country.

There is too much underhandedness and secrecy in Suffolk city government. City Council has no respect for the citizens, and members have shown clearly that they don’t care what citizens say or think, because they continue to discuss too many things behind closed doors.

A lot of the things proposed for the capital campaign could have waited, as there are people in Suffolk facing hard times, the economy is weak and uncertain and citizens are still burdened with the recycling program, anyway.

The city manager gave all the firemen in this city a slap in the face when she hired someone from out of state to be the new fire chief, as if to say our own people were not qualified for the job.

Suffolk citizens should put people in office whom we can trust and who will work for our good and not their own. All present members of City Council should be replaced, including Lue Ward, who recently said, “The people don’t have no idea how the city works.” The mayor and city manager must go, too.

I strongly urge Suffolk residents to take a good look at what the City Council, the mayor and the city manager are doing to Suffolk with their underhandedness and lack of respect.

Start thinking about future elections in Suffolk and vote these sorry, worthless leaders out of office.

They don’t own this city — we do.

Bernard M. Wright Sr.

Suffolk