I am disturbed by the continued front-page news the Leader is dedicating to criticism of city manager John Mauro.

The treatment of John by the Leader in my opinion borders on harassment. The stories I have read rely primarily on the statements of one citizen, an ex-city councilman and mayor who last served in 1993. I worked for the city much more recently, serving in the planning department from 1997 – 2005 and as the city planning director for six of those years.

I’ve known John since he was appointed city manager in 2019. I also know many other people who have worked with him. I have found John to be dedicated, extremely hardworking, caring, and transparent. Frankly, we are lucky to have him. Being the city manager of Port Townsend is very challenging. The job requires facing many of the same problems as a big city but with a small city budget. Our citizens care a lot about our community and we freely express our opinions, sometimes in very personal ways. It takes a thick skin and barrels of patience to serve on the city council, as mayor, or as city manager and listen to all our diverse opinions.

I believe John Mauro, our city council, and staff are doing an outstanding job of managing our city, balancing the annual budget, and making progress on long deferred infrastructure projects like roads and sidewalks while being as transparent as possible and open to public input. I think it is telling that in the past election all four city council members up for election were re-elected while running unopposed. I believe it is time for the Leader to stop magnifying the personal opinions of one disgruntled ex-mayor and refocus your attention on issues of broad community concern.

Jeff Randall

Port Townsend