Re-TOOT

You may recall the little dust-up in the Town of Orange concerning the use of the town's public transport system to transport students to a private Christian school -- an agreement made by the former town manager without the knowledge of most of the town council.

Well, according to the Fredricksburg Free-Lance Star, the story gets even better. In the most recent council meeting,

Greg McGowen, transit manager with Virginia Regional Transit, the nonprofit owner and operator of the bus system in Orange and many other localities told council members that former Town Manager John Bailey had told him the council would agree to the bus being used by students because members had children who attended the school.

None of the council members have children in the school, and Bailey did not consult the council about the arrangement.

The council fired Bailey Sept. 20.

The town council voted to discontinue the service at the end of the December, but as mayor, Chuck Mason said, "The issue was that the bus was being taken away from the people it was meant to help. But we left the door open for the school to come back with an alternative, such as buying or renting a bus."

Which, in my opinion, is what should have been the arrangement from the start.