To the editor:

While there has been much written expressing the sense of community pride in the can-do spirit of our citizens throughout the recent water outage, I believe there is good reason to direct equal commendations toward our current city administrators.

Throughout the crisis, Mayor Flaggs and his staff were visible, actively involved, and quick to respond with a plan that not only fixed the immediate problem, but also did so several days faster than anyone realistically could have hoped for or anticipated.

Beyond repairing the water line break, they also provided water options to all of us with different levels of need and communicated timelines of repair and of water distribution most effectively and consistently.

As a former school administrator, I know there are times when capable leaders must act decisively, while at other times it is best to stand back and let the good staff you have assembled do the work they were hired to do. It seems to me that our mayor fully understands this concept, as evidenced by his handling of last week’s outage: He took action when needed, but afforded the dam builders, water pumpers, and pipe repairers the latitude necessary to get the job done right.

We are all justifiably proud of our coming together, helping our neighbors and strangers alike, and sharing our limited resources, but we also should acknowledge our debt of gratitude to Mayor Flaggs and the hard-working and thoroughly competent individuals who are working alongside him.

Ray Hume

Vicksburg