9. PLEASE REPEAT YOUR KIND OFFER

The City of Melbourne, Florida operated a four bus transit system when I arrived on the scene. All the buses were ancient, unreliable, poorly scheduled, and had few riders. The only route which had any appreciable ridership was from downtown Melbourne to Patrick Air Force Base, the then-hub of the Cape Canaveral Space Complex.

"The Bus Hasn't Arrived!" One day about a month after I started work as the Melbourne City Manager, I received a call complaining that the caller had been standing at the bus stop in downtown for a half hour and the City bus had not arrived. I promised her that I would find out what was wrong.

I did, and discovered that all four buses were broken down, in the shop for major repairs, where they would reside for "at least three days, until we get parts".

Out of the Bus Business. At the end of the day, having received only the one telephone call, and after checking around the rest of the City government to determine if anyone else had received any complaints, and finding none, I decided to put the City transit "system" out of its misery. I called the Shop Superintendent and told he and the Public Works Director to forget about the repairs, that the City of Melbourne was "out of the bus business."

I so informed the City Commission at its next meeting, which information was picked up by the local newspaper with a small squib buried on an inner page. Obviously the news wasn't important. Melbourne had the State-awarded bus franchise, but was not now exercising it. There simply were no customers. Everyone had cars in the new Space Age economy which had descended on the City.

The Result of "An Open Door Policy". I maintained an open door policy as a City Manager. Anyone who would provide their name could either make an appointment to see me, or could drop in and, as soon as possible, I would meet with them. So about two months after the whimpering demise of the Melbourne Bus System, a man from Vero Beach -- 50 miles to the South of Melbourne -- dropped by to see me. He only had to wait a half hour for me to be free to spend some time with him.

He expressed interest in buying the City buses and the State franchise grant under which we had operated the routes. Obviously, I also was interested in securing something for what obviously was a real "turkey" of an operation and, if someone was stupid enough to pay us for it, caveat emptor!

An Offer. The guy was `way ahead on points until he suddenly looked around, got up, peered out my office door, and said the following, in a lowered voice:

"Sell me the bus system and I'll make it worth your while personally, and also will provide something to your City Commissioners. I know how things work in Florida cities and it'll be worth the while for you and the City Commissioners."

I feigned interest, since this was the first time that I had been offered what appeared to be a outright bribe, I wanted to be absolutely certain that that was what he in fact had meant.

So I drew him out and he repeated the offer, with slightly different words, at least twice.

A Secretary Enters. With that, I turned to the telephone on the table behind my desk, buzzed my Secretary, and asked her to come into my office with her steno pad.

She did, and I turned to my seated guest and said:

"Would you please repeat your kind offer so that we might make a record of it, and I will convey it to the City Commission at its next public meeting?"

An Offer Leaves. Without a word, the man rose, wheeled, and left my office and the City Hall. We saw him get into his car and drive off, at a high rate of speed. I never did tell the Secretary what that was all about.

© copyright by Douglas W. Ayres 1999

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