George,

Maurice Jones has been chosen to be the next city manager of Charlottesville, VA. Although besides Jones there were two other finalists for the position, Richard Brown, the city manager of East Providence, R.I., and Paula Hestwig Hopkins, assistant city manager of Columbia, Mo., on December 3 Charlottesville's city councilors selected Jones to be city manager.

This is a tribute to both Maurice Jones and members of the City Council. Jones is well known in Charlottsville for his outstanding work. He served as acting city manager of Charlottesville since April. He was also the city spokesperson. In addition he was a sportscaster for WVIR (Channel 29) and a former director of development for the Miller Center Foundation at the University of Virginia.

The position was advertised with a salary between $165,000 and $190,000. His predecessor, Gary O'Connell, who was city manager for 15 years, earned $175,000 at the time of his retirement.

The selection of Jones as city manager will have a positive impact on Charlottesville and beyond. Not least, it will encourage other African Americans to pursue excellence, not mediocrity, as achievable and rewardable in Charlottesville, a city that closed the public schools rather than integrate them a decade after the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on "Brown vs. Board of Education" that declared "separate but equal" in public education to be unconstitutional. I wonder what would Charlottsville's city councilors of that period think about the action of the present city council led by the effective leadership of of Mayor Dave Norris?

Noticablely, Jones was selected to be city manager of Charlottesville the same week, fifty-five years ago, when Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to vacate her bus seat so a white man could be seated. At that time I was a resident of Montgomery and this praiseworthy achievement of Jones' causes me to reflect on that week in Montgomery.

Uriah J. Fields (Electronic mail, December 3, 2010)