Robert Wilson, a retired construction executive, has become one of Williamsburg’s most persistent gadflies over the past few years – and he knows enough to be dangerous.
He is a fixture at most public hearings, pushing back on the city’s growing debt load to fund new police and fire stations and a proposal to build a new public library. He comes to the hearings armed with reams of data and detailed financial analyses that we have yet to see a city official credibly refute.
He also files frequent Freedom of Information Act requests to dig up behind the scenes information.
His diagnosis of local government: Elected officials without a firm grounding in business or economics defer to staff members without demanding sufficient data or challenging their assumptions. Too many decisions, he charged, are discussed behind closed doors, and the outcome is predetermined before they are presented to the public.
Williamsburg City Manager Andrew O. Trivette and Mayor Douglas G. Pons have been the frequ…