By John P. Martin
Washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Thursday, January 7, 1999

Hear Barnett Chief management officer Camille C. Barnett (File Photo)   Alice Rivlin: "We've been very lucky in the city to have Camille ... "   Anthony Williams says the city needs a strong manager.

D.C. Chief Management Officer Camille C. Barnett resigned this afternoon, saying her departure was best for the new administration of Mayor Anthony A. Williams because the city is speeding toward the restoration of home rule.

"That transfer of power has happened sooner than was expected at the time I was hired," said Barnett, appointed in December 1997 to oversee most major city departments by the D.C. financial control board. "That is a good thing for the city."

Her role shrunk Saturday, when Williams was inaugurated and the board restored most of the power it had stripped from his predecessor, Marion Barry. Under the new arrangement, Barnett must report to both Williams and the control board.

Williams said he would appoint an interim management officer next week. He also reassured city residents that government operations would continue without disruption and that a replacement would be named within three months.

Barnett insisted no one asked her to leave. She said she pondered her future over the December holidays and told the new mayor on Tuesday that she would resign.

"I think I can say safely I surprised everybody," she said during an afternoon news conference in her office, where she was flanked by Williams and control board Chairman Alice M. Rivlin.

Williams never said he wanted Barnett to leave but made it clear that he wanted her accountable to him. During her brief tenure, the control board canceled an $893,000 contract she awarded to a consultant she had worked with in Houston, and the D.C. Council concluded the reform effort she orchestrated was “uneven and erratic.”

Barnett said her last day will be by mid-February. She will receive $275,000 severance from the city, which will include her $155,000 annual salary, benefits and an undisclosed “performance bonus.”

She said she has no job plans but expects to remain a District resident.

In a prepared statement, she said she had helped the city to “a good start” and listed among her accomplishments cleaner streets, better emergency response timing and expanded health care coverage for District residents.

Williams, Rivlin and D.C. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp praised her performance. The new mayor credited Barnett with installing a “fine cadre of public administrators” throughout the city government.

"She's been a big part of the turnaround," Williams said.

Barnett was management consultant with the Research Triangle Institute, a worldwide management consulting group based near Raleigh, N.C., when she was tapped by the control board. She was given a five-year contract, but she qualified for a severance package if the terms of the contract changed, as they did when Williams became mayor.

Until Saturday, Barnett had near-complete day-to-day control of the nine largest city departments, including Public Works, Fire and Emergency Medical Services, Corrections, Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, and Human Services.

Before going to Raleigh, Barnett served 10 years in Dallas as deputy city manager and six years as city manager of Austin until she left that position in 1994.

Additional information on Barnett's resignation will be available in Friday's Washington Post.

John P. Martin can be reached at martinj@washingtonpost.com or by phone at 703-469-3179.