Afton

As a reporter who covers the Afton City Council meetings, I hear firsthand a lot of the changes and initiatives that are on the horizon. However, being the first to know can have its downside.

It is our responsibility as the Woodbury Bulletin to get the news out as fast as we can, that’s the beauty of breaking news, but on a couple occasions our ability to get the news out has surpassed the city’s.

Most recently, we posted a story to our website reporting the Afton City Council’s decision to terminate its contract with city planner Chuck Marohn.

The city council voted to terminate the contract at its May 18 city council meeting.

Imagine my surprise when I call Marohn the following week to get a few comments when he tells me that he read in my article that he had been terminated.

The city council, and its city attorney, had not contacted Marohn.

To be fair, Marohn was out of state last week when the decision was reached, so perhaps he missed a call, or hadn’t checked the mailbox or his e-mail yet.

Marohn said there were no messages waiting for him when returned.

Even though I was only doing my job by reporting the news, its hard not to feel guilty about telling someone the news that they have been let go, before the employer has had a chance to officially notify them.

The only solution to this would be to hold off on reporting the news until you know for sure that those affected have notified, but that leaves our readers without the news.

Being a reporter can be a difficult business because you have to be responsible to both your readers and your sources and sometimes you have to decide which party has the priority.