If you haven't read Adam Beam's Jan. 25 article in The State, "Poor choices, weak oversight plague Columbia," you should.

It's not every day that the editor of one paper directs you to a story in a competitor, but Beam has done an excellent job laying out what ails the City of Columbia — and the more people who get the message, the better.

Specifically, Beam details the lack of oversight by City Council that led to a years-long breakdown in the city's accounting department, a breakdown that left the city losing money on investments, paying bills multiple times, operating without written accounting guidelines and — even more unbelievably — passing budgets without knowing how much money it had.

There's a key quote from Councilman Daniel Rickenmann that sums up the problems at the city: "We need a full-fledged change in the culture of the way the city operates," Rickenmann tells Beam.

Kudos to Rickenmann for recognizing it and saying it publicly.

But is the city up to the task?

Not likely.

Mayor Bob Coble is non-confrontational by nature. It's a laudable trait at times: Coble seems genuinely dedicated to the betterment of the city, open to the views of many citizens and thoroughly dedicated to his job, devoting endless hours to it for a pittance of a salary.

But there are no A's for effort in politics — it's results that matter. And here, things don't look so good. How is it even possible for a city to operate without a detailed and accurate picture of how much money is coming in and how much is going out?

Clearly, a shake-up was in order long before City Manager Charles Austin announced his retirement.

Sure, there seem to be more competent people taking over the city's books now. But the culture that created this mess — a bureaucracy not accustomed to operating openly and transparently and a City Council where no one is really in charge — remains.

Columbia, don't get your hopes up just yet.