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More Power...
MORE POWER TO THE BOC
CHAIRMAN AND COUNTY MANAGER
Following is the
Work Session Agenda. Please note, the meeting will start at
5:00p.m.
The reason, we are
told, for this early start is so the Commissioners can attend a
Leadership graduation at 7:00 p.m. It also makes it less convenient
for the public to attend.
The agenda
has some items of concern:
Commissioner's
Compensation & Expense Reimbursement
Establish authority for Commission Chairman
Resolution establishing County Manager Authority
The citizens have
made it rather clear that they are not interested in having the BOC
receive raises at this time. The TWG continues to advocate
public hearings for any changes to be made to our County Charter
(enabling legislation). One of our biggest concerns is the expense
reimbursement. There has not been any public discussion as to what
will be reimbursed, how it will be accounted for, what the limits
will or will not be, etc. In light of the recent telephone/fax line
reimbursement to the BOC Chairman, the TWG thinks it would only be
in the taxpayer’s best interest to know just what we might be
footing the bill for. Will this include the commissioner’s cell
phone? Will this include mileage in and out of the county? How
will the term “county business” be determined? Does this include
“lunch dates” to discuss county business? We could go on and on.
Inquiring minds want to know—what does this include and how much
could it cost the taxpayers?
The thought of
“establishing authority for the Commission Chairman” is a
frightening one! Being that the current chairman was
elected by breaking a 2-2 tie with his own vote, and that he is
already known as “King Jack”, doesn’t give us much confidence in the
thoughts of him having more power. Jasper County’s Chairman is not
elected at large by the people. He is elected from his
district and should have NO more power than the commissioner’s
elected from the other districts. He is elected chairman to
run the meetings, not to ride roughshod over the other commissioners
and to have the only say about decisions and issues. Until this
county elects a chairman at large, the chairman doesn’t need any
additional authority! Why is it, this “special authority for
the chairman” was never a problem over the past years? Why is it
something that should be done now? Remember, the Commissioners get
their power from the CITIZENS!!
Since Jasper
County has been operating as a “county manager type government” for
the past 10 years or so, why do we need to “establish County Manager
authority?” By attending the meetings during 2006, there is no
doubt that the County Manager already has more than enough
authority. In fact, there are several situations in which he has
told the commissioners how things will be handled instead of the
other way around. As the TWG has said before, when the BOC
passes a resolution, the County Manager is to carry it out. That is
all the power he needs.
At the last work
session, Comm. Bernard said citizens really didn’t have to
come to the meetings, but instead they should CONTACT THEIR
COMMISSIONERS DIRECTLY.
We are urging YOU
to attend the meeting Monday night. You will not know what kind of
POWER the County Attorney will be advocating for the Chairman or the
Manager. The County Attorney works for the Board; even though he is
called the COUNTY attorney and we pay for his services, his loyalty
lies with the BOC, not the citizens.
Voice
your concerns before the meeting during the Agenda Comments. Sign
in to speak! The current manager and chairman are doing their best
to take away the “open government and transparency in government” we
were promised during the last campaign.
None of us will have any
voice in our government if things continue the way they are going.
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