I am always wary of the word compromise, especially when paired with the words political or bi-partisan. One side can always skew the result in their favor by giving just a little less than the other side – especially if the other side is genuinely seeking a solution that is in the public interest more than their own interests. The freeholders may have been stacked with people whose main interest was to punish David Madore for hiring Don Benton. I agree, though, if the freeholders had chosen a proposed charter with 5 full-time commissioners chosen by districts with one at large, and had given the people the right to petition without having to have the petition approved by the council, and left out the poison pills about having a czar manager and outlawing good representative governance by the councilors, the charter would be guaranteed to pass. As it is, they depend on the ill-will of the uninformed to see it through. By uninformed I mean people who think that it was illegal for Tom and David to hire Benton directly – it wasn’t illegal as evinced by this attempt to change the law to make it illegal. By ill will I mean those who think only Republicans or those whose policies they disagree with practice cronyism. Cronyism will not end with the implementation this charter – it will continue as always as evinced by the hiring of Bronson Potter as the new City Attorney at Vancouver and Steve Stuart as the new City Manager at Ridgefield. If David and Tom did not have the executive authority to directly hire department heads (and they do have that executive authority by law) then where did Steve Stuart get his executive experience to qualify him to run a whole city by himself and catapult himself in front of the other applicants? No, cronyism is alive and well in Clark County; and it will continue, even with the new charter. You cite examples of meddling by Commissioner Mielke into staff affairs. How did that make you feel? Undervalued? Unsure of how to proceed? Did you share your experience with other staff? Do you feel the commissioner helped undermine the morale of all the staff? Do you remember other instances of meddling by some of the other commissioners? Pridemore? Stuart? Morris? Boldt? Do you remember any instances of a commissioner interceding on behalf of a citizen, or all citizens, to change the direction staff was taking an issue with respect to that citizen? How did that make you feel? Undervalued? Unsure of how to proceed? Did you share your experience with other staff? Do you feel the commissioner helped undermine the morale of all the staff? That you say you are former staff is consistent with you being in favor of the charter and a member of C3G2. This is not meant as a pejorative – simply an observation. I am a land surveyor. Practicing my profession means frequent and almost symbiotic relations with municipalities and their staff. Good representation of my clients’ interests demands that I maintain good relations with staff. Occasionally, though, we butt heads. When that happens, and it’s usually over the interpretation of a regulation or law, we generally sort it out with correspondence and meetings. Very occasionally, my client takes it to the commissioners. Perhaps the staff is overstepping or perhaps the law needs to be changed. I appreciate that check and balance on good governance. I would hate to see a charter pass that outlaws good responsive, representative, and accountable governance by the people’s representatives.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 14:12:59 +0000
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