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The Life of Riley: Embarrassed Yet? |
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Written by Legal Record Webmaster
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Wednesday, 03 February 2010 |
By Jerry Riley
It’s pretty hard to embarrass me, but at a recent meeting of a Woodford County committee, I was! I was embarrassed to have a couple of Board members “represent” the citizens at a public meeting.
They do not represent my district, so I can’t vote against them, but I told one of my representatives and the Board Chairman how I felt.
I think their verbal attacks on a County employee, having to do with a personal matter, are way out of line. They are doing nothing but grandstanding; much the same way some of the people use the public input time. If they really wanted answers, there are better ways to get them, but I suppose they wouldn’t get their five minutes of fame that way!
People frequently ask me if what they read in the papers about the Board is true. Honestly, it’s usually worse than is reported–and what a revoltin’ development that is.
If an elected official has a problem with a County employee, I’m sure there are other, more constructive, avenues to follow. If the employee is not doing the job, then prove it, and get a new employee. If the employee is doing the job, just not the way they want it done, then maybe they don’t know what a County Board member is supposed to do.
Looks to me County Board members should represent the voters and stick to making policies that allow the employees of the County to do their jobs. It is not the Board’s job to micromanage any department head, or to second-guess decisions. People are hired to do those job, often to make difficult decisions.
(Some Board members seem to keep postponing certain decisions until after elections, I notice.)
The sad truth is that these Board members have little fear of losing their jobs. After the impression they make on the spectators, who would want to become a part of this backstabbing mob?
We think there are problems in Washington. Well, we need to start fixing the problems someplace closer to home.
Jerry Riley is an occasional commentator for the News Bulletin. He is a retired telecommunications supervisor.
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