By Jerry Riley

Attending County Board meeting as well as County Board committee meetings has given me some unique observations. Most of those elected to office understand their obligations, as well as their limitations. It appears to me, though, that a few of the elected Board members lack a basic understanding of their authority.

It has been pointed out during several meetings that the Board sets the budget for the departments that are run by elected officials. One of the Board members made the statement that the only time we can do something is at budget time. If that statement is correct, it does raise a few questions.
The Board members are elected by the people, as are the officials that hold office. Looks to me like lack of communication is a big part of the problem. The way I see it, the only time some of the Board members and the other officials communicate is at budget time. Maybe the County Board members and the elected officials should talk more often. Make sure the holders of the purse strings understand the obligations of each office and what it takes to insure the best service to the taxpayer. At a recent committee meeting there seemed to be more acceptance that elected office holders were elected by the same people who elected the Board members. One Board member said that if we don’t have the authority to regulate them, why are we wasting our time discussing it? Yet, the discussion continued.
This lack of communication does go three ways: Board members to elected officials, elected officials to Board members and also Board committees to Board committees. I have seen two or more committees working on the same issue, but no one knew another committee was discussing the same issue, so there was not only lack of communication, but a possible waste of time and tax money What a revoltin’ development this is.

Jerry Riley is an occasional commentator for the News Bulletin. He is a retired telecommunications supervisor. © 2012 All Rights Reserved