Anyone interested in watching this committee first hand and perhaps having the opportunity to speak when the attending public are invited to speak ought to attend the governance advisory committee meeting tonight at 6PM at the Owen Building in Coquille. The committee is investigating possible changes in the way Coos County conducts business with the public that may require adding two more commissioners and/or a move to home rule. Any changes of this nature would require a vote of the people and it is next to impossible that anything will be placed on the upcoming Spring or November ballots giving the county plenty of time to first elect a new commission.
The structure advisory committee has apparently been interviewing the employees and department heads and asking some hard hitting questions like –
How long have you worked for Coos County?
What would make you and your staff’s job easier?
and
Are there things you are required to do that you think are just plain silly? (like answering this questionnaire)
Elite members of the structure committee believe the “luxury” of evaluating these questionnaires and conducting the interviews puts them in the privileged position of knowing something about how the county runs that the rest of us don’t know or are incapable of understanding. They are sort of the Seal Team 6 of the advisory committees, gathering intelligence with which only they have the surgical experience to execute the mission of “fixing” what’s wrong with each department. Actually, they first have to decide what it is that’s wrong.
Committee members Jon Barton and Al Pettit boast about their skills and certainly speak with an authoritative manner, however both are very divisive personalities. Has anyone actually vetted either of them and run a background check to verify their experience or past job performance? For example, Barton made several claims on a public access channel interview recently regarding LNG that are provably false and Pettit certainly believes he knows a lot about something and a lot of words come out of his mouth but he has yet to impart that knowledge in any of his public statements. Do either of them have any government experience beyond sitting on a couple of boards?
Does anyone know how much these interviews and experiments are costing the county in time and labor?
What a lovely world to live in. Al makes charges against a political candidates’ knowledge of an issue, then turns around and admits HE knows absolutely nothing about it, so Al, if you know nothing about it, who TOLD you R “dug himself a hole Al? See? people like Al think what’s good for him isn’t good for the rest of us. Predictable.
In Little Al’s World, he can dig like a ferret to try to get “dirt” on this moderator from her past, but squeals like a little piglet when others bring up issues he takes issue with. I gladly had my post deleted, Magix is more professional than me, but I’m older and I know a little about little men, and they ALWAYS behave this way, not met many that didn’t. So YOUR life is out of bounds on here, but you can go sniffing through what you think is M’s dirty undies, and NO PROBLEM, huh Al?
We gotcha now, very adult way to conduct one’s life, in public no less.
Oh, Geez. Notice how Al claims Randy has dug himself into a hole with the budget while at the same time admitting he can’t explain why because the budget is too complex. It is his pattern of logical disconnects that disqualifies his opinions not just on this blog but certainly on any “advisory” committee.
Quick note. While I appreciate my friends coming to my defense I am well able to take care of myself, especially against someone like Al and decided to delete an earlier comment because it veered a little too far off topic.
Mary – just a few last comments to this lovely chat we’re having.
1. In the span of about 5 weeks Mr. Sanne called for a boycott of my business, demanded I be expelled from the Structure Committee (after one meeting), and filed an ethics complaint against me. While I’m impressed with his can-do attitude and ability to “get things done”, I’d have to think real hard as to whether I would want to help him out of that hole he dug for himself on the County budget issue. As for my opinion on the budget: to be honest, I can’t help. It’s too complex. I don’t think I’ve seen anything as complex as the county budget since I bought that Korean-made VCR ten or fifteen years ago.
2. With regards to your claim that I was hurling charges, I must remind you that it was you who somehow segued from announcing the Governance Committee meeting to criticizing the employee questionare, to questioning Jon Barton and my experience and past job performance. Since one can be a convicted murderer with a kindergarten education and be elected Commissioner in this county, I would think that our backgrounds and experience levels would be rather inconsequential. I can’t speak for Mr. Barton, but I assure you I have at least a 1st grade education and I’ve never played with pyrotechnics.
3. As for your request to provide “emperical support” to my statements, well, that’s OK. It’s your blog and you can set the rules. But I really have to protest the obvious double standard. I mean, if “R” can call me a “chicken sheet”, “weasel” and a “wanker”, doesn’t she have to provide some emperical data to prove that I am, indeed, “chicken sheet”? I mean, really: how does she know that your balls are bigger than mine? For that matter, how does she know that you even have balls? (You don’t have to answer that.)
4. As for my background – do your own homework.
5. Last, but not least, are you really OK with posting a blog that drags my family into this fray? Even jailed felons have higher standards.
Glad you read the website about Mendocino, Al, that is why I still maintain it after all these years as that event did help spark my activism. To date you have contributed nothing positive to the conversation here – for example, if you believe Randy’s numbers presented in his spreadsheet are wrong then prove him wrong and everyone here will be happy to review your assessment and validate its accuracy or flaws. That is what I do here, I give people the opportunity to vet my opinions with facts I used to arrive at them and you are welcome to do the same.
If all you want to do is hurl charges without empirical support there are other forums better suited for your taste. If you do publicize your work and opinion then you must be prepared to feel the weight of public scrutiny. Only post here if you have data to support your opinions and limit your comments to topics posted here on MGx.
Finally, point us all to the public record of your background so we may satisfy ourselves it is accurate.
My background is a matter of public record, Mary. And it seems you have left a trail as well. Your former neighbors in Mendocino County report that you did exactly the same thing there that you do here – vilify anyone and everyone that you disagree with or that steps up, takes responsibility and tries to improve their communities. Geez – what are the odds that both Coos and Mendocino county leadership is completely incompetent?
I don’t know about Big Al, but I’ll tell ya, that durn Jon Barton can suckle multiple Public Teats at any one time, What EXACTLY has Jon Barton done, anything, that he thinks qualifies him to do anything BUT suckle? Obviously the man should have been weaned years ago. I’m so sick of these parasites on the arse of humanity ! Get a REAL job to EARN those damn dividends you brag about Jon.
Slurp Slurp Slurp Jon. Push yourself away already !!!!
Always love a little snark with my morning coffee