We’ve all heard the shouting: County revenues are shrinking and there won’t be enough money to cover the cost of running the county! If we don’t cut expenses and increase revenues, and do it in a hurry, we won’t even be able to keep the jails open, and we’ll have to let the criminals out!
Or, we could hire a Chief Executive Officer who would be empowered to cut waste, shrink bureaucracy, reduce the payroll, and run the county government with efficiency, accountability, and a firm hand.
Two commissioners can pass a resolution to hire a chief executive officer. Doing that would impose a new level of government between the Commissioners and the department heads.
The County Administrator would be given full responsibility for managing the county, and would be assigned most of the duties that presently are divided between the three commissioners. The new CEO would be responsible for making up the county’s budget, managing the county’s finances, steering project proposals through the committees and the permitting processes, and expediting contracts.
One of the Administrator’s duties would be to inform and advise the Board of Commissioners. The Board would still make the final decision on matters that come before the county, but their decisions would be facilitated and expedited by the Administrator’s explanations of the issues, evaluations of the alternatives, and recommendations.
With a administrator managing county government, the County Commissioners’ relevance will be reduced. Their remaining duties would be mostly ceremonial, representing the County at public events and special occasions, and being present at Board of Commissioners meetings.
A second major change in the structure of county government could take place at the grassroots level. District boundaries could be drawn, and each district would elect its own commissioner. People who wanted to address the Board of Commissioners or speak to the County Administrator would be told to talk to their district commissioner first. Power can be further concentrated by raising the number of commissioners to five or seven, and by making County Commissioner an unpaid position.
Creating two new levels of government accomplishes two things: It concentrates authority in the hands of one person, and insulates that person against public opinion, employees’ complaints, citizen’s groups, and voters. A select few will be very pleased with the new arrangements.
The County Administrator will receive accolades from large corporations and business groups for throwing open the doors to the privatization of the county’s forests, minerals, infrastructure, tax money and jail.
Here’s the question: Should two un-elected commissioners be allowed to radically change the form of this county’s government by their own doing? No, of course not. Major changes in the structure of county government must never be made without having a genuine public dialogue, at least one public hearing, and a vote of the citizens of the county. It is the people’s right to decide whether they want their county managed by a single un-elected individual, or by three elected, full-time commissioners. That’s an important decision, because once the structural changes are established, it will be nearly impossible to change the county back to a form of government that is democratic, approachable, and responsive to the needs and wishes of the people.
I know, I’m all over the place today, so much graft . Anyway, wanted to agree, these boys do not want the voter anywhere near their issues, it was very very obvious. I heard the Bice interviews, how the hell discouraging to know you actually agree with Jim Bice. Where’s my rope?
Ima, thank you for your piece. I agree, at my many years, I’ve never seen a population behave the way they do here in CC, for decades. I, as well have not been here but almost ten years, and I had the players figured out within six months. I called the paper to find where to go to educate myself about why the voters voted for the l2 inch pipeline, then out to the north spit, then SCDC, two airport terminals, closing business all over, then a rusted railroad to nowhere, I was told there was not much “news” offered on any of it. I put my retirement into this county, and I can’t tell you how mad I am to see Jon Barton receiving $50,000.00 for some kind of satellite tracking machine which isn’t in use, through public grants of course, this was for The Waterfall Clinic folks, there to care for the least of us, but Jon Barton? WTF? Anyway, reading Wims’s book actually makes me cry, it has several times. Out of frustration, and the realization, that even when exposed this outfit continues it’s stranglehold on hundreds of millions of public dollars. I just found out Jon Barton even sat(appointed !!) on the ORCCA Board,that makes Airport,SCDC,Chamber of Consorts, FONZI, SWOCC Port of Coos Bay, until he had to face an election, He lost every one. Does anyone out there know how many of these $50,000.00 satellite trackers Jon Barton “granted” to these public entities in the South Coast? I’m just curious. Let us not pretend that Grant funds are plucked off that tree behind SCDC’s office, okay?
The Face Book podcasts of the Bice program are always entertaining. Slater did not say much during the interview. Larry, Jim Bice went ballistic twice this week after recalling that insult thrown at us by Barton and Pettit. I believe that Pettit and Barton said there should be no public vote because the people are not educated. They also said that the public vote occured. I’m relatively new here, but, I don’t recall any of my lifetime neighbors stating that they fell off of the turnip truck as it passed through town and they decided to stay. NEVER in my many years have I seen so many people in the grasp of so few. NEVER have I seen a group of citizens so eager to follow every word of the often discredited reporting of the daily paper. Thank GOD there are people unaffraid to help educate the people in matters of importance.
A few days ago I heard that Jim Bice had Bob Main on one of his shows and Al Pettit, John Barton & Tim Slater on another, talking about restructuring county government. I went to the internet and listened to these two shows. In a nut shell, Bob Main seemed opposed to this restructuring, seeing no real benefit to the efficiency of county government. On the other hand, Barton, Pettit & Slater felt this was the answer to all of Coos County’s problems. One thing that struck me hard was when Jim Bice asks them if this issue should be put before the voters. Barton, Pettit & Slater in their own words, all stated that it should be the commissioners who should make the decision as they had the authority to make such a decision and not the public. Putting it to the voters would be a laborious task educating the public on this issue.
What are they afraid of? Do they think the public is so ignorant and so misinformed that they can’t make a logical conclusion as to whether this would be good for Coos County or not? So what if it takes some time to educate the public, the issue is of great importance to us all and should be openly discussed and debated. These folks have an agenda and think they have elected officials in place to make such a move and don’t want to pass the moment before newly elected officials are appointed.