The accompanying video clip from a governance ordinance work session held on August 14 demonstrates the dangerously speculative and ill-conceived approach commissioners Cam Parry and Fred Messerle are taking toward enacting a major governance change. Neither commissioners can offer specific instances where hiring an administrator will ensure improvements in efficiency or cost savings and worse, they can’t explain why they can’t identify and implement these same changes as a board. Messerle tries to employ some catch phrases like “vertical integration” and “eliminating redundancy” but neither have a clue how an administrator would specifically address county problems beyond enabling discussions outside of public view.
Literally, with all the time the board has spent trying to justify hiring an administrator and centralizing the county power structure, the so called “horizontal” consolidation of county functions, if really necessary, would already be in place by now.
According to Messerle, “…each board should be able to set the parameters for how its going to govern”. This statement was in response to including too much detail about the qualifications for an administrator, meaning each board should decide its own set of requirements for an administrator. Parry wants the new board to determine the minimum requirements and to hire an administrator no sooner than next July and presumably, if we have two more commissioners in 2015, the whole hiring and vetting process could start anew.
For those of you pimping to privatize our local government:
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/running-america-business-daily-show-audits
You’ve done a piss poor job fellas, it’s time to fire every one of you, you failed to bring jobs, business, just more slop for your public trough.
Elected officials are answerable to the voter, not a County Commission or a potential administrator. The State Court system is run by the State, and follows State guidelines, not County. I know of a State employed department head who has NEVER been asked, or approached by the BOC, as to whether any help, assistance or advice has been or is needed. Not in 10 years.
To the contrary, Susan. Each of those department heads report to the Commissioners and would, consequently, report to an Administrator. And many of those department heads that you say “need no help” told me otherwise. There are many things they would like to see changed and improved within the County – changes that they feel would help them do their jobs better and more efficiently.
Unfortunately, the fact that our recommendations were built upon employee feedback continues to be ignored by some of the regular contributors to this blogs.
Once again, al pulls words from his hinderlands, and spews his opinion.
We don’t/didn’t want opinions boys, we wanted facts and historical data which no one has done even yet, and you boys failed to produce anything but your damned ‘wants’. When you have something other than opinions in your pockets, then tell us why YOUR idea is so much better than what we have. You cannot, you did no homework, you’re just another flash in the pan of Coos County. But you’ve learned how to get working stiffs to hand over their hard earned dollars, so you can spiff up that private business you brag of, that is, in my opinion, the most hypocritical example of “funds for me, not for thee” I’ve ever witnessed. All the while sashaeying around threatening the working people of the county that “we are broke”, which we aren’t/weren’t, and you know it. But you sucked your teat with the big boys, and you liked it, and you want more of it don’t you al?
Thanks Al. Mr. Rowe, Mr. Zanni. Mr. Frasier, Ms. Turi, Ms. Barton, Mr. Jenson, Mr. Surveyor, Judges Baron, Gillepsie and Stone, Mr. Josh manage departments that your administrator, by law, will never manage. All are professionals. Most other department managers are professionals and need no help. Would you consider your friend Messerle to be a professional commissioner and not in need of help? Perhaps it is he who is the reason why help is needed.
Operational deficiencies, lack of timely decision making and resource waste are just a few of the bi-products of a rudderless ship.
This obsession with the Administrator position and the fear-mongering about circumventing the process is unfounded. Why isn’t everyone wringing their hands over the decisions that John Rowe makes every day? Or Craig Zanni? or Paul Frazier? Where’s the concern that these department managers are undermining the entire political process while doing their jobs? The Administrator position is no different. If the County is going to maximize their waning financial resources then someone needs to be on board to help those twenty-odd departments function expediently each and every day – not just once or twice a month.
I am as cynical about government as anyone else at this point in time, but I have always viewed the Administrator position as a step towards MORE transparency. While no one ever heard about the real state of the IT department, Solid Waste, the software challenges in the Assessor’s office, the lack of a reservation system in the Parks department, or the funding challenges in Corrections, it will be the responsibility of the Administrator to insure that everyone is aware of ALL challenges – both Commissioners and the public. Problems such as these cost money. In some cases – MILLIONS of dollars. So it makes absolutely no sense to me how anyone could argue that an Administrator position is going to cost us too much money when, right in front of everyone’s eyes, we’re losing millions.
So we hire and fire every two years? We’ll lose count of the golden parachutes. We’ll have the blind leading the blind. It takes two years for a civil servant to locate the building toilet. Messerle and Parry are a joke foisted upon us. Sadly, we will probably have three administrator advocates in about two months. Since Messy and Parry can’t answer your difficult questions maybe they can answer mine. If it costs about $200,000 to get ready for an adminsitrator (Lehman Parry number), and you pay the adminsitrator $170,000 / year ($340,000 two years) (Lehman Parry and The World paper number) ($540,000 during first two years), how do you offset that expense by commissioner salary elimination when the commissioners salaries are not reduced ubntil 2015? My second grade neighbor took less than one minute to figure answer Messy.
They. Cannot and will not explain how an administrator is going to save money or manage. Better. The only thing they have explained is how it will allow them to circumvent the open meeting laws. It will make decisions like solid waste happen outside the public eyes. And with no provisions in the ordinance the commissioners could raise there salaries up to current levels or higher. People look the ORC land leases are up on the table agin .it would be to county interest to consider the forest rotation first since it is a renewable resource and the sands are a one time deal . There should be no open ended leases and the mineral not the mineral rights sold. Fred is in a hurry to get the talks going . I’m for jobs lets look to the long term like we have with the forest if it was not for using the forest wisely we would had to make deep cuts so thank you previous commissioners for planning to the future. The system works when the commissioners work their job full time .no radio show no running the family business . Their Job is to run the county which they Are not. So we should. Vote for the people that want to work full time and not part time lets take back cops county.