A work session to discuss recommendations in the PSU report was well attended today with a wide audience that included former commissioner Fred Messerle and the mathematically challenged Lance Benton. Commissioner Melissa Cribbins chaired the work session and began by announcing that any discussion of hiring an administrator was off the table owing to the voters clear opposition to the concept. Both commissioner John Sweet and Cribbins appear to be interested in exploring the idea of hiring or at least naming a budget/finance director.
Most of the discussion centered around how the county budget is structured and that it is considered difficult to understand and that the county should consider adopting a cost accounting system. As an old cost accountant I can see the merits of employing this type of system to track department progress and establishing the mechanisms necessary shouldn’t be that hard to implement. Conversely, governments run differently than businesses and I am not sure how much benefit there would be within the confines of a fixed budget. Additional concerns raised had to do with Treasurer Mary Barton having absorbed many tasks over the years and there is concern there is no trained replacement to take over should she leave her post for any reason. Mary Barton may already have staff that understand enough of what is going on to fill in for her if the need arises but if not, producing a detailed job description wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Benton left early but Messerle freely interjected his opinion beginning with his usual folksy and somewhat indecipherable style. “Well, I think we have to focus on the doughnut rather than the doughnut hole…” at which point I lost focus so we will have to wait for the video.
The net result of the meeting is that there will likely be another work session. The good thing was that the public was invited to engage freely in the discussion.
And when attempting to understand the writings or speaking of Messy, Barton, Benton and a few others (and I do not include Al) think paraprosdokian – one of the words from B school that I have never used.
Al, this 49er fan, from the time of the Morobito brothers (my father’s employer at the time) agrees with and appreciates your comment re the web site hostess.
Cut me a break, Reminder….everyone has their breaking point, including me. I can ignore the first couple of dozen times I’m called a buffoon, stupid or a liar, but I was feeling a bit cranky after excessive celebration over the 49er win on Sunday. Forgive me for my outburst. What I should have said was that Mary is a highly self-confident individual with superior management, financial and operational skills who isn’t afraid to mince words when others fall flat or fail to measure up to expectations.
…or until they fling an insult on a blog…
Do you mean like calling the host of this a self-aggrandizing curmudgeon?
Regarding Messy’s doughnut hole, as Einstein once said, since light travels faster than sound, some people appear to be bright until you hear them speak.