I do appreciate the YNT's coverage of the County Commissioners meetings. As they meet during the day which is a very inopportune time for those who are gainfully employed to attend, it is great to have a news source that keeps us all informed. A lot of comments have been posted about the adopt-a-pet controversy, but I wonder if that issue isn't just a symptom of a much larger problem.
Instance #1: Adopt-A Pet funding. An agreement was signed, but not after some heated exchanges. A direct statement regarding alleged "double dipping" was made;
“So if you find an animal in the country and you find the owner and that owner picks up the animal, do they have to pay a fee?” Bulgrin asked.
“Yes,” Hose responded.
“So you would get money from the county and the owner,” Bulgrin said. “So it’s double-dipping.”
Not to mention Adopt-A-Pet being accused of holding the county hostage.
“We offered $4,000 to your board and your board rejected that,” said Commissioner Steve Neujahr. “You said, no, you want $5,000 and if this law hadn’t been passed you wouldn’t be here and we wouldn’t be having this discussion. The biggest thing I take offense to you is that I think you’re holding us hostage and I don’t take that very kindly. Straight up.”
http://www.yorknewstimes.com/articles/2009/12/17/news/doc4b29a8758e4db702918429.txt
Instance #2: Relations with county employees.
The commission forgot to consider giving employees christmas eve day off. ( http://www.yorknewstimes.com/articles/2009/12/18/news/doc4b2af52928806312358369.txt)
And I think it might be a good idea to have the courthouse open as usual,” said Bulgrin, “considering this economy and the way times are right now . . .”
I have to shake my head when I read this quote. We were in the middle of a big storm and I think THAT could've constituted an emergency. All PRIVATE businesses I tried to visit that day were closed any way. Even without the emergency declaration, someone dropped the ball here and it shouldn't have been. This shows a lack of consideration for county employees in my personal opinion.
Another matter was settled regarding employees taking sick time before an official holiday. I can't link to the article, but the exchange ran along the lines of: "How will we know they are really sick?" The person who replied mentioned that with H1N1 going around, you have to be careful. To me, you trust your supervisors to make a sound judgment regarding employees. Asking if they are really ill just shows a micro-management, distrusting mindset which is NOT how you build morale.
So, will you be voting to retain your county commissioner? Why or why not?
