Commentary and Opinion by Samuel Strait – August 1, 2024
Well, here I am nearly seven thousands miles away, the dust has settled, and I can report on the July 23rd meeting of the 5-0 Club’s most recent attempts at being “transparent”. Things started off pretty much as expected. We’ve developed a formula here, the only deviation is that no one was hired in the past two weeks. Not too bad. Everything else was pretty much as scripted. Supervisor Starkey was in true form, Supervisor Short, lost for the most part as usual, Supervisor Howard, present and dreaming, Supervisor Borges, silent as usual, and Chair Wilson still stuck on Strategic Planning delusions.
The Consent Agenda was a model of efficiency with only nine items, only three from the Department of Health and Human Services, the rest a mix of agreements and appointments from various other departments in the County. Wow! I wouldn’t have thought that County government had any other departments. Such a stream lined affair hardly qualified for the “business of the County” for the past two weeks. The unelected must all be on vacations. 5-0, and moving on.
The public comment period was even briefer, as the Fourth of July events seemed to have subsided with the passage of time and the apparent recovery of the injured child. Perhaps next year Public outrage will last more than a few days. Next up was our very expensive DC Lobbyist, Mr. Greg Burns, to tell us all the times he has gone to bat for us in the hallowed halls of the US government. A short list of successes followed by a short list of failures. Not that we ever expect much of a substantive windfall from the Federal government, but a dollar here and a dollar there of taxpayer funding for things that are hardly vital or come at a cost, three million for a jail project that is expected to reach nine million. Closing in. Then there is that oh so vital Pyke’s Field renovation, did I hear Last Chance Grade anyone?
A couple of items to buck up the Roads Department by giving them tiny raises, not that it will help, but anything to make negotiations with the Employees Union all that more difficult. Vacancies? Retention? unlikely. Seems that was tried at the Sheriff’s department with Measure ‘R’ money and how did that work out?
The final two items were a struggle for the Board, both passed 3-2. The first was Supervisor Starkey’s labor of love, the initiation of “Budget Workshops” to work through the Budget every August and promote transparency with the public. Of course everyone seems to forget that the formation of the budget begins in April/May when a two, three month in house period of cut and paste to come up with what is presented at the proposed August Workshops. The public is certainly not in the know as to what is discarded or kept. What is considered “vital” or what is discarded. It comes to the workshop where a few public members, probably six or fewer, are given access to what will for the most part be the County’s budget on October 1st, a full third of the way into the Budget year. In addition, even though it is labeled the financial “blue print” the County is expected to follow, for some reason that isn’t always the case. Many instances where questionable expenditures throughout the year are accomplished through “budget transfers” where contingency and unexpended funding seem to magically appear just in time to cover shortfalls somewhere else in the budget. All rubber stamped by our oh so trustworthy BOS.
The final item on this BOS train wreck was to attend to the problematic “Roads Department” vacancy and under paid problems. While it passed 3-2, it clearly will create problems down the road with negotiations the County will have with the Unions. Clearly three members of the Board do not have the capability of exercising “Common Sense”. It may “feel” good to play Santa Claus for a portion of the County’s workforce, but the Board’s strategy is bound to create problems in the future and solve nothing. Seems like this is par for the course for this Board, spend money like a house on fire, and solve nothing but to watch the house burn to the ground. Enough, until next time from seven thousand miles away.
