E-mail topic: Would Reduced Representation Be a Good Thing?
Says a reader via email: At the June 19th Commission meeting County Commissioner Jeff Hatfield has indicated his intent to introduce a motion to REDUCE the number of commissioners from 21 (3 per district ) to 14. What opinion do bloggers hold on this topic??? Have you expressed your opinion to your local commissioner(s)?
posted by J. Kendrick McPeters | 7:47 PM
45 Comments:
I think the current method that is used works. If you allow just one person per district than you allow for the possibility that they decide what they want to do all on there own with no regards to the wishes of the people who voted them into office and with noone else to answer to. As of right now we have three commissioners per district-which they each can vote the way they decide but there is less chance of any funny business. No system is perfect but to allow just one commissioner per district would be disasterous, power seems to go to most peoples heads and then they think only of what will benefit them in the long run-could list a few examples but I will restrain from posting something that might be construed as slander or liable.
I agree with the above comments. It seems like some commissioners are controlled by "powers that be" and don't represent the wishes of the majority of their constituents. If you reduced the number of commissioners you increase the chance that those commissioners would be controlled by those "powers".
Riddle of the day: Is proposer an opposer of proposals he opposes if it's he who must pay the hyper piper when he tootes in his boot instead of tooting the flute? It's hard to dance with a boot full of toot.
Absolutely not!
To Flo Winkles:
Be specific…name the “powers that be” you are referring to in your statement…don’t beat around the bush!
Hatfield has been quoted in the newspaper that reducing down number of commissioners and giving a pay raise to boot would attract more "quality" people to run for office. Does he think he has been a "quality" commissioner? I think not if you look at his record on how he has voted. He represents a chosen few with special interests not the general public. A good example is what happened on the funding of the organization of which he is chairman.
If any of the commissioners in my district vote for this they can kiss my vote for them goodbye.
To Anonymous. I don't beat around the bush and at least I sign my name to what I write. I guess I erroneously assumed anyone who attended meetings of commission, school board, and any other local government meetings would know who the powers that be are. It is apparent from attending school board meetings that Tee Jackson had the seven former school board members swayed to his every wish. He also seems to control commissioners, esp. those who are closely affiliated by employment to the school system.
maybe we should consider having 14 school board members.
To Flo Winkles,
I don’t attend meetings, so how could I possibly know who you are referring
to?
Dear Person who wrote on june 18th, I am not Flo winkles but I have to say I wish with all my heart you would try to attend some meetings. I am homebound or I would go to as many as I could and try to learn more about our nice county.
Ruby,
Illness is the reason I don’t attend meetings also. This blog is such a great venue to learn about our government/candidates, but if people don’t share with us, the details and not just statements like “powers that be” we don’t get the whole picture. Therefore, voters like us can’t make good choices when we go to vote.
Mr. Barrett and Ms. Proud have graciously answered the questions that I have ask them on this site, but if you read Ms. Winkles statement above, you get a bit of anger in her answer, or at least I did. In fact, all I wanted to know was, to whom she was referring to as the “powers that be.”
Anonymous, I agree, Ms. Winkles was a little testy in answering you (at least I sign my name) and she, of all people, should know she made an erroneous assumption, since she attends all meetings.
To Ruby and Anonymous:
I am truly sorry you are unable to attend meetings through no fault of your own. There are so many people who could but just don't care what happens to our nice county. I have been hoping the radio would carry the commission meetings as they did years ago. It would also be of benefit to carry the school board meetings so people could really hear what goes on and how they conduct themselves. Would you be kind enough to contact WKSR with your thoughts on this? I have had others express the wish that meetings were broadcast. Maybe if we get enough people asking they will do it. I know this is getting off the subject for this Topic but broadcast meetings would really help. It would be nice to be able to turn on a radio and not have to drop everything and drive half hour into town for meetings all the time. Don't you think broadcast meetings along with this blog would make for more informed citizens?
To Ruby and Anonymous:
I am truly sorry you are unable to attend meetings through no fault of your own. There are so many people who could but just don't care what happens to our nice county. I have been hoping the radio would carry the commission meetings as they did years ago. It would also be of benefit to carry the school board meetings so people could really hear what goes on and how they conduct themselves. Would you be kind enough to contact WKSR with your thoughts on this? I have had others express the wish that meetings were broadcast. Maybe if we get enough people asking they will do it. I know this is getting off the subject for this Topic but broadcast meetings would really help. It would be nice to be able to turn on a radio and not have to drop everything and drive half hour into town for meetings all the time. Don't you think broadcast meetings along with this blog would make for more informed citizens?
Yes, I do!
Do we not already have reduced representation?
I just heard that the motion passed. I feel that this is a positive move.
Sadly, the motion passed and the representation will be reduced from 21 down to 14. Congratulations, Dan Speer, your henchmen, yes-men, robots, in-your-pocket men, or whatever you want to call them did your bidding under the leadership of Jeff Hatfield. Now you and the rest of your cronies will have less people to work to get under your control.
Why does Dan Speer get connected with everything good that happens? This is a great move for the county.
The only good thing that I feel will come of this reduced number of commissioners is the fact that it will not even take effect until 2010. Just another example of time wasted on things that are of no matter. Don't you think time would be better spent on real issues of concern during these commissioners meetings? I can only hope that the next board of commissioners will have the good sense to repeal this decision and stop some of the "yes man" goings on. We will, I'm sure, still have that eight or so group who will vote on everything the way someone else has told them to, which is obviously the reasoning behind the reduction to begin with. To their advantage, with only 14 commissioners instead of 21, they would need only to persuade 1 other to vote as they do to succeed in having it their way on some of these important issues. Makes their agenda much easier to accomplish don't you think? With this reduced number, this same group (which Hatfield and Green have always been a part of) will finally have the control they have sought all along. Hatfield and Green may not physically be on the board after Aug.3, but be assured that their successors(which I'm quite sure have been carefully hand selected to carry on in their stead) will continue to be the voices of these two. Let us not be fooled by this attempt to take control. We need to show them that we are much more intelligent than they give us credit for.
Comment immediately above hits the nail on the head!
Lawrence County has 19 districts and one representative from each district. Does anyone know if that representation works well?
there is one more change that needs to be made. half of the commissioners should be elected every two years. this way only one commissioner would be elected at each election with the other half running two years later.
A reduction in the number of commissioners puts too much power in the hands of too few people. Reduced representation reduces the power and suppresses the voice of the people. The term itself - REDUCED REPRESENTATION - sounds dictatorial. Someone please convince me that Mayor Speer didn't secretly have anything to do with this resolution. It is just the kind of thing that he would connivingly do.
Wouldn't even try to convince you otherwise since Speer and J Hatfield (commissioner who sponsored this change) are tight buddies. Need this new group of commissioners to get it changed back again.
Of course Jeff Hatfield followed the mayors orders to change the # of commissioners to 14. Notice the mayor never speaks for himself (NO GUTS) so noone could ever point a finger at him but everyone knows whose behind all the dirty work. Mr. Hatfield trys to act dumb and thinks he is being such a hotshot, but Giles Co people are not dumb and can see right through them. The mayor wants to be in control of this county and he was hoping to have Mr. Gordon in the county mayor seat so he could control him too---too bad. Janet Vanzant stands up to Pulaskis mayor and thank God she does. How many more things is Hatfield going to get screwed up at the mayors request? He already messed up the chamber of commerce and it went downhill fast. The chamber was strong and hes done a good job of bringing it down. Thank God again that the board may have finally made another good choice on a new director. They had a good one for 10+ years but Speer and Hatfield and their cronies manage to run her off. I've served on the board and know what happened. Lets just hope that our new county commissioners will do their jobs and stay alert to these good ole boys that are trying to run the entire county.
FYI Mrs. Vanzant was the only one who voted against giving the job to the mayor. She was the only one who asked questions too. Because she is a woman and has stood up to some of the stupid men on the commission, she is unliked. yeah she has made mistakes too but haven't they all.
Allen Barrett you come over as a very sore loser. You need to accept Vanzant won the race so try to support her or button up. We're tired of you.
To faye,
I'm sorry you see me as a sore loser I can assure you that I am neither sore nor a loser. I fail to see how what I am or whether Mrs Vanzant was re-elected has anything to do with her vote on the industrial board. It is a very simple matter of record Mr Speer was appointed by a unanimous vote of the industrial board.You don't have to take my word for it just check the report from WKSR on 29 June and also the newspapers, then perhaps you will realize who needs to button what up. Allen Barrett
anonymous
“he mayor wants to be in control of this county and he was hoping to have Mr. Gordon in the county mayor seat so he could control him too”
You are crazy as hell if you think this was true!
To Faye,
No, we DON”T need to support Mrs. Vanzant or the likes of people like you. I refuse to support any person that lies to the public like she has and the low-class people that helped her continue the lies right into the office she now holds for the next four years. We probably should just give her the authority to choose the entire commissioner she wanted in office and just sit back and watch their stupidity flow.
Mr. Barrett please don’t button up or close your eyes!
Faye
Here are the facts! If you are unable to read just ask someone to help you and please refrain and button up until you do have the facts. By the way if you are seeking the facts in the future, I suggest you call Mr. Barrett and not “MRS” Vanzant.
Faye
Here are the facts! If you are unable to read just ask someone to help you and please refrain and button up until you do have the facts. By the way if you are seeking the facts in the future, I suggest you call Mr. Barrett and not “MRS” Vanzant.
Board member Mark Hayes made the motion to accept the recommendation of the special committee. Elkton Mayor Bill Ware seconded the motion and the motion was approved by a unanimous vote of the council members present.
Can I button up? What do I need to do?
What ever you want to do but just don't lie!
If the question is about reduced representtion then isn't that what the people wanted based on there votes? If the ones elected don't even know what a ctas book is are can't even begin to talk intelligently about how to write a resolution how can they do anything with the trickers alredy on the commission. Based on what they said before the election the only ones with the guts to stand up against them was those two yankees Barrett and Ross and they got beat.
do we have majority representation on the commission now? NO! we only have a plurality vote on most comissioners. there have been many canidates elected by "one shot" voting. consider electing one commissioner from each district every two years. this should result in true majority representation and would probably result in a much more capable elected official. also, this way you would have a much smaller turnover in the comission at any one time. if a canidate does not receive 50.1% of the votes cast, have a runoff. even alabama has a runoff law. why can't we?
sounds like a great idea to me!
May I call you an anal buffoon?
Anonymous Thursday, September 14, 2006 9:29:40 PM To whom are you directing your question?
To anyone who might be interested in knowing, the new board of commissioners voted today to rescend Resolution 06-29, which reduced the number of commissioners from 21 to 14. The Resolution was amended to 21 again, by a vote of 18 to 3.
Thanks Tammy,
Who are the three no votes?
Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. You may have seen the results from the commissioners votes in the newspaper by now, but just in case you haven't, they were Roger Reedy, Alan Faulkner and Terry Harwell. Tammy Pollard
Just because they voted to recind it does not mean it is the best for the county. It would better to have one good commissioner than three bad ones. Look at district three.
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