Big Change In School Board Policy; Efforts To Stifle Citizen Input At Meetings.

I must say that I am extremely disappointed that the new Director of schools has chosen to limit citizen input at School Board Meetings.

According to the newspaper The Director now requires anyone wishing to speak to fill out a form with a brief summary of their comments prior to the meeting. While this may, on the surface sounds like a reasonable idea it is not a new one. If the board or Director was intending to use this prior information too prepare a response I would be more in favor of it but they do not, instead they intend to contact the speaker within 24 or 48 hours with a response.  If they can’t even decide whether to make contact within two days or four days what’s the point? The major problem however exist in the fact that to submit a request prior to the meeting as to what your comments will be requires that you know what will be discussed at the meeting. Very few people have developed the ability to actually foretell the future and thus will not be able to predict the Boards actions and therefore will not be able to write prior to the Board Meeting what they wish to question.  I fear this is nothing more than just another nefarious attempt to prevent any citizen input at School Board Meetings. Why is the current system so objectionable, is it simply the reality that some Board members are terrified of being revealed as less than honorable, truthful, intelligent or controlled?

I hope the Director will reconsider this policy and continue to allow the three minutes at the end of the meetings to be used by those citizens who wish to be heard on current matters. 

5.3 % Increase In County Insurance Premiums To Be Paid By The County?

When the County Commission’s Budget and Insurance Committee met to discuss county employees insurance I wonder how many realized they would leave the room having approved a 5.3 percent pay increase for those county workers? I realize that 5.3 % isn't the actual amount of money they will receive in their paycheck but it is the amount they will not have to pay out of their paycheck for insurance.

It never ceases to amaze me that when they chose to, the county authorities can just pull $42,000.00 out of some secret hat, of course at other times there are other even larger amounts to be pulled out of that hat. Now to make this and even great feat of magic this $42,000.00 is to be used from the “Janitorial Fund” but wait, just what janitorial fund are we talking about?  There was a move to contract the janitorial services out to a company in Alabama that was supposed to save the county over a $100,000.00 a year and from that there would certainly have been enough money to cover the $42,000.00 in recurring spending for salaries, but there's a fly in the buttermilk. The contract with the janitorial services in Alabama was cancelled by Mrs. Vanzant, no real explanation was given (I suspect it involved some very unhappy janitors and their supporters who have helped Mrs Vanzant get elected and will be needed again when she seeks re-election). With that contract cancelled janitorial personnel were re-hired and the full expense for the service had to be re-introduced into the budget, so where did the $42,000.00 for insurance actually come from? A magic hat or just the same kind of old fashioned manipulation that has dragged this county down for 200 years?

Now here’s a question I wish someone would answer for me, why are so much of a county employee’s insurance being paid for by the county to begin with? Most counties require their employees to pay at least 25% of their premiums Giles County requires they pay less than 10%.

When you consider that we continue to lose population and that the population still here continues to lose income how do you justify spending more and more?  Our property tax rates are among the highest in the state, our services are among the lowest but we continue on without a plan or direction just jumping from one crisis to another.

The hospital money is now gone and several commissioners are drooling over the idea of a wheel tax and even more property taxes. We just had a large phantom property tax increase levied by the tax assessors revaluing property upwards. If you don’t believe that then ask the tax assessor if they will take in more money this year than last year.

So, back to the 5.3% pay increase for county employees. We may ask ourselves do the county employees deserve a 5.3% pay increase. I’m sure that some do and some deserve much more than that but then there are some who have ridden the system for years with doing little more than swatting a fly while at work. There is no such thing as a forty hour work week for courthouse employees. Facts bear out that county workers with their benefits are far better compensated on average than are citizens in non- county jobs. I would ask and challenge the newspaper and radio station to release information on just how many people in the county pay as little as $50.00 as their share of medical insurance. Even those living on Social Security are paying more each month for Medicare than are our county employees. It’s not about what the workers deserve, just as with the fast food workers striking for $15.00 an hour, it’s about what the county can afford and the taxpayers of the county are at their limit as to what they can pay.  It’s past time Commissioners and the County Executive realize they do not represent only the county employees but the citizenry as a whole and keep that in mind when voting.