The County Council Is Right, The Executive's Office Should Have Been More On The Ball

As I have stated many times, and something my critics refuse to recognize is, I call it like I see it. Everyone knows I am a supporter of Bob Culver and the mandate for change he received in the last election. However, what occurred in the Council meeting this morning should never have happened.

Mr. Culver's intent was extremely honorable on behalf of the taxpayers and the saving of millions of dollars. That is exactly what he was overwhelmingly elected to do. During the discussion by the Council on the Bennett Middle School issue, some members cited that Mr. Culver provided insufficient information in the CIP and his request for a 60 day delay so the renovation of Bennett Middle could receive further study by his office was too late. Let's not forget Mr. Culver has only been in office for just over 3 months. What is important to remember, HIS STAFF HAS NOT!

The Director of Administration has been in office over three years and the Assistant Director of Administration has worked for the County for more than 20 years, the last 8 or so in her current position. How things work and what is expected from the County Executive's office to present and to provide to the Council should be old hat to them. Process and procedure are what they get paid to do for the County Executive!

Bob chose to hold on to Wayne and Sharon, and my guess would be that he needed these professionals who are paid around $200,000.00 a year between them plus benefits, to help him more or less fit into the groove, so to speak.

However, today proved that Wayne and Sharon have been doing the complete opposite. Professionals would have held meetings well in advance with not only Council Members, but they would have also done so with the Board of Education. Everyone would have been well-briefed on Mr. Culver's plan.

However, my guess, (and it is only a guess) is that Wayne and Sharon knew well in advance what the outcome was going to be on this and while some of you may come back here and say Wayne tried to have Bob's back in today's Council Meeting, I'd argue that it was nothing more than a show. I believe Wayne and Sharon are still working to further the goals of the former administration and in my honest opinion I firmly believe Mr. Culver should fire the two of them TODAY and move on to greener pastures.

Look, these people are paid huge salaries to make sure things like what happened today NEVER happen. Not in a Council Meeting OR in the Press. Bob certainly got smacked in the face, (as some might imply) but the reality of it is, the taxpayers were simply screwed today and YOU are the people who got smacked. That doesn't leave Mr. Culver without any responsibility though. He needs to make the tough decision; does he want to continue being played a fool or does he want to fulfill his platform and agenda by doing what he proposed to do when he ran for Office in the first place?

I'm sure the act of removing some people doesn't look very good on Bob, but guess what, Bob is our new County Executive and he has every right to hire people who will fulfill his vision, the one the taxpayers' supported with their votes I might add. He should be surrounded by people who will work just as hard as he does for the taxpayers and do it passionately.

Today was a HUGE learning curve for Mr. Culver. He can either continue down the same path he's been on since he took Office or he can make the necessary and difficult changes to get rid of the cancer in his Office and do what he set out to do, serve the people under HIS platform and move the County forward.

And let me say this. What kind of person did YOU elect when that person comes back and says, you know Bob, I'd support you if you had the support of the Council but I don't see that at this point! WHAT? Another Council Member couldn't understand how saving the building would save the taxpayers money! WHAT? Another Council Member doesn't think things should be revisited once they are in place. WHAT? Really? Your family owns several businesses. Do your businesses stay on the same path for years if the economy has changed and you can't afford to move forward? I doubt it! Finally, another Council Member stated that the economy hasn't changed up or down for the past 10 years. WHAT? That one is really nuts!

So, what have we learned? We learned that the seasoned Executive Staff - Wayne and Sharon - who know the kinds of information the Council needs to make decisions, the kinds of information that needs to be in the CIP narrative and the time frame that the Council wants to receive this information DID NOT HELP BOB CULVER with any of it. THEY FAILED HIM.

We learned that despite the fact Davis and Kilmer are new, Cannon and Dodd have served before, and Matt Holloway, Joe Holloway and John Hall are returning members - the MAJORITY of the Council was not convinced that giving Mr. Culver another 60 days was in the best interest of the TAXPAYERS who elected the MAJORITY REPUBLICAN COUNCIL TO SUPPORT THE REPUBLICAN COUNTY EXECUTIVE.

The handwriting is on the wall folks. Mr. Culver needs to do some more house cleaning.

I want to add, West Salisbury Elementary has NEVER been on the County Council CIP. Are you ready... The BOE had it on theirs, READY, FIFTEEN YEARS from now! The BOE has made this a RACIST thing. Rick Pollitt was DESPERATE towards the end of his election and promised that community a new school. It JUST came onto the radar screen and should NOT even be considered.