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A Weblog for news and views concerning the Polk County Board of Supervisors
About Me
- Diane Stoneking
- Garfield Township, Wisconsin, United States
- I'm 61 years old, a competitive runner, triathlete and teacher. I qualified to compete in the Olympic Trials Marathon in 1988 with a 2:47 time at Grandma's Marathon in Duluth. I've been married to my husband, Gary, for thirty-nine years. We have 4 grown children, one incredibly cute grandson, Connor, who celebrated his second birthday on August 1, 2008, and a beautiful brand-new grand-daughter, Samantha Liu Stoneking, who arrived on August 20, 2008. Our daughter, Margaret, was just married on February 21, 2009, to Lucas Koenig, an active-duty Marine stationed in San Diego.
Visitors
Wapogasset Winter
Apple River
3 comments:
I tried three times and decided I must have been blocked out on purpose.
Naw, even I could get on!
Since I am now able to get "on" I'm going to attempt a little "blog-posting history". I'll try to catch up on two or three postings in one..... I should have known that I hadn't been blocked out. I mean if you let Rick weigh in, you'll clearly let anyone.....
In your "bozos and clowns" posting, I must admit that I was somewhat put off by that characterization, but having re-read it and discussed with a few other people it appears you were suggesting that if one doesn't like the 23 people who are on the board they may not like the 10 or 12 members of a smaller board either. If that is what you intended, I agree. People have to be of voting age and a resident of the district they represent -- (accept for Gerry Newville----)to serve on the county board. Reducing the size of the board has no direct bearing on the "qualifications" of the candidates running. Also -it is true that the smaller the board the more responsibilities fall to those who are on it. More committee assignments, more meetings etc. I don't think that is all bad. The broader the perspective of the members, the less likely they are to become paternalistic --oops-- maternalistic about the departments upon whose governing boards or committees they serve. In Minnesota, the state has decreed that county boards are made up of five or seven members. I checked on Washington County several years ago-- and their five board members were being paid salaries in the mid $40,000 range and a full load of benefits and were considered full time employees. There is a disturbing down side to that arrangement. It attracts people who aspire to be full time politicians and see the county board as a career choice, or are wealthy semi-retired business owners or professional people. Those kinds of salaries will dictate more expensive campaigns if the positions are contested. People will gladly part with $5,000 to $10,000 dollars campaigning for a job that is worth $60,000 per year if you count the benefits. I don't think it is healthy for the residents if the decision to seek local elected office is limited to those with available disposable income. Those who are struggling should be represented in government as well as those who have been successful.
I think a good size for the board would be 10 to 14 members, not being paid any more than they are now. Frankly, Polk County Board members are very well compensated when compared the board members in our neighboring counties. Had the salary for the county board chairman on the previous county baord been $20,000 per year instead of $5,000 per year the board would have still elected the same Chairman and he would have still been a disastrous choice. The only beneficiary would have been the person who was garnishing his county board chairman's salary. Elected officials don't perform any more responsibly because there being paid more money. We should guard against paying our board members to the extent that they see that job as a part-time career rather than the "service" that is is supposed to be. I think discussions should start regarding an appropriate size for the board and that decision should be incorporated into the required redistricting that must take place when the 2010 census date becomes available. Going through an expensive redistricting process now and then having to do it again in a couple of years is ill-advised. But the discussion on the size of the board could certainly start now.
You also suggest that you have concluded that we need a county administrator. Unfortunately your experience on the county board is limited to one two year term on a board that will likely be remembered as one of the most incompetent, ineffective, corrupt, disfunctional boards we have had in
in the last 30 years. Furthermore--this goes back to the "clowns and bozos" argument--why would one suggest that a board that would choose such obviously flawed leadership for the Chairman's role assume that it could choose a responsible person for the administrator's job? We have gone down that road with a full time administrative coordinator a few years ago and the experiment didn't work. A county executive elected by the people would have to persuade the electors of the entire county of their qualifications to get elected. One could easily argue that Polk County has done a far better job of electing it's constitutional officers than the county board has done in hiring administrative coordinators. I think the new board made a good choice in selecting Mr. Beseler for the Chairman's job and I believe that the need for a full time administrator will not be an issue as long as competent leadership is elected by the county board. I believe that we have excellent management staff in Polk County that --generally-- doesn't need a great deal of direct daily supervision. Since we now have a chairman that understand the job and is willing to do that job, things will go much smoother and the $100,000 per year that an administrator would cost could be better used to upgrade our roads.
When I read Supervisor Brown's letter to the editor, the message that I took from it was his suggestion that this is an important decision that people should weigh carefully. I agree.
Bob Blake
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