Pickens County needs a multi-person commission like we need a third House in the US Congress. Yet, for months now, we have read about the inevitability of a move to this form of government.
Cited as one reason is the non-binding poll on the 2008 primary ballot where an “overwhelming” percentage of voters agreed to move to the multi-person format. Those who have pushed hard for this change may have turned out in droves for that ballot question. The rest of the county did not. There was very low voter turnout, even by primary standards. Let’s not overstate that ballot as a mandate.
Another reason cited is that a “multi” commission is more transparent than the “sole” format. This is stated over and over again, as though saying so will magically make it true. Let’s apply a little walkin’-around sense. If you have a puppy and you’re constantly filling in holes under your fence, you know who the culprit is. If you have five puppies and you’re filling in those same holes, the culprit(s) can hide in plain sight alongside the non-offenders. You have to work harder, never taking your eyes off any of the pups in order to determine who is at fault. Like the single pup, a sole commissioner is much easier for citizens to scrutinize. You know who is making decisions for the county. You may not like them all, but you do know who’s making them. In the real world we call that streamlining authority and responsibility. Far more transparent than trying to find the pea under five rapidly moving shells.
If enough voters disagree with the way the county is being run, they can oust a sole commissioner in one election cycle. If there is illegality or serious malfeasance, that commissioner can be recalled between election cycles. This is the epitome of voter efficiency. With a multi-person commission, terms in office are staggered. It may take half your voting life to get rid of two or three dirt bags. This is the epitome of inefficient voting. Think US Senate. We Georgians have a direct vote in who will or won’t represent us there. We have no control as to who represents any other state. Same thing with a district representative “multi”. Even if all five proposed commissioners are elected at-large, each commissioner will know where their voting block is strongest. Unofficial districts will emerge anyway, especially after two or more election cycles. The desire to stay in office will make those commissioners favor their block. Inevitably, there will be deal cutting, calling in of favors, finger pointing, backstabbing and vote trading among “multis”. There is nothing transparent about backroom deals. This isn’t theory. It’s fact. It’s called politics and it happens everywhere two or more politicians are assembled. Think CBS’ Survivor series.
For Pickens, this partisanship will likely translate into turf wars. Commissioners will develop pet projects for their districts, official or defacto. A sole commissioner prioritizes decisions based on what’s good for the entire county. In so doing, special interest groups cannot always be appeased. One whose job it is to work on behalf of special interest groups is called a lobbyist. Replace “special interest group” with “district” and you have the crux of what this push to the multi format is all about. If you can’t bend a sole commissioner to your will, get your own commissioner (lobbyist) so your group can fight to be first among equals! A multi-person commission isn’t about what’s best for the entire county. It’s about what’s best for segments of the county and the majority of these special segments can push the rest of the county around. The smaller or less “connected” districts lose their voice. So much for improved minority representation, cited as a benefit by the multi proponents.
The 42-member Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) is treating this proposed expansion of government as though it is a fait accompli.They are stacking the deck in so doing. As reported in the Progress June 11, the CAC is looking to eight similar counties for guidance on governance format. They had to go as far away as Jackson and Oconee counties for the guidance they wanted, skipping over two close neighbors. Bartow County still has a sole commissioner and Murray County voted to return to a “sole” format after realizing their mistake in trying out the “multi” format. If we want what’s best for Pickens, I would think a fair analysis would have solicited input from those counties as well. The CAC seems to already have the answer they want. They just have to invent the right equation to support it.
It has been noted many times in the Progress that Pickens is one of only nine counties in Georgia still governed by a sole commissioner. The only reason to keep mentioning this fact is to place it in a negative light. The inference is that Pickens is behind the times. Using this approach to support the goal of a multi format is about as effective as the childhood argument that you should be allowed to do something because everyone else is. Not exactly critical thinking. We are watching bloated, inefficient “government by committee” implode all over the US. I don’t care if we’re one of only nine counties in the entire Milky Way with a sole commissioner. That doesn’t put us behind the curve. We ARE the curve. The last thing this country needs at any level is more government.
Pickens will survive the current economic downturn better than most areas because we don’t have a bloated government choking us. Our current commissioner is fiscally cautious and unwilling to burden the taxpayer with projects we can’t pay for. This is a natural restraint that occurs in a sole commissioner system where “it’s all on my shoulders”.
In a recent Progress article it was cavalierly opined that in a county with a $20 million budget, the $100,000 incremental cost of a multi format might be seen as a drop in the bucket. Only big government proponents think that way. County revenues for 2009 will fall $1.5 - 2 million short of that budget. At a time when every household in Pickens is analyzing every dollar they spend, tell me again how that $100,000 is a drop in the bucket.
The figure is misleading anyway. Hiring a county manager (not needed in the sole format) at the same salary, give or take, as the current commissioner, then adding five commissioners at $20,000 each is just a starting point. Each new commissioner attends mandatory schooling on how to be a commissioner. Taxpayers pay for that plus travel, meals, lodging. Ditto for continuing education. We will buy them laptops; cover phone bills; reimburse vehicle expenses and provide liability insurance and healthcare coverage while in office. We pay for yearly junkets to meet with other commissioners from around the state, and on and on. They will also place an increased burden on staff, as each commissioner gets up to speed. Did you know that a multi-person commission could vote itself a pay raise (starting with the next term) without asking the taxpayers’ permission? The start-up cost for the new system will be closer to $250,000.
Recently in this newspaper, David Robinson was quoted as having concerns that a growing county will place high demands on a sole commissioner. My concern is that a growing government will place high demands on the taxpayer. We don’t need five people to run a county of 25,000. ExxonMobil has approximately 90,000 employees. They have one CEO. Do we have five head coaches on any NFL team? No, because decision by committee is ponderously slow and doesn’t work. As Dave Wills (commission chair, Webster County) stated in the Progress May 28, a sole commissioner format “is the most efficient and most effective if you have a good leader.” Government of any form is prone to abuse and corruption if you don’t hire good people. It is our duty as voters to find those people. Draw from your own life experience. If you are hiring employees, or as you look around at your fellow employees, what’s easier to find... one highly ethical, hard worker, or five?
We live in the only country on earth where we were not born to serve government. We allow government to exist to serve us. We should expand it only grudgingly. Regardless of the form that government takes, as a citizen you must stay engaged. Supervise government like the employee that it is. Keep your friends close, your government closer. If you don’t. groups like the CAC will determine your government for you. Don’t let them railroad you into this unnecessary expansion of government. Stay involved in this debate. Attend the public meetings July 16, 20 and 23. Speak your mind. Most importantly, when this proposal appears on the 2010 ballot, stand up and vote. We will get the form of government that the majority wants, that’s our system.
Someday we may need more government in Pickens County. Today isn’t that day. Neither is 2010.
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