SSHM, I am trying to work with you here. You and I, along with a couple of others, saw this one coming - but I still think the current Council overreached. They won the match, then taunted their beaten opponents and spiked the chess board, so to speak.
Let me elaborate:
1. The buyout of Preston's contract, in an of itself, was the right thing to do. It clears the board for the next match. But I had called for some sort of compromise - somewhere LESS than what a court may order in the future if there had been litigation, but somewhere slightly higher than a year's salary and benefits. THERE IS NO WAY $1.14 MILLION IS A COMPROMISE! IT'S A ROBBERY!
2. The elimination of Joey Preston from the equation was a brilliant stroke of genius by Ron Wilson or whoever engineered it, if only because it takes away the favorite target of his critics who will control the majority vote on the new Council. However, immediately naming JP's assistant administrator to the top job, complete with a new contract, was a stroke of stupidity. I'm sure Mr. Cunningham will be a fine administrator, and I've always believe that positions like this one should be filled from WITHIN the existing hierarchy if possible. But Cunningham should have been named INTERIM administrator while a search was conducted, then the decision on the new administrator should have been left to the new Council. PERIOD.
3. And that brings me to the proposed complete audit. The demand for that audit was an effective tool JP's critics used in their ongoing efforts to get rid of him. Now, he's gone, with a "hold blameless" clause in his walking papers. BEST PATH: Save the county a million dollars or more by scrapping the "forensic audit" of past years. Establish clear, concrete policies on the use of county credit cards, Eco-Devo travel, and the authority of the Administrator to transfer funds from one account to another without Council approval. Set up a couple of ethics seminars for all employees so they will clearly understand what is and is not appropriate. Carry out an INTERNAL audit of questioned accounts. DO NOT LEAVE CURRENT ANDERSON COUNTY EMPLOYEES IN FEAR OF LOSING THEIR JOBS FOR SOMETHING THEY DID WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATOR. That would be the most counterproductive thing the new Council could possibly do, and I can assure you that today, as we speak, there are county employees who are afraid they're going to be fired simply for doing their jobs as they were told to do them. (I do undertand the Lt. William Calley defense, by the way - but that's not relevant here.)
The current Council HAD a legitimate claim that they cleared the board for the new Council by dealing with the Preston issue. They had a legitimate claim that they weren't standing in the way of any audits, because they had approved a complete audit (without designating funding for it.) But by overpaying Preston to leave, and by immediately naming his replacement, they lost their claim to have "done the right thing."
No, they stuck five thumbs in the eyes of Anderson County taxpayers last night on their way out the door.
The stupidity of both sides of these issues never ceases to amaze me, SSHM - and that includes your side. I've watched this from afar, and I've seen both sides constantly demean their poltical opponents as stupid, as crooked, as incompetent, as (fill in the word du jour.) And I said back in June, after Preston's critics started gloating and taunting their defeated opponents, that I thought they were overplaying their hand. That was because I understood, as you did, just how strong a hand Joey Preston really had under state law.
Now, Preston's supporters have totally overplayed a very strong hand. I see no good coming out of this in the short term, and very little in the long term, because of the massive overreach. Given the opportunity to resolve the main problem that Preston has become a divisive figure, the current Council threw a new supply of ammuniton to their critics. A war that could have ended, to the benefit of everybody, instead was deliberately escalated with a pair of "in your face" votes last night.
I have always agreed with you, SSHM, that stupid should hurt more. Unfortunately, in Anderson County, it often seems that both sides have had their "stupid" nerves cut and don't feel a thing. In fact, there seems to be an epidemic of brain damage in Anderson County that has infected both sides of the issues.
At some point, SSHM, somebody in Anderson County who is both smarter and more patient than either one of us is going to step in a mediate this foolish, destructive war of words and actions so Anderson County can finally be dragged, kicking and screaming, at least into the 1980s. Perhaps that may will be Cunningham - but the way his hiring was handled, I have my doubts. He is already being undermined by Joey's critics here, and I don't see him as having much chance to win over the new Council after this outrage that he had little to do with.
It's sad, really. I don't know him, but from everything I've heard he has all the ability in the world to be a great administrator - but in a county that doesn't eat on its own for sport. This will never end until both sides make peace and decide to work together, without the games they're both guilty of playing.
And, after last night's squandered opportunity to make peace, I just don't see that happening.
