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.
-jdtippett
Ok JD ... long reply ... (point by point ... paragraph by paragraph)
1.) Sending JRP on his way now is a brilliant move. A move that, as I have said other places, forces the hand of the incoming council to focus on ANDERSON COUNTY and not a modern-day-political version of the Spanish Inquisition. As for the payout of the contract-in-full ($1 million+), it is reasonable to say that the County was seeking to mitigate ANY possible avenue of liability from JRP or his legal "staff." Take the money and run, as Steve Miller would say. Is it high? YES. Is there ANY chance of him returning, crying wolf, or otherwise hindering the progress of the incoming council? NO.
2.) Here's the problem with a search, JD. For a group of individuals that are coming into office, tasked with what they believe is a mandate to chop heads, cut taxes, and, for a lack of better terms, eliminate county government, do you really think they will part with ANY "coin of the realm" to find a new county administrator? Remember, this group ABHORS the County Administrator form of government and takes issue with coffee from Starbucks. Monies to properly fund a national search for a County Administrator ... really ...
3.) I totally agree. I don't see this happening, sadly. I fully believe that in January, one of two things will happen: 1.) We will see the emergence of a penny-in, penny-out audit, operating under the existing ordinance from THIS year to provide for an audit without cost limits. If that is not the case, then we will see ... 2.) Squabbling and bickering over who is the most conservative and most fiscally responsible member of council ... and how THEY (the given individual on council) will not have their name tied to an audit that financially could either grind the county to a halt or sink it financially. Either way, this group has painted themselves into a precarious position of having to make good on ... lowering taxes, making government transparent, reducing headcount ... all while not raising taxes or cutting existing services. Yup ... that noose looks long enough from here, I tell ya.
I don't look at it as overpayment, JD. I look at it as minimizing the exposure to legal costs, court fees, and basically tying up Anderson County in a series of court room battles for what could be a number of years. It was a total "cut our losses, send him on his way" approach. You've seen the figures for what MCW has racked up against county council ... would it not be prudent to cut our losses in such a way as to make certain JRP has no reason and no means of recourse to knock on the door after his settlement? I believe 1.14 million is more than enough to make sure that does not happen.
I don't think they overplayed their hand JD. I believe it was the ONLY hand that could be played - played to keep Anderson County out of the courtroom and out of what could have been a sticky contractual settlement. Now, if it were I that were to have played that hand, I would have moved to enter executive session and settle the contractual dispute there. It was a personnel matter that should have remaind behind closed doors. I will agree, with you on this ... methinks someone watched one too many re-runs of Apocalypse Now and fancied the line uttered by (Lt. Col. Bill) Kilgore:
"I love the smell of napalm in the morning . . ."So where does this put us now . . . ?
Peace is gone. I doubt there will ever be an opportunity to provide unity in the public sector - at least for another 10-15 years. I believe the pro-growth and pro-JRP crowd is content to wait for the aging out of the anti-growth, anti-JRP crowd. Time and good health is definitly on the side of those that are for growth. I also believe, as strange as this may sound, that the means for progress in this county will no longer run through the Historic Courthouse on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of each month.
If anything, the path to progress will bypass it entirely.
- SSHM
