To the Editor:
Commissioner Pack,
Let me start by saying that, I consider myself a staunch conservative and I have not missed voting in any election cycle since I was first eligible to vote in 1978.
However, at this point I do regret casting a ballot in your favor during the last election.
First of all, your statements in the Bulletin concerning the Womack Building and sheriff’s office personnel indicate a serious lack of judgment on your part.
Did you give any consideration to the consequences or repercussions that such ill-conceived statements published in the local paper could have on the morale of county employees, animosity between departments, or the stress these problems cause for our department heads?
Let me answer for you – obviously not!
My suggestion to you for future discussions concerning pay increases would be, you should base your statements on the merits of the individuals you wish to sponsor instead of pitting one department against another.
I personally don’t agree with individual county commissioners attempting to micro-manage issues that are better resolved and managed by the county manager and his department heads or the sheriff for his personnel. It is what we pay them to do.
Hey, but that is just my opinion. Your statements in the paper were at best extremely unprofessional, and as a registered voting Republican, I expect better judgment and professionalism from those I help elect to represent me.
Lastly, I know that by now (if not before you made your original statements in the paper) you have been briefed about the maintenance of the Womack Building and you are aware that there are a number of buildings involved. You are also aware that the maintenance department lost the employee who was assigned to those buildings.
I’m also sure you know the maintenance department chose to absorb the position with an existing employee, which probably resulted in a cost saving over hiring a replacement as well as, it kept an employee with a maintenance skill set available to the department.
You know this, but you allow the public to continue to write letters to the editor of the Bulletin about the “person who sweeps the floors at the Womack Building.”
I have read recent ones by Karl Kachadorian and Keith Holbert and I’m sure there have been others that I missed. It’s a shame that these individuals, as well as county employees, are whipped into a feeding frenzy by a county commissioner who fed them a misleading half-truth.
I personally think you should man up and contact the individuals personally (not in the paper, please) who are writing the paper and at least admit that you chose to not fully disclose all the information relating to the pay discrepancy.
Again, it is regrettable that such an unprofessional statement is made in the local paper.
Respectfully,
– Rick Edwards, Mill Spring