A real need?

By John R. Griffin

A real need?

Do we really need a county spokesperson to convince the voters to pass a use tax on ourselves?

Do we need this person to tell us we will be celebrating our 250^th anniversary next year?

Do we need a public information officer (PIO) to tell us in a newsletter we had an emergency last month?

Does the board need a “puppet” to speak for it? Why can’t the puppet masters speak for themselves?

I think the board needs to rethink the “need.”

How is this PIO going to disseminate this important information in a timely fashion? Will the PIO become the “county crier” from the balcony of the Warren Green building?

This newspaper reaches most households in the county each week; the county “e-alert” system has 1,075 citizen subscribers who have signed up to receive information, and this system has disseminated 75 notices since the beginning of the year and 668 since January 2005.

The county government also has a Web site that publishes meeting schedules, meeting agendas and meeting minutes. And let’s not forget our local cable channel (23) which televises the monthly boards' meetings.

Our population is estimated at about 65,000. We have approximately 40,000 registered voters living in approximately 25,000 homes and almost 11,000 students in school.

How many attend one or more county meetings?

I attend a few each month, and sometimes I am the only citizen present. Often times at the board of supervisors meetings, the average attendance is 15 to 20 people

On rare occasions, such as the public hearings for Costco, the Fresta Valley school expansion, and the budget hearings in 2007 when “full funding” of the school was the topic, did more than 100 citizens come to speak.

This year, when the budget hearings took place, there were approximately 20 people present, and only nine spoke.

Why should the taxpayers agree to fund $40,000 for a part-time position and $10K in expenses for a county employee to “persuade” us to vote for another use tax on ourselves? Is this public information or public persuasion?

Instead of finding more ways to spend our tax dollars, why not better utilize the communication systems currently available and spend more time finding ways to increase our revenue and reduce our tax burden

Then maybe more of us will listen.

Griffin is a retired U.S. Navy cryptologist and a community activist.