It’s tough getting
older. It’s even tougher when you get there. It
isn’t
the aches and creaks that get to you as much as it is the knowledge that things
aren’t all that they used to be. What it boils down to is that
folks just aren’t as smart as they used to be.
Let’s take a look at the New Philadelphia city council
for instance. On January 17, the Times Reporter ran an article -
Philadelphia officials get raises, including mayor – which reported that the
council had approved three-percent pay raises for Mayor Taylor, City Auditor
Gundy, City Treasurer Johnson, Council President Hi tchcock, and Council Clerk
McKay. Taylor, Gundy, and Johnson have constantly complained that
they were underpaid. The vote wasn’t even close. For the pay
raise were Mauer, Lautenschleger, Espinscheid, Zucal, and Lanzer. Against were
Cox and Walker.
This vote was interesting for a number of reasons.
For one thing, everybody who was given a pay raise by this vote ran for
the offices they hold knowing full well what the salary was. Oddly, before the election
their concern for higher wages was not an issue.
For another, those who voted for the raise totally
disregarded the opinion of Law Director Fete who, according to the Times
Reporter, explained that the practice of granting in-term raises
for elected officials ”is not illegal — although the Ohio Revised Code does
prohibit it”, a comment which makes no sense to me at all. No
reason it should because the Ohio Fifth District Court made the decision
over-riding state statutes. According to the TR, Fete did not
take the pay raise because of ethical issues.
Then it really got strange.
Maurer said he didn’t feel comfortable voting on the pay raise.
Espenshied said she had a problem with the issue as well.
In spite of their uncertainty, both voted for the issue when the vote was
taken.
One of the strangest comments was one from
Lautenschleger who said that if Hitchcock had handled the issue immediately, he,
Lautenschleger, would have voted against it. I guess that
legislation, like hamburger, turns rancid with time.
So, on this vote, it appears that two of the
votes for the pay raise were made by people who expressed concerns
about its passage before and after the vote was taken, one voted for the pay
raise because he wasn’t pleased with the speed with which the
Council President brought the matter to the floor, one who publicly
said he would vote against the pay increase changed his vote at the
last minute to vote for it. Mr. Zucal’s vote for the pay raise came as no
surprise. His history on City Council has been consistant with the
administeration’s wishes, especially when it comes to spending
money.
In addition to the three-percent pay raise
for this year, the legislation passed by council included a three-percent pay
raise for last year retroactive to January 1, 2012. Figure that
one out.
The interesting part of the retroactive pay
raise is that ex-Treasurer Johnson was included inspite of his refusal to
provide council with monthly reports on the financial status of the city on a
monthly basis as required by law, a discrepancy which was addressed by the State
Auditor’s office in a recent audit of the city’s finances. To add
fuel to the fire, Johnson had resigned his position effective the end of 2012,
before the pay raises even became effective.
Now
being an old guy, it is hard to imagine that fiscal spending runs
rampant in New Philadelphia. I remember the depression when money
just wasn’t available. You made do with what you had.
Old saying back then: Buy it new, wear it out; fix it up or do
without. Today the administration of New Philadelphia, and the
apparent majority of city council, chooses to ignore that message.
It is obvious that they do not have New Philadelphia’s residents in mind
when they consider financial activities in the city. Is this
because their priorties are not with the residents of the city? Maybe
we should ask what their true agendas are.
Or maybe the Peter principle has finaly
kicked in and New Philadelphia politicians have finally reached their levels of
incompetance
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