The Columbia County 5: Putting County Workers at the Bottom of the Barrel
Posted February 27, 2014 08:05 am
The Columbia County 5 from left to
right: Chairman Ronald Williams;
Commissioners Rusty DePratter;
Bucky Nash; Stephen Bailey; Scarlet Frisina
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – For months, Columbia County has been looking forward to this morning's budget work shop. Florida's infamous County Commission, The 5, could have scheduled the workshop or workshops when both the public and the County's workers could have attended. The 5, the $800 plus a week royalty that run Columbia County, made sure to schedule this meeting when barely anyone could attend. The promised review of the salaries of County workers, many of whom are on food stamps, or too proud to be, have been relegated to only a passing mention at the bottom of the barrel. The 5 side stepped the issue in its last minute workshop presentation, relegating it to page 89 of 89 pages.
The 5 can't afford to give Sheriff's Road Deputies and others raises, but in two weeks they can afford to spend a half a million dollars on football fields, locker rooms for the school district and cost overruns. Ed.
One of the reasons discussed when The 5 moved the County Commission meeting times from 7 pm to 5:30 pm was to be able to hold workshops and presentations when the county residents could attend. Lake City holds its workshops and committee meetings in the early evening, before its Council meetings.
County workers have at times been banned from attending County Commission meetings.
The supporting material for this morning's budget workshop was only made available yesterday afternoon. It is not clear how much material was forwarded to The 5 before that; however, a week ago the short agenda was posted on the County website.
Eleven items were listed at that time.
Discussion of the recent salary survey and its implementation were relegated to the last of 89 pages on the County's budget workshop presentation. It is three phrases and 35 words.
The County concluded, "Cost to implement will be based on BCC [The 5] decision regarding "compression."
Epilogue
In the civilized world, addressing the needs of the folks that keep a county running might have been on the top of the agenda.
For years, The 5 have lacked the intestinal fortitude to address the pay issue head on and Columbia County's Sheriff has also buried his head in the sand while taking care of some of the folks in the Sheriff's Office and leaving out the road deputies and many others.
"Compression?" In the world of The 5, and in the land of double speak, "Compression," George Orwell would have been proud.
