Lucky Guess, or Pre-arranged?

The first item on the agenda on Wednesday (November 10^th 2010) was to decide the organization of the Commission.

There are 4 jobs available, known as divisions, which rotate between the commissioners on an annual basis, starting with the first meeting in November of each year.

The divisions are:

• Chairman and Purchasing Division Commissioner
• Road and Bridge Division Commissioner
• Finance and Taxation Division Commissioner
• Industrial and Civic Division Commissioner

Two options were presented to the Commission.

1. To rotate the divisions in order of the districts i.e. Burt, James, Dorsey, Gruber.
2. To rotate the divisions in reverse order i.e. Gruber, Dorsey, James, Burt.

By voting for option 1 this made Burt Chairman, James Roads, and Dorsey Finance.

Let’s look at some of the more contentious agenda items that were placed on the agenda by Commissioners (rather than staff recommendations) in a little more detail:

So, nothing from Burt – the Chairman isn’t allowed to propose or second motions.

Nothing from Gruber – maybe he thought they would have a couple of work sessions with all 4 commissioners present before they started getting into the serious work.

A very specific finance item from Dorsey, despite the fact he may have been the Road and Bridge Division commissioner and a very specific road project from James even though he could have been appointed as Finance and Taxation Division commissioner.  Hmmmm… Maybe they already knew where their responsibilities would lie?

Of the three items that they jointly proposed who do you think are the benefactors of these measures?  While you are thinking about the answer bear in mind that every other measure they took: cutting jobs, reducing payments to charities etc. were designed to save the County money.  These three items reduce the County’s INCOME. 

Got an answer yet?  Maybe, just maybe, the people that will benefit most from the reduced fees will be these people and companies.

Allegedly.