To the editor: County commission fillet


Editor’s Note: The following letter was recently published in The Daily Dispatch; however, several lines were omitted. The author asked that we run it in its entirety.

Fishermen will tell you that the best way to judge the quality of a piece of fish is to fillet the fish. Lay it open and you’ll be able to tell if you want to bake, broil, fry, or feed it to possums.

Strangely enough, we can judge local government the same way. Lay it open for all to see. Look at what it has done and we’ll be able to decide on its future.

So, just what has the Vance County Commission done in the last few years?

They tried to zone the county and steal the property rights of every landowner. They failed.

They tried to implement a county water system when nearly everyone in the county already has great water. They failed.

They hired an appraiser to raise our property values when property values were dropping like a rock nationwide. They paid him nearly $500,000 for shoddy, unethical, unprofessional work. Did he or they pay a price for this failure? Nope! He got paid, the commissioners got higher property values, and landowners got the shaft.

They gave our county manager a poor performance appraisal, probably the worst he’s ever had. As a result, he was rewarded with a 5-figure raise!

Is it just me, or is there a rather disturbing pattern emerging?

They hired a consultant to come in and say that government workers are underpaid and deserve a raise. Would that we could pull a fast one like that on our employers!

Even if we were to include creating/saving government jobs, keeping taxes high, pouring thousands of dollars into the EDC, and making smart business people go elsewhere, they’ve done nothing to help our local economy. The proof is in the pudding. Our local economy is in the toilet, factories have closed, businesses are closing, families are leaving, thousands have lost their jobs and homes, no business is expanding, and no new businesses are opening. Of our only prospects, Slim and None, only None remains. Slim chose another county. But all is not lost; government workers have incredibly nice offices, shiny new cars, new radios, great insurance, great paychecks, and great pensions. If only they had something productive to do!

They recently tried again to implement a county water system. Same plan, same leaders, same result…failure.

Anybody seen those possums?

Al Woodruff,
Henderson