EDITORIAL:
posted 4/17/2006
EDITORIAL: Why part-time council members
would be a big time mistake
posted 04/18/2006
Tomorrow the 10 members of the salary commission begin working on setting salaries for the county elected officials. The decision they make regarding the councilmembers' salaries will have far-reaching effects on the county. There are two ways to go. One way opens the position to more members of the community and provides opportunities for more people to be heard. The other way continues a disturbing trend of governance by a few.
If we have part-time councilmembers as many of the former freeholders have been so adamantly demanding, we limit the kind of people who will be able to serve. Only those who are retired or are wealthy enough to be able to freely leave their jobs or businesses will be able to run for office.
If the councilmembers are part-time, how much time will they devote to outreach in their community? Will they be finding out what people are concerned about? How accessible are they going to be? How many opportunities will be lost because no one is there working to pull pieces together?
If the councilmember positions are full-time with a living wage, we can attract candidates from a variety of backgrounds. The county would benefit from drawing on the wisdom and common sense of people who see the world from different perspectives and from different stages of life.
The word - monoculture - keeps popping up lately. We are definitely headed that way if what we do works only for one segment of our population and ignores the rest.
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