Letter to the Editor: Reject Props 1 & 2 for the Good of All

What Works Best For The Good of All?

1)      Representation – Isn’t it better to actually know your representative?  Voting for someone you know, because they live in your community versus having everyone select representatives that they have never met or may have only met during a campaign function? Proposition 1 has us voting for candidates that we may have never met and will allow other islands to help select our representative.

2)      Spending – Isn’t it better to keep a structure that has lead to lower spending increases?  The 6 member council structure has demanded significantly lower increases in spending AND has put in place reserves. During its last 5 years in existence, the three commissioner system proposed higher increases in spending and did not build reserves, even during some of our best economic times.

3)      Getting the Job Done – Isn’t it better to have a council that is willing to tackle the tough controversial issues that face our community versus one that continuously kicks those issues down the road?  The current council is tackling those issues.  Yes sometimes it takes longer to get such a diverse group to a consensus or majority vote but don’t we want them to work for solutions that work hard for our equally diverse citizens?

4)      Compensation – Haven’t we attracted qualified individuals under both systems regardless of compensation?  We have dedicated council members who care about resolving the county issues so maybe there is still some truth in “public service”.

5)      Leadership –  Are we not better off having a highly qualified professional running the day to day operations of the county versus a  manager who may be worried about their job changing at the whim of the council?  In these economic times we need to know we have the best person managing our precious tax dollars.

Long and short of it is we all must ask “Are we in better shape today than the “good old way” days?  I think we are so I will be voting to REJECT Propositions 1 and 2 Charter Review!  I hope you will join me!

Velma Doty