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May 6, 2010

Commissioner 'let me down'

The Cullman Times

— Somebody once told me that Doug Williams would be the last one to let me down. I hope they were referring to his funeral home business because as my county commissioner he has really let me down.

His vote to establish a utilities board and thus form a cooperative that will have the power to spend taxpayer's money and place debt on the taxpayer is a disgrace. Voters have the power to elect or defeat the county commissioners, but will have no say in the formation or actions of this newly formed board.

I have seen the paper work that was presented at the commission meeting and for it to be approved without an in-depth study and discussion is ludicrous. This vote should have been put off for at least 30 days to allow time for input and research. The fact that three men petitioned the county commission to do something and were able to get it approved in 15 minutes is a joke. I doubt if myself and two others could petition the commission to put us in charge of the road department or the finances of the county and get it approved. More than three people petitioned the county for the half-cent sales tax for schools and it was never approved.

I also would point out that if the majority of people wanted Wiley Kitchens running things for the county then he probably would not have lost his re-election bid. I also wonder why the positions on this new board were filled so quickly. The public had no input. The public was not given a chance to serve just the select few who drew up the petition. Wow. What about the method of posting? How many citizens go to the courthouse every week looking up and down the walls to see if anything important is happening? This deal looks like it was prepared before the meeting.  No responsible person would act on something this important and costly this quickly. I don't know what we as citizens can do to reverse this action, but maybe the next commission can reverse it. You may remember what a debacle we had when the county dissolved the park board which had no revenue to fund its fight. This new board might have the revenue of the water department to pay its lawyers. Taxpayers would be paying for lawyers for both sides. Let's turn out the vote and get this mistake corrected.



Jackie Satterfield

Cullma

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