Editor,
I read “Mayor, council apologize for salary kerfuffle,” with great interest, and it’s starting to look more like a single ring circus, with only half a tent and a second-hand lion. Couldn’t believe all the banter. Sounded like a scene from a bad Monty Python movie: “Oh look it’s the Killer Rabbit. Who let him out again? I don’t know, must have been the City Council. No it was the Mayor, no it was the Salary Commission……Oh, why are we three taking all the blame? It’s voters’ fault for not keeping us accountable. Ya! That’s it, that’s the ticket. Oh RUN AWAY.”
Only the Salary Commission get a pass from me. Volunteer commission, enough said. Questions that need to be asked are:
#1. What entity or organization designated the mayor and council are now full-time and under what specific reasoning was this decision reached? If it was base population…..HORSE HOCKEY!
#2. What other per diems or other compensation does the mayor receive?
#3. Does Ronnie need the extra income? Remember financial gain or padding your bank account/IRA should never be a reason to run for a public office.
#4 Why do we need a “full-time” mayor when this town has at least eight department heads that report to the mayor?
#5. If he is full-time, who is ensuring he is working 40 hours a week and being called into the office for every little contingency and hiccup, since he can’t trust his department heads? I visit City Hall at least twice a month, never seen him there … in fact in the last 13 years I have seen one of our mayors at the office, with the door open to talk to the public, if they desired to talk with him. The office door has stayed closed every other time I’ve been there and there is no notification on the door if the mayor is in. If Ronnie is in fact in the office, it again goes to the point of that because he is a successful businessman and can pay others to manage his business and still make a profit.
It’s also a slap in the face to those who live on about $60K/year and still make ends meet and in some case flourish and put away some money for a rainy day. Just imagine, I voted for you and I’m being this hard on you. You don’t need it, so don’t accept it. Remember, “Experience and Integrity.”
Richard Hoover
Oak Harbor
