As I type this, the debate for Barry County Register of Deeds and County Clerk is getting underway at the Barry County Commission on Aging in Hastings. I dropped the ball on providing a place for discussion of the last two debates so here it is.
(Fair warning: Any comments on 9-1-1 or guns will be deleted!)
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15 comments:
He's real, but he declined to show up no matter what date Vivian offered.
Must be counting entirely on the TVC vote.
The current County CLerk, has done far more wrong then just blame otehrs for the mishap in her office.
She does not know the meaning of a 40 hour week. She took 2 weeks off at the same time the funds were revealed missing, then went on to take, immediately after, a couple extended weekends. I guess she was not THAT concerned for the office. She continually screws up notices, ballots, deadlines, and public notices.
I would vote for a imginary Frank Burns over her.
Does anyone keep track of elected officials, like the Clerks time off?
What part did Debbie really play? What approval did she give?
When you look at the evidence, she never authorized one transaction. The Court controlled the money.
Judge Fisher and the court administrator signed the vouchers to release the money.
These are court employees that work in the Clerk's office. They are paid through the Court.
The court administrator should know how many jury trials are going on, that's her job. She failed. Judge Fisher failed.
As Clerk, Deb is in charge of vital records, ccw permits, court records, babysitting the commissioners (taking minutes at their meetings), and elections. She is a busy woman.
While Debbie is not totally without fault, more blame should go to Judge Fisher and the court administrator. They handled the money, the buck stops with them.
As for elected officials "time cards"... no,they do not punch in, nor are they required to be in the office. They have set salaries. Terri Lynn Land, when she was Kent Co. Clerk/Register was never in her office. She was out socializing, but she appointed competent staff to do the work.
I thought Pam Jarvis did very well and Mark Whitney showed that he does not have a clue when it comes to the details of the job...but that is only my opinion.
Frank Burns is an idiot.
In his "piece" he sent me, he says under his tenure, recording will occur within 48hrs. Right now the Register's office records items with a 24hr turnaround. Yep, Frank must be thinking Postal speed.
Frank Burns may not know Deeds, but be careful...his uncle Monty might release the hounds on you.
Remember when Janet Reno stated that, "the buck stops here"... when refering to the Waco disaster? The County Clerk is responsible for everything in that office..... she indeed 'fiddled' while Rome burned..... she is incompetent and should be replaced.
jay said "but she appointed competent staff to do the work" !
it is obvious debbie smith doesn't understand what competent staffing is and it clearly shows. the buck stops with the manager or in this case debbie smith. she can't transfer accountability and total responsibility to her employees.
the trio plus can not continue to make excuses and always blame the other guy or their opponents. they must be held accountable for their own departments actions and take responsibility for their poor workmanship. always blaming others is a sure sign of a poor manager for sure.
bebe and jay,
Thanks for the clarification of the responsibility expected of elected officials. (Being popular, and getting elected, over and over.)
As I have stated before, when I run for election in 2010 (as a Democrat) I will have no intention of being in the USA for six-months of the long winters. My "competent staff" can send me e-mails. In today's world, Kerala, India is as close as Quimby.
Obviously, a "Clerk" should be able to do "clerical" stuff, like add and subtract, and write legibly. A "County" Clerk probably should oversee the clerical stuff. I'll have to check.
If Judge Fisher is in charge of the County Clerk's accountability, then why do we waste the space and money on a County Clerk? Surely he was decieved into thinking that the staff people were behaving in an honest way, by the person responsible for ensuring their honesty. If it was a quick grab-n-go incident, that would be one thing, but this seems to have been an accepted till-dipping for years.
It definitely proves my rant that audits only show that the books balance, and are not designed to keep hands out of cookie jars. So does that raise a red flag about the County bookkeeping and the huge slush funds, or do you need to be whacked over the head to get your attention?
The whack-job letter in the Hastings Banter accusing Judge Fisher of everything but burning the pancakes was as uninformed as anything I've read in a long time. One of the few things that Barry County government can be proud of is the stellar performance of our Unified Trial Court model that is admired nation-wide. The mis-named "Drug Court" is one of the most intelligent approaches to our incarceration problem in the country where we lock up so many people for no really good reason (not to mention the use of foreign concentration camps by the "conservative" El Presidente).
I think you should vote for somebody who accepts responsibility for their actions (or a Democrat, if one is available, or a write-in)
I did
As far as direct hiring of staff. Smith directly hired Lapekes, but Holtman was a transfer from a part-time position in Planning & Zoning to a full-time position in the clerk's office. A department head posts the positions inter-office first and Holtman was "promoted" into it without that position ever being posted to the public. (The part-time position she vacated was filled by public posting)
Molli,
The Clerk even when there is a transfer would have interviewed or accepted Holman. ALl positions are posted inter department prior to being posted public.
Another interesting fact, I "heard" and I will admit this maybe hear say that the Clerk refused a polygraph. If nothing to hide why not take it?
I wonder what a FOIA would show on that investigation
Still to my question, who for elected officials watches how much they do or do not work?
bebe, said:
"Still to my question, who for elected officials watches how much they do or do not work?"
If that means what I think it means, the answer would be the electorate being represented. Any time the voters don't approve of the performance of an elected official they can do a "recall".The basis of a recall is that the elected person didn't perform as promised.
I won't have a problem with this, since I have clearly stated that I will not be inside the USA from November to April each year. Blue Cross will cover me as a reimbursement, but Medicare doesn't approve of the lower medical costs and higher quality of service outside the USA, so I have become a "residente pensionado" to buy into the CR national health plan, which includes dental, for $50 a month while I am gone.
More important than attendance (typical of hourly factory workers) most elected positions involve reading a lot of stuff, trying to understand it, and voting to not change anything important. Failing to vote or abstaining gets honorable mention in the minutes that nobody ever reads. If I can vote by e-mail, I will have a perfect score, but otherwise I will have the same record as the current County Planning and Development Committee with "Nothing to Report". Check out the online minutes at the County website. I won't even be missed.
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