Doing the job...
Nov 01, 2012 | 436 views | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend | print
One of last week’s letters to the editor suggested a “tri-partisan” three-person part-time commission. The attempt at inclusiveness is commendable. However, Grand County has too many issues, many of them complex, for a three-person part-time governing body to effectively handle.

The bi-weekly county council meetings themselves can last several hours. The information packets distributed to the council that give the background information for each agenda item run from 100 or so pages to 200. Council members must study these packets before each meeting to thoroughly understand the issues before the council. Then there is the time involved in attending the functions that our council people go to throughout the state.

Here, from the county council website, is a list of the assignments for the seven-person council: ALG (Association of Local Government)/CDBG; CJC (Children’s Justice Center) Advisory Board; Travel Council Advisory Board, Moab Area; Spanish Valley Round Table; CCP (Canyon Country Partnership); Homeless Coordinating Committee; Housing Authority Board (HASU); Housing Task Force, Interlocal; Sand Flats Stewardship Committee; Thompson Springs Fire District Board; Thompson SSD (Water) Board; Castle Valley; Community Fire Plan; Spanish Valley Planning; Tailings Project Steering Committee (MTP); Film Commission Committee; Trail Mix Committee; Moab Campus Advisory Committee, USU; Council on Aging Board; Mental Health Board (Four Corners); Public Health Board (Health Department); Solid Waste Management SSD Board; Weed Control Board; Accident Review & Safety Committee; Canyonlands Healthcare SSD Board; Library Board; Mosquito Abatement District Board; Star Hall Advisory Committee; Cemetery Maintenance District Board; Chamber of Commerce; Dewey Bridge Restoration Committee (of HPC); Historical Preservation Commission (HPC); Water District Board/GWSSA; Tailings Project Steering Committee (MTP); CCP (Canyon Country Partnership); Boundary Commission; HEAT (Higher Education Action Team); Airport Board; BLM (Bureau of Land Management); Hasmat/Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC); Recreation SSD Board; Transportation SSD Board; Old Spanish Trail Advisory Committee.

A part-time, three-person commission could not possibly handle the duties now being performed by seven. If you could get three people to work full-time (and, most likely, overtime) for $700 a month with no benefits, I would contend they are either crazy or in it for personal benefit. If three part-time people can’t get the job done adequately, then we’re looking at a very large salary increase for full-time employees.

—Thea Nordling

Moab
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