I must admit, I didn’t think the Board of Commissioners could slump to new lows, but I stand corrected. In Brian Larsen’s article about county board discusses… in the April 22 issue, I found that they can slump to new lows.
Ideas like Committee of the Whole may be fine where the voters trust their commissioners. But, if commissioners don’t want anyone to see live feed, one would think that they are doing something wrong or trying to hide something. During this month of April, residents received their 2017 Property Tax statements; residents are now going to have to cough up over $750,000 in property tax increases because the county board can’t stop spending! Residents paid over $500,000 last year in tax increases. So commissioners decide they should discuss going to a Committee of the Whole.
If the Cook County board wants to follow the lead of other county boards, they may want to try to set a maximum 3-4 percent tax levy (state average) or less this coming budget instead of this year’s 11.21 percent increase. They may consider how to lower the insurance premiums by finding new, cheaper sources before new budgets. Commissioners don’t want to be questioned by constituents about their decisions or spending. Guess what, you are paid to listen!
Any board member who wants to stop taping, live streaming or recording should be a prime candidate for a voter recall. Cook County residents pay the county board members and administrator’s wages, expenses and benefits. This means that they are obligated to have open meetings and do everything possible to listen to and take the advice of the people who elected them and pay their wages. It’s called “TRANSPARENCY.”
I was particularly amused reading Commissioner Doo-Kirk’s comments when she said that she gets nasty social media comments from people watching the live stream while board meetings are in progress. If she is attending and listening at a board meeting, how can she be viewing comments from live feeds? It’s illegal to drive and text so it should be illegal to read social media while you are supposed to be listening at the board meetings.
She also said that people were putting them down, bullying us. Did you ever think that those remarks may be justified and that some commissioners may be incompetent in their positions? Doo-Kirk went on to say that the progress we are going through is huge. So, that is your job! If you can’t focus and make decisions on the major problems, don’t be a commissioner.
She continued by stating that some of the courthouse staff doesn’t want to appear in front of the commissioners “because they are afraid to be scrutinized by the watching public.” If the commissioners and the courthouse staff (also paid by county taxpayers) are afraid of scrutiny by their employers, the viewing public, maybe they should look for new opportunities elsewhere? I’m sure that if you lowered the department budgets by 20 percent, they wouldn’t be afraid to appear at meetings.
I think that we should look at history to determine the future. A few years ago, a bunch of taxpayers were sick and tired of huge tax levies and a government that failed to listen to their concerns. The government would continually raise taxes annually without justification because they were the governing body. The overly taxed people decided to show their dissatisfaction by dumping a shipload of tea into their harbor and eventually fought a bloody war to secure their freedom from taxation and oppression. County employees should not be afraid of what others say on social media, they should be concerned that we already have the harbor!
James Vannet
Hovland
Editor’s note: Committee of the Whole meetings will be filmed and put on the county’s website later that day (or as soon as possible) for public viewing.
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