Only a start

County commissioners have only begun.

The recent vote to finally move ahead on a court review of the federal decree that held the county hostage far too long to government inefficiency and runaway spending is only a baby step in the proper direction.

What commissioners must do is ensure that the next elections are held under county-wide voting.

As Commissioner Warren Yeager properly noted to dissenter Commissioner Tan Smiley two weeks ago, the Board of County Commissioners had ignored the desire of voters too long. There was no need for another referendum to prove what voters had already expressed.

The board, Yeager correctly implied, was seven years too late.

But just kicking the can down the road a bit is not enough.

Commissioners should budget the funds in the coming fiscal year to ensure that the court review is not delayed, that the county is able to sustain whatever legal push is necessary to make sure that the next election involving commissioners is conducted the same way it is for all constitutional officers.

Every voter in the county deserves the right to vote on every commissioner, just as they do the property appraiser, the sheriff, the tax collector, supervisor of elections, the clerk of courts and judge.

The best argument for a hurry up in countywide voting was provided by Commissioner Bill Williams during a recent meeting.

He spoke at length about the need for the board to provide a consistent and unified message. He talked about the divisions on the board that have been propagated and sustained by single member districts.

Williams, most of all, spoke about the spending decisions that relied on the 3-2 votes nurtured by single-member districts, how a 3-2 voting block had been created out of self-interest and survival and how that voting block had made decisions contrary to public accountability of spending.

Williams did not go far enough.

That 3-2 voting block spiked the county’s budget and spending more than 140 percent over a six-year period, a spending binge so deep and pervasive the board continues to wrestle with it today as cuts come from above the food chain.

Commissioners whine about the state of their budget.

But that voting block created today’s budget.

And the latest debate about the Economic Development Council and the Chamber of Commerce is another example of why countywide voting is not just needed, but a requirement for this county to move ahead.

Some have wondered over the past few weeks what exactly these various economic development agencies have accomplished, what jobs have they created.

But the onus should really be on the Board of County Commissioners.

The lack of leadership from the board, outside of simply removing an executive director and starting from scratch as commissioners have done three times in the past decade alone, is astoundingly counterproductive.

What jobs has the county created outside of jobs paid for by taxpayers?

What leadership, what proposals, what actions, have commissioners taken since the paper mill went down in 1998 to bring not just small businesses but significant industry to the county?

And how, outside of ever-burdensome tax bills, for that matter, did the county nurture the small-business sector?

While the port has been battling for viability, where has the county been?

As a hospital opened last year what, outside of passing an addition to the sales tax and eliciting enhancements to health services to particular districts, had the county done?

The county has long been absent from economic development and now commissioners want to hold sway over two private organizations, funded in significant measure by private dollars not taxpayers, and do so with a sketched in plan that did not even come from the board.

While increasing – not reducing – the county’s current public dollar outlay for economic development?

The absence of a clear vision and message from the Board of County Commissioners, as noted by Williams just weeks ago, is a critical obstacle for the county has it attempts to move ahead economically.

Residents understand the obstacle – the lack of a clear message and vision has too often led to the kind of spending mischief of which Williams spoke several weeks ago.

The mischief must end. Taxpayers can’t afford it.

What they want instead is the right to decide whether to keep in office each of the five individuals making these decisions, spending their money. They want an end to the opportunities for mischief at time of crossroads for the county.

There are things simmering – an expanded footprint for the port with rail connection, an energy center, a possible green industrial park, true potential for industry – but the message and vision from the Board of County Commissioners remains opaque, unfocused.

Residents voting for all five commissioners are the remedy to this long-time county ill.