Gulf County Mismanagement

Dear Editor:

I am responding to Melissa Dean’s July 22 article “County Commissioner’s travel Budgets” and the corresponding editorial call to “change the law.” Although I agree with the points in the editorial: 1) That a law that allows public employees to submit their travel expenses one year before spending them is illogical and defies accountability; and 2) That to submit expenditures totaling the full amount of the budget ($10,000 per commissioner) regardless of additional full time employment is a breach of political and personal ethics.

The sad fact is that Gulf County voters, in the short term, have zero opportunity to change a Florida State statute no matter how misguided it may be.    

What Gulf County voters can influence is the way the travel budgets are allocated. What should be done is “Pay for Performance.” This is done in every business big and small, if it is to exist.

If the total travel budget for commissioners has totaled $50,000 per year reduce it to $40,000 (-25 percent) for the 2011 budget and allocate it according to the effort and results to the total county residents.

That could mean Commissioners (Bill) Williams and (Warren) Yeager (who seem to be front and center on total county projects like BP and a bay protection agreement, beach renourishment, quality community hospital, etc.) receiving $12,500 each and the remaining “three Kings” (Commissioners Billy Traylor, Nathan Peters and Carmen McLemore) who continue to refuse to honor overwhelming will of the electorate for county-wide voting and are rarely seen outside of their districts, allocated travel budgets at a maximum of $5,000.

The other alternative is for the voters in Districts 1, 2 and 4 to realize that although we live in a beautiful place, Gulf County cannot attract employers, investors, and developers with this ineffective government and elect new representation.

This is truly a bi-partisan effort since Commissioners Peters and McLemore are Democrats and Commissioner Traylor is a Republican. Otherwise the people of Gulf County will continue to pay the price for this ineffective and inefficient county management. We can have the best schools in the entire state but upon graduation our children must leave if they hope to gain employment. It will never change until we change the Commission landscape to one that manages all of Gulf County not just the District fiefdom                               .

James McKenzie

St. Joe Beach