First of all, a few weeks ago I pushed to get the audio recordings of both our work session and council meeting on the website. The council approved it unanimously. Now constituents can listen to council meetings by clicking on the audio link on our website. I feel that transparent government makes for better government when our residents get more involved.
My not-so-good news is that this week the council voted to add another full time position to the County Council staff. Currently each of the nine council members have their own Senior Policy Advisor. We also have an attorney, fiscal manager, budget analyst, legislative liaison, and receptionist that the nine of us share.
This week one of my colleagues floated the idea of hiring a full time person to help cover the receptionist and do other things like research, constituent outreach, etc. Since our council advisors do research and constituent outreach, I vehemently opposed this idea, as did Councilmembers Richard Snelgrove and Steve DeBry. I felt that there were more effective and efficient ways to cover for our receptionist.
Hoping we would continue setting the example for other departments and elected officials to toe the line on spending, make do with what they have, and not ask for additional FTE's (full time employees) in the middle of the budget year, I voted "No" on adding this position. I was joined by two of my colleagues (Snelgrove and DeBry), but unfortunately this passed 5-3 and the council will be adding another full time position to their staff of 14.
Well, as I'm finding in government... you win some, you lose some.
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