Cooper: Is Tim Boyd a watchdog or targeter?

Hamilton County Commissioner Tim Boyd says he wants to examine some county agencies and policies.
Hamilton County Commissioner Tim Boyd says he wants to examine some county agencies and policies.

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Hamilton County Commissioner Boyd sets agenda for finance committee

Commissioner Tim Boyd seems not to mind playing the role of irritant on the Hamilton County Commission, and that may not necessarily be a bad thing.

Boyd, in his first term on the commission, considered himself a financial watchdog. That's important and needed. Indeed, every governmental body should have someone who raises a hand and says, "Wait a minute. Why are we spending this much on this item when we've already spent this much on this other item?"

Whether you agree with all her decisions, Rhonda Thurman has played this role on the Hamilton County Board of Education for years. On some financial issues, she's been willing to be the only one on the losing side of an issue because she didn't feel school board money should be spent on something.

If governmental bodies don't have a similar member, they often get carried away with power, don't feel they're answerable to anybody and stop considering any thoughts but their own.

Now, as the new chairman of the Finance and Insurance Committee, Boyd says there are some agencies and policies he wants to examine. He says it's his committee's responsibility to question the continuation of funding and examine if existing policies need to be changed.

If that is in fact the committee's responsibility - and fellow Commissioner Greg Beck seems to disagree - all spending by the county and all policies it sets should be fair game. After all, no outlay, no program and no policy should continue to go forward just because they've been funded every year or if they've lost their effectiveness or if they no longer serve their original purpose.

But personal agendas should never come into play on such agency and policy examinations, and that's what some commissioners think has happened with Boyd. Indeed, intentionally selective probes are no better than routinely passing budgets and continuing programs that have outlived their usefulness.

Time will tell what's on the commissioner's mind and whether he is operating with the advice and consent of the commission cabal that insiders say seems to have formed with him and Commissioners Chester Bankston, Jim Fields, Marty Fairbanks and Sabrena Smedley.

After all, it's one thing to be a fly in the ointment; it's another to vindictively target those with whom you're in opposition.

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