The Hamilton County CommissionWhen will the public finally tire of governing on the down-low and in secret?
Have you heard any debate from your county commissioners about us possibly paying them more?
No, you haven't. Because they haven't brought up in public commission meetings their quiet effort to clear the way for their own raises through the local delegation of the Tennessee General Assembly.
Instead, eight of nine of the commissioners privately signed a letter sent to the local state delegation last week asking lawmakers to remove the 15-year-old language in state law that set Hamilton County commissioner salaries and tied their potential raises to the county mayor's pay.
State Sen. Todd Gardenhire says the delegation sends those local-specific requests through "as a courtesy" if they have two thirds support from the requesting local commission or council.
That courtesy meant making the commission's request a Gardenhire-introduced Senate Bill 707 and a Rep. Gerald McCormick-introduced House Bill 717.
But Gardenhire, on Monday, was quick to point out that the bills, even if passed, don't automatically give the commissioners a raise. It only decouples the commissioners' pay scale from the county mayor's.
Of course, it also sets the dinner table for the next meal. To give themselves a raise, the commissioners still have to vote on one, Gardenhire said.
Presumably, they'll have to debate that -- and the amount -- in front us mere tax-paying citizens. We'll see how that goes.
Meanwhile, Gardenhire already is coming under fire for publicly excoriating the Erlanger board of trustees for failing to publicly discuss a plan to award bonuses to management and raise the hospital CEO's pay, yet not raising a peep over being asked to take an action that has had no public discussion yet could lead to similar move by the commission. And he's even penned a bill to help.
Gardenhire chortled Monday when asked how he could justify the seemingly opposite thought patterns.
"Erlanger clearly broke the law," he said. "If they [the commission] does that [votes themselves a raise with no public discussion at some future meeting] they'll never see the raise," the senator predicted, noting the many emails and calls he said he, the delegation and the Erlanger board got when an outraged public reacted to the hospital management incentives.
"If they do that, it will be their last time to vote on something like that," he said, intimating that the next election cycle would be lively.
Time will tell.
That commission (and each member of the General Assembly) has one boss: voters. If they don't hear from you, they think they've sneaked one past you.