As we wait for the dust to settle on Chattanooga’s post-election news, let’s review the myriad ways our local and state governing bodies can confuse themselves and confound their constituents.
Examples:
* The Hamilton County Commission last month voted 6-3 to present a resolution to members of the local legislative delegation asking them to unlink commission salaries from the pay of other county employees and local elected leaders – but only after a state senator pressured commissioners to discuss the matter publicly.
Yes, it’s called transparency. Something that would seem rather important since it is we constituents who pay the salaries of commissioners’ part-time jobs – $24,417 each, plus an additional $5,000 for the chairperson and $2,500 for the chair pro-tem.
The newest sneak plan to get a raise came to light in an email from County Attorney Rheubin Taylor to commissioners on Feb. 1, obtained by the Times Free Press. Taylor wrote that he had “been advised that there are now six (6) commissioners who are willing to sign-on to the attached proposed legislation for presentation to the Hamilton County Legislative delegation,” and he asked all the commissioners to sign a document urging the lawmakers to remove the section of Tennessee code that limits our commissioners to receiving raises only when the county mayor does.