Concerned the county has not been following the law, Hamilton County Commissioner David Sharpe has proposed reorganizing government offices, which detractors argue removes power from the mayor’s office and makes the county look like “the rear end of a donkey.”
“Some time ago, when the mayor began to talk about the quaint customs of county government and the need to modernize county government, I found myself in agreement with the mayor,” Sharpe, D-Red Bank, told commissioners during a meeting Wednesday. “I know that may shock some, but it’s true. So I began to look for ways to support the modernization of county government and to support the mayor’s efforts to do away with those quaint customs and bring government into the 21st century.”
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Arguing Hamilton County hasn’t complied with its 1941 Private Act, which he referred to as the government’s constitution, Sharpe has proposed an organizational chart that would put many functions of county government, including accounting, human resources, public works and more, under a chief of staff employed by the 11-member county commission. The mayor’s office, meanwhile, would oversee financial planning and management as well as the railroad authority.