County Commissioners get Ripped a New One

At last Wednesday's County Commissioner meeting, Mark Sharpe, commissioner over District 7, began with "no question shall be directed personally at any commissioner" but was interrupted by a old lady in the back who yelled "FAT CHANCE!" the room wasn't full of people but was at capacity when it came to personality and opinion.

Once the moving of the colors was complete and the addendum was summarized, citizens began to loosen up. I perked up as I realized where this meeting was going.

Some of the issues to be discussed included Chinese Drywall, performance audits and, of course, the "emailgate" and the suspicious pay increases to deputies given by County Administrator Pat Bean, who sat unmoved as negative comments were thrown her way.

Citizens like Ms. Clouston named each employee she believed needed to be fired, like County Attorney Renee Lee, who received a 1% pay increase from Bean in 2007. Others were more concerned about the environment, like the bearded scientist who addressed the commissioners as morans and idiots.

While some spoke intelligently, like a young attorney who called Al Higginbotham on his mistakes of not understanding certain laws he claims to be for, some spoke and served as nothing but mere entertainment.

Like Mr. Robinson, who stepped up to the podium and immediately reminded me of Al Sharp. He through quotes at the county commissioners like "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water" and "what you see is what you get" before yelling out "freedom is NOT free" in closing. He didn't outdo the little old lady from the back who stepped up and ripped Pat Bean a new one but two hours later the same issue existed without any realistic suggestions of solution.

Bean, who has admitted to getting someone to download Auditor Jim Barnes' emails and has been accused of presenting a less than productive vision for her last two years in office, would cost county commissioners over $400,000 to fire.

This is where the heat came from Wednesday morning-out of frustration on a matter than can't be solved at the drop of the dime without a big price tag.

I definitely found this public meeting informative and interesting on many levels. Maybe the next county commissioner meeting they will actually discuss Chinese Drywall.