Electing to be Optimistic

It’s customary for optimism to accompany the election of a new mayor – either city or county – because of the hope that he and his mayoral counterpart will be able to work together to create a leap of progress for the community.

The optimism surfaced when A C Wharton was elected county mayor, and as a former campaign chairman for Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton, it was hoped that it would usher in a new effort at a shared agenda.  It never happened as Mayor Herenton’s effectiveness unraveled and his bile was often delivered at his county counterpart.

It was the same when Jim Rout was elected county mayor, and because of Mayor Herenton’s generally positive comments, it was thought that the two mayors could work together effectively.  It was not to be as Mayor Herenton told friends that his county counterpart was a lightweight and ill-equipped for the job.  As for Mayor Rout, he reached out, but he said was never sure if good Willie or bad Willie would show up.  For example, Mayor Herenton once quit speaking to Mayor Rout for weeks because the county mayor sat behind his desk when they met, and when Mayor Herenton erroneously decided that Mayor Rout was responsible for the “toy town” controversy and attacked him personally.

Room for Optimism

In 1991, it was the same when Willie Herenton won the city mayor’s race, and long-time Shelby County Mayor Bill Morris was winding down his last term.  In Mayor Herenton’s words, the county mayor had “street cred” and if there was ever a county mayor that had his respect, it was Mayor Morris.  However, because the county mayor was winding down as Mayor Herenton was ramping up, the city mayor had plenty of elbow room to do whatever he liked.

This time around, there is real reason for optimism.   The combination of Shelby County Mayor-elect Mark Luttrell and Memphis Mayor A C Wharton have the potential to make the next four years the kind of time that turns around our community. 

Mayor Luttrell possesses the strong management skills that are needed in a mayor’s job that relies heavily on setting a clear agenda, managing safety net operations and getting the basics right.  Mayor Wharton has the kind of focus on game changers and communications skills that City of Memphis needs as it addresses some tough challenges. 

Together, they can be a formidable pair.

Togetherness

Both of them respect the other, they have a working relationship from their days in county government – first as departments heads working for the Rout Administration and later as elected officials.  That doesn’t mean that they always agreed on everything, but they share a pragmatism and a willingness to find consensus answers that should put them in good stead for the next four years (and yes, we are predicting now that Mayor Wharton will get reelected next year).

In particular, both will emphasize law enforcement, particularly neighborhood-based solutions, and better economic strategies to create more jobs and attract more business investment.  Despite his experience as a county administrator and a county elected official, Mayor-elect Luttrell (like every mayor) will have a learning curve although it should be seriously truncated compared to his predecessors.   

Surely, one of the top priorities from his first days in office will be getting the county budget under control.  Interim Mayor Joe Ford seemed to be unable to say no or to fathom the idea of reducing employees.  He represents the old school thinking of too many elected officials here that the purpose of government is to give jobs to people rather than to deliver services at the most efficient cost to taxpayers.  It’s also why he’ll veto the resolution passed 8-4 by the county board of commissioners to put sanity into government employees’ vacation and sick time policy.

As for the budget, it has a $20 million deficit that demands the immediate attention of the Luttrell Administration.  The budget is the poster child for the Ford Administration’s lack of reality when it came to budgetary issues.

Trust Us Doesn’t Work

We’re hopeful that Mayor-elect Luttrell will also work with Mayor Wharton to get Sustainable Shelby back under way.  It’s been brought to a standstill by the Ford Administration which did a remarkable job of posing as environmentally sensitive.

If Mayor Wharton and Mayor-elect Luttrell really want to show leadership, they would use their bully pulpits to demand that the Shelby County Election Commission gets its act together.  Its screw-ups are way too regular and the excuses way too familiar for its staff and members to expect public confidence in the election results. 

Time has long passed when Election Commission staff and its lawyers should expect us to accept their “trust us” attitude about its problems.  More to the point, it’s time for Election Commission staff to realize that the best response at this time is to go the extra mile in transparency and openness.  Legalisms by its attorney and citations given as answers do nothing to allay public concerns. 

Back to the county commission’s resolution reforming employee vacation and sick leave policies, there’s little doubt that big changes are coming for public employee benefits.  Across the U.S., changes are coming to pensions, civil service systems, and health benefits in light of downturns in revenues and an uptick in expenses.

Benefit Reform

The resolution conceived by Commissioner Mike Carpenter would reform the sick leave and vacation days for county employees, but Interim Mayor Ford vows to veto the change and trotted out the old – and inaccurate – talking point that public employees have liberal benefits because they are paid so much lower than the private sector.

That may have been true 15 years ago, but it’s not true now.  Public salaries are highly competitive and it’s hard to find a private sector employee who wouldn’t salivate over county benefits that give up 25 vacation days a year, 2.5 days of sick leave per month, and to top it off, four “bonus days” a year if they don’t take a vacation day.  Upon retirement, they can be paid for 75 sick days.

It’s a strange concept.  Only government would pay people a bonus just for doing what they are paid to do – come to work.

Opponents act as if it’s not legal to change the rules if they were given to the employees when they were hired.  That’s simply not the case.  Sick leave and vacation time are different than pensions.  They can be changed, as Mayor Morris did when he took office for the first time in 1978.  He removed the benefit of 75 days of paid sick days for all directors, county attorney and chief administrative officer.

Override

In other words, vacation and sick leave benefits can be changed, and although some people say that the changes should only be made going forward, doing that would set up two classes of employees and create a nightmare in paperwork for county managers. 

Commissioner Carpenter is right.  The present system is indeed expensive and undermines productivity.  The board of commissioners should override Interim Mayor Ford’s veto.

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