County Commission: Wasted Money and Wasted Time

From the sublime to the ridiculous.

Already, it’s become clear this will be the theme for the new look Shelby County Board of Commissioners.

In time, they may even be able to make Tennessee Representative Curry Todd look intelligent.    They are certainly off to a good start.

It began this week with a vote that is a poster child for the commissioners’ lack of stewardship of taxpayer money and it ended in an inane campaign by the far right members to silence anyone who sees things differently than they do.

Walking the Walk (Not)

First, the sublime.

Following the defeat of consolidated government, some county politicians have adopted the glib talking point – government’s not dysfunctional; it just has poor leaders.  Well, they got one of two right.  They’ve made their point about poor leaders.

Given the chance to make Shelby County Government more efficient and less costly, they instead voted for a fragmented, duplicative computer system that wastes $3-5 million every year.  Put another way, the commissioners who are always espousing lower taxes when they run for office voted down a change that could have reduced the property tax rate by about 2-3 cents. 

So much for campaign rhetoric.  When the chips were down, politics trumped the public, and the commissioners voted for the perpetuation of political fiefdoms instead of centralized technology.  In other words, the commissioners can’t even summon up the courage to consolidate Shelby County Government itself.

Perpetuating Waste

Through sheer force of personality, county mayors have created the perception that they are equals to their Memphis counterparts. But, perched atop a government littered with the fiefdoms of assorted elected officials and powerful public boards, the truth is that the county mayor has direct control over less than 20 percent of the county budget.

Within county government, the costs of inconsistent policies are legend. Only the mayor complies with personnel policies, purchasing rules, financial procedures, and technology guidelines.

That’s why one elected official bought a multimillion-dollar computer system that couldn’t “talk” to the county mainframe, another refused to put her GIS information online for public use, another paid premium prices for equipment that could have been purchased more cheaply by the mayor’s administration, and most contribute to the stupefying, fragmented online experience at county websites. 

In the face of needless bureaucracy and mind-numbing waste, the board of commissioners voted to allow elected officials to opt out of a plan to consolidation county information technology. 

Counterintuitive

New Commissioner Heidi Shafer made the specious argument that it was a “separation of powers” issue.  We’re assuming that she’s referring to the balance of powers that sets out executive, legislative, and judicial branches.  In this context, the covey of county elected officials all fall on the same side of the line: they are part of the executive branch.

Compounding their mistake, the board of commissioners voted against the hiring of a chief information officer that all “real” governments have these days to ensure that there is coherent policy, management and direction over technology.  It’s no wonder that on its best day, Shelby County Government is three generations behind on technology and its applications. 

We are sympathetic with Shelby County Register Tom Leatherwood, who has at least attempted to get his department online and into this century, but his justification for continued inefficiency was pretty lame.  His contention is that when his website goes down or his systems don’t work, people blame him.  Of course, he offered no statistics that show that there really is a problem in this regard, but it was a day for generalities, not facts.

It’s intuitive that multiple computer systems within the same organization make little sense.   It’s impossible to imagine any company that would even countenance such an idea, but once again, the vote proves that campaign talk by conservative Republicans about bringing businesslike approaches to government is simply empty rhetoric. 

Twitter-dee and Twitter-dum

Second, the ridiculous. 

With Shelby County facing a $20 million shortfall in next year’s budget, continuing deficit issues, and climbing property tax rates, commissioners devoted time to the pressing issue of Commissioner Mike Carpenter’s tweeting habits.  Unsurprisingly, Commissioner Terry Roland was the source of an enlightened view of democracy that limits the rights to people with whom he disagrees.

To his credit, Commissioner Carpenter continued his tweets as a protest of the entire charade.  Mr. Roland comes from the Tea Party side of things, the group that likes to say they only support issues and programs if they’re in the U.S. Constitution.  He might try reading the First Amendment.

Commissioner Chris Thomas, torn from the same cloth, supported the infringement of Commissioner Carpenter’s rights, but then again, his social media of choice is Facebook, not Twitter.  We gave up on his Facebook page because the first time we expressed an opinion different from his, he went into a tirade.

Reality Show in the Making

That seems to be the theme of the entire Twitter farce.  The people leading the fight to outlaw tweets are largely the same group that shouts down anyone who disagree with them rather than debating the facts.  This is its virtual version.

So what was Commissioner Carpenter’s offending tweet: Repeating a joke made by Commissioner Wyatt Bunker that a ban on roadside sales of animals could result in a food shortage in Millington.  The tweet got picked up by TV news, which says more about TV news than it does Commissioner Carpenter.  Thereupon, Millington Mayor Richard Hodges gets mad at Commissioner Carpenter for repeating a joke by Commissioner Bunker, and voila, Commissioner Roland presents his resolution banning tweets.

You just couldn’t make this stuff up. 

Perhaps, the only things in Millington that tweet end up on a dinner plate.