Thin Ice Again

Darned if you commissioners haven’t been skating on thin ice again (if you ever stopped). The Sylva Herald requested the closed-session minutes for three years’ worth of meetings where legal procedures with Duke Energy were discussed way back in August. County Manager Ken Westmoreland refused the Herald’s request by saying “county commissioners had to approve the release of closed-session minutes” despite the legal proceedings with Duke being over for at least thirty calendar days. Of course, what would I expect from a county manager who routinely pays no attention to open records requests from citizens, engineers a “fat cat” pay raise for himself and other heads of county departments, and gives himself twenty extra years of seniority in the county employment system. Commissioners, its time to throw somebody “under the bus” if you want to save your political skins.

Chairman McMahan, your lame excuse for not immediately releasing the minutes as required by law was alleged confidential information in the minutes had to be redacted. Funny Mr. Chair, but I don’t believe you. You’ve told too many whoppers to my face to sing that same old song again. By-the-way Mr. Chair, those closed-session minutes are the property of the citizens of Jackson County, not you commissioners. Just for that little bit of inanity your pay(by all rights) should be docked. More will be revealed regarding pay and reimbursements soon Mr. Chair.

Speaking of the “fat cat” pay raises, the harm to us citizens hasn’t been rectified yet. As four of you know that harm was made greater for all the lower especially the lower) and middle level county employees by taking money that they had been promised them in miniscule step increases and salting it away in contingency “slush funds” so that you could reward political cronies and supporters—some of which “useful idiots” turned up in last week’s paper eagerly begging the rest of us to vote for more political chicanery in November’s election.

As I stated at August’s last meeting none of us is perfect. Redemption is offered to us. But we must make amends to those that we have harmed and ask for forgiveness.

I look forward to seeing you Mr. Chair and Commissioner Massie at the Jackson County Town Hall forum on September 28 in Cashiers. Maybe then we the citizens of Jackson County will get the answers to all these questions that just seem to not want to go away.