For the week of August 8 - 14, 2001

Hamstrung

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Blaine County’s two senior commissioners, Mary Ann Mix and Dennis Wright are taking a penny-wise pound-foolish position by refusing to fund a new position for a county administrator.

This county needs the best attention and creative effort commissioners can muster. Yet, as it stands, the archaic county system drains the commissioners energies with activities that do little to move the county forward on difficult issues.

The commissioners need to delegate some of their work to an administrator. They are too overloaded with day-to-day responsibilities. They spend nearly full time in these part-time positions, yet still have no time to chart a course for the future.

Equally bad is the fact that the full-time work part-time pay system discourages future leaders by making it nearly impossible for anyone who requires sleep--or a full-time salary--to fill these important positions.

The commissioners will continue to be hamstrung until they face the fact they need help.

A good administrator will provide the commissioners with good research on tough issues and will streamline complex functions like budgeting.

A good administrator will improve the commissioners relationships with the public they were elected to serve.

A well-trained full-time public administrator is not a luxury but a necessity in one of the state’s fastest growing counties. The commissioners should fund the position and give the people of Blaine County—and themselves--the good government they deserve.

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