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County Supervisors: Who Needs 'Em?
Published Saturday, March 8, 1997

For once, I have to agree with my conservative friends who say there’s too much government. We must reduce the size of government and save money, starting at the top.  It’s time for the County Board of Supervisors (BOS) to quit.
 
This is not a criticism of our individual supervisors; ours just happen to illustrate the problem.  The problem is that in 1997, the concept of low-paid elected lawmakers micromanaging government while ignoring big issues doesn’t work any more.  The real government is done by the managers and staff, anyway.
 
The supervisors were supposed to provide oversight and policy to the administrators, but they haven’t been doing that very well.  So, in order to avoid more mismanagement and save big dollars, we’ll have to downsize the BOS to zero.  The concept is not new in private enterprise, and I’m sure the supervisors will approve.
 
First, let’s review why we don’t need the supervisors:
 
They are not representatives.  It’s unlikely you can name your supervisor.  They generally don’t communicate with you, as I have anecdotal evidence that they don’t answer phone calls or letters.  In general, they don’t have e-mail and don’t hold meetings with constituents.  Further, they are accountable only in infrequent elections.
 
They don’t ask what the public will is.  In fairness, it’s nice to see our supervisors Dardick, Knecht, and Van Zant participating in public forums and the Action Team.
 
They don’t intercede effectively for constituents, not even for developers.
 
They have no vision.  In the case of our BOS, they can’t get consensus on a General Plan or zoning, but worse, they provide no grand plans for a bright future.
 
They don’t use the bully pulpit. Our Board doesn’t encourage or try to divert public opinion.  For example, they neither defend nor criticize the Sheriff, the DA, or Juvenile Hall problems.
 
Based on past inaction on many items, they will probably be paralyzed when the new welfare reform laws kick in and the county gets in deep financial trouble.
 
The futility of relying on a BOS was underscored in The Union’s article, “Board mulls inmate handling,” by Tim Willis on February 26th:
 
Supervisor Karen Knecht said, “We as a board asked that some of these things be addressed and we were told, “No.”  What on earth does that mean?  The BOS was told, “No?”  If you are responsible to the people, why did you accept a “No?”  Further, she said, “I don’t want to respond any more when we are not the problem.”  Talk about being in denial.  Trust me, with an attitude like that, you ARE the problem.  You will certainly be the problem one day when inmate handling in your courthouse gets a prisoner, a deputy, or a citizen killed.
 
Once the BOS is gone, the public will get a great cost savings.  Given that a supervisor makes about $27,000 a year plus benefits, and adds no value to government, we’d gain about $135,000 right off the bat.  That will buy some books for the libraries, hire a sheriff’s deputy, buy a patrol car, purchase couple of extra bullets, and get the carpets in the Rood Center cleaned.
 
In addition, we get the use of the BOS meeting chamber back.  We can turn it into a revenue source by renting it out for square dances, RV storage and perhaps agricultural events.
 
Of course, some of our gains will have to be diverted to establish a recovery program for ex-supervisors.  We’ll have to build an imitation BOS meeting room at the Senior Center for “pretend” meetings, until the ex-supes finish their withdrawals.  We’ll also need to start a chapter of Supervisors Anonymous and form a support group.  To show there are no hard feelings, we’ll have to name institutions and streets after them.  “Take Karen Drive to Dardick Lane.  Turn left on Antonson Street, go through the Van Zant tunnel, and you’ll be at the Grattan Sewage Treatment Plant.”
 
Now within two weeks, I expect The Union will give space to a supervisor for one of those wimpy “You don’t know how tough our job is” columns.  I agree that it’s tough, because the idea of a BOS is out of date and some supervisors have personal limitations.  The Board of Supervisors is the appendix in the digestive tract of county government, and removing it should be a simple operation.
 
Barry Schoenborn is a technical writer, and a ten-year resident of Nevada County. You can write to him at barry@wvswrite.com. The opinions of columnists are not necessarily those of The Union.
 

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