Let me be clear up front.  I voted for the city manager referendum this last election.  However, I recognized that the people of Effingham did not want to change their government to a city manager form, but apparently the Effingham City Council did not get the memo on that one (at least 4 of the Council members that is - Commissioner Flach seemed to hear what the people said and wanted).

Today, the Effingham City Council took it upon themselves to change our form of city government to include a city administrator.  The way the Effingham City Council went about it was shady to say the least.  48 hours ago, they decided to hold a "special" meeting.  Between the time they announced the meeting until today, a series of resolutions were drawn up including the switch to city administrator, plus pay structures and who would serve as city administrator.  Nobody ever said that the Effingham City Council wasn't efficient when they want something done.

As the meeting began and debate on the city administrator began, Commissioner Flach let it be known that she did not agree with the ordinance in anyway.  It wasn't personal against City Clerk Rich Goeckner (who was supposed to be appointed the "temporary" city administrator), but she questioned how and why this was happening so fast.  She also stated that they only way she found out there even was a meeting today was hearing it on the radio.  She even questioned where the Tea Party was on this issue.  Let me say that I agree with everything Commissioner Flach said today.  In fact, the Effingham Tea Party would have been there had we had known that there was a meeting today.  I, like Commissioner Flach, found out about this meeting and what they had planned at the eleventh hour.  For the record, Commissioner Flach voted against the change in our government - good for her!

Here's a few problems I have with what took place today:

1.  The meeting was set at 12:15pm.  Was this an attempt to limit opposition in the same manner the Effingham County Board conducts their regular meetings at a time when only the retired or the self-employed can attend?  The room was packed, but I think that it was mostly city workers concerned about how this might affect them, including how the creation of a Dept. of Public Works would affect them.

2.  48 hours notice for something this important.  The Effingham City Council apparently thought that such an important decision should not be allowed to fester in the public's mind for too long.  God forbid there be a public outcry against the City Council going against the will of the people - again.

3.  Appointed people already chosen.  One of the resolution packets we picked up already had the people selected for the various positions in question.  Rick Goeckner got a raise as the newly created city administrator receives about $100,000 a year salary.  Granted, Goeckner will be retiring at the end of the year and will be ineligible to be employed by the city afterwards except in a consultant capacity.  Steven Miller will be the new director of Public Works.  His salary will be $98,000.  No discussion as far as I know had been done in placing an ad for the position or even actively looking outside the "insiders" of the Effingham City Government.

4.  Commissioner Harris said the council had to act fast because Mayor Lange would be gone for a month.  This is a poor excuse if I have ever heard one.  Mayor Lange absence due to personal reasons has no affect on the Council from conducting business.  Commissioner Harris is the Mayor Pro Tempe and the city has conducted city business without Mayor Lange being present before.  Why would that stop the Council from proceeding now?

5.  Absolutely no mention of cost analysis of a city administrator.  Other than the $100,000+ salary (plus benefits) that a city administrator will cost Effingham, nothing was said about how it would affect the rest of the city budget, or what the long term benefits or costs would be.  I mention below what Rick Goeckner stated, but I heard nothing from the Council themselves.

As a result of the Mayor and Council's diminished role in the day to day operations of the city, the next Mayor will be paid $16,000 instead of $23,000 and each Council member will be paid $10,000 down from $13,000 now.  It was stated that Goeckner current does most of what the city administrator already does.  Goeckner let it be known that he will take steps immediately to cut $600,000 from the budget via personnel and other changes.  If Goeckner already did about 50% of what a city administrator does, then why didn't he already save the city 50% of what he said he would cut from the budget - 50% of $600,000 = $300,000?

If there has been one overarching theme to this Council, it has been a total lack of regard for the feelings of the people of Effingham.  We vote on something, they ignore us.  They said they would run on x, y, and z, and they give us a, b, and c.  We need to find a few good men and women to run for city and county office. 

On a side note, the Effingham County Board is not much better when it comes to "trimming the fat".  They were just found to be in violation of state statutes the way they conduct their committee meetings.  Instead of deciding to only allow those that sit on a specific committee to be present and vote (and in turn get their illustrious per diem), the Effingham County Board decided to go with a "committee of the whole" which means every board member is a member of each committee.  Where are our County Board watchdogs that we elected to the Board?  I remember hearing rumblings and gripes about per diems last year, but nothing has been done.  I also recall hearing a few board members wanted to limit per diems to 2 committee meetings, and 1 regular meeting.  So much for that idea as well.  This is what I do know.  There are many people suckling at the teet of the the Effingham County and City taxpayer, meanwhile, this city and county are in about the same shape economically than what we were 10 years ago, only both city and county are running deficits.  Time to trim the fat.  Sometimes it's painful, but for a city of 13,000 and a county of 28,000, our budgets are too large, but hey, we've got more minimum wages jobs than you can shake a stick at.