Over the last few weeks a group led by the local Americans for Prosperity chapter has made it clear they’d like to see some changes in how Wicomico County does its business – at least when their legislative body holds its sessions.
Currently the Wicomico County Council meets most of the time on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. While their sessions are simulcast on local cable access channel PAC-14, which also reruns the meeting recordings several times over the course of the next few days, the opportunity to speak in front of the County Council only comes through one’s attendance. Even then speaking out can be an exercise in frustration, as local blogger Julie Brewington of Right Coast found out yesterday.
The compromise which has been suggested is an evening meeting each quarter. While I understand Councilman MacLeod’s concern about the elderly going out at night to a meeting, generally their attendance isn’t all that stellar during the day. Personally, despite the fact I happen to have a lot of evening meetings on my plate already I think the meetings should be predominantly held in the evening with the compromise one meeting per quarter held during the day.
But there’s another angle which occurred to me regarding meetings in the daytime. Since the salary isn’t very large and the job of County Councilman can become like a full-time position, having meetings in the daytime can hold some back who otherwise may be interested in service but also want to maintain a job during normal business hours (or parents who have children in school and wish to be available in case they’re needed.) But I’ll return to this point further on.
I feel there are two ways to help bring professionalism to the job of County Councilman and make them more accessible to the public they serve.
One would be to make the meetings in the evening, starting at either 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. It seems like most who read here would agree with that idea, as it brings the county in line with most of its municipalities.
The second is probably a little more controversial, especially in this time of tight budgets. But I think the salary of County Councilmen should be pegged to that of the County Executive by a factor of half – if the County Executive makes $80,000 then County Council would be paid $40,000 apiece. Out of a county budget well over $100 million that’s not an especially large line-item increase.
While this does have the drawback of attracting someone who entrench and enrich themselves as a career politician (easily solved by enacting term limits), I think that making a salary more in line with a decent full-time job would also attract a broader base of experienced people to run for the posts and more choice at the ballot box generally creates a better crop of elected officials. In addition, a County Council person could devote full time to the position because they wouldn’t necessarily have to worry about trying to make a living and serve at the same time.
I have no qualms with the professionalism of our current crop of County Councilmen but I think that we need the best people we can get in an age when state assistance is on the wane and overburdened taxpayers cry out for fiscal conservatism. The role of county government continually evolves and the dawn of a new decade may be ushering in an era when everything connected with it will be questioned and scrutinized.
It’s the County Executive’s job to lead, but not necessarily the County Council’s job to follow in lockstep. Independent thinking will be in demand in the next decade and a well-paid County Council can fill that role best.
“One would be to make the meetings in the evening, starting at either 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. It seems like most who read here would agree with that idea, as it brings the county in line with most of its municipalities.”
My problem with this is that a meeting and work session usually lasts 3-4 hours. Thats way too late to be out if you have to get up for your full-time job (wouldnt affect Joe Holloway ;). And if you have worked all day, you will probably be spent and we might not get the “best effort” from council. But if the salaries were increased (over triple for exec, over double for council as you suggest) that might not be a problem.