This Blog Ends Soon

Thank you for your support of this blog. And each of you should thank each other for your experiment in the exchange of ideas that we have had about Harrison County, how it is governed, educated, and the path it is taking towards the future. This blog has pretty much outlived its usefulness in trying to affect public discourse.

I also wish to thank those public officials who had whatever it takes for them to have engaged the public on this blog and for being tenacious in defending their position. Most of all I thank them for fearlessly stating their positions.

What might better serve the participants of this blog is something more along the lines of an electronic public bulletin board where one can tack up their comments and observations in a civil fashion without recrimination. There are a couple of former participants on this blog who are devising such a strategy. I would like to support them by advertising their url here when they are ready.

A couple of days ago, I had employed a mandatory sign-on to make comments. Some of you may not have noticed and just received an error code when trying to make a comment. The fix for that is just to look at the comment form and enter the information where it says “required” and you will do fine.

I have not written much in several weeks myself. This is due in part because I have said much of what I cared to say and felt no need to keep repeating myself.

I favor Charles Pointe as a “new development”. If it devolves into a mere transfer of wealth from the existing tax base to the protection of a TIF or a transfer of community assets from existing neighborhoods and communities then I believe it does not serve Harrison County. If it brings into Harrison County things that have never existed here before than we all might benefit.

The political leaders who cannot tell the difference in this and encourage the transfer of existing community wealth to a few property owners I have no hope for. At some point a Developer must either fail or succeed on his own without another dime of public money. Now is the time for them to sink or swim. Some one the other day quipped that our local and county government will be in Charles Pointe longer than we will be in Iraq. If you think about it they have all ready. Why is that? And when will you, the public, break the news to your elected officials?

Harrison County has a decaying set of public school buildings. A bond needs to be passed. All of you should pay more taxes. But before you do you better get some young blood on the school board. It shouldn’t be a radical idea to choose someone or two who actually have children in the system. Some one whose children will have to live with their policy.

The school system needs a real manager. Someone who can lead change. The current majority of the Board seems to be tripping over themselves to fill an ill-defined pair of shoes based on their self-imposed deadline rather than based on the proper series of events that should go into an executive search. They either cannot be taking this seriously or they are too ignorant to know what they are searching for. At best it may turn into a resume writing contest. The person with the best resume gets the job by July 1. How about telling the public what attributes you are looking for in a candidate; what are the priorities you see for the next several years and what qualities, experience, and skill you would look for in the applicant. Their current approach of, ‘we will know it when we see it’ makes them appear as amateurs as Board members.

The $103 Million budget has fat in it. Pick a number. Cut $5 M per year and you now have money to fix buildings without letting them deteriorate further. Where is the annually revised 10 year plan? A new superintendent should expect to work on one. He should have enough sense to ask for last year’s version to understand where the school system is going based on planned change. Oops. Maybe they don’t have one. Why? This lack of strong management will be re-validated if the current Board majority gets to select the next superintendent.

Who should be the Board president starting July 1? My choice is one of the two newly elected members to the Board. Whomever that might be. If we are going to change then let’s change.

Harrison County will not be ready for a quality bond package by the fall election. Hurry the process and it is doomed to failure yet again plus you have reinforced the voting habits of the public to “Voting No” whenever they see something from the school Board. It will take almost 18 months to properly staff the bond concepts with the municipal leaders, community leaders and the public at large to allow the proper coordination of ideas and alternatives that will make it a success.

A few other departing observations, if you please:

Reuben Perdue is getting better in that he no longer seems to think our local world is all about a Bridgeport-Clarksburg dichotomy. He seems less reliant on the advice of one of his regular guests and is beginning to sense that there are many viewpoints in this modest place we call home.

This blog has obliged me to watch some city councils closer than I otherwise would. All in all, and no BS, most of the people who serve on them are pretty competent and work fairly hard at doing the best they can with limited resources. I wonder if sometimes we expect too much of them. After all, they do not “own” the property in the city and cannot waive a magic wand to make things look like the best small towns in America. But this is where each of us can help. Go to the council meeting. Volunteer to do something to make your town better. Serve on a board or pick up a piece of paper from the sidewalk when you are walking down the street. But do something.

City Managers and those who work hard within the local governments are underpaid and under-appreciated. We can’t change that. But we can acknowledge it and cut them a break once in a while when we are getting too filled with ourselves about some perceived slight or lapse in public service. I do not believe that our local governments are filled with corruption of a criminal sort. I do believe that some officials at some point may begin to think of their job as some kind of honorary position where they just nod approvingly and give us a Queen Elizabeth type waive as they are riding along in the Memorial Day parade. There positions also require work. The ones who have not been pulling their weight should be encouraged to retire.

We have had some discussion about Clarksburg property owners and the part they should play in the future of Clarksburg. They are very much the future of Clarksburg. My hope is that they should work among themselves to come up with a competitive development plan that brings them riches. The 1960’s are gone. Downtown Clarksburg will never be the center of retailing again. We all need to get over that idea and come up with another for our current time.

For those of you who are interested in consolidated government functions start thinking about getting rid of all or some of the Public Service Districts in Harrison County. Clarksburg  produces most of the water in the county. Your PSD marks it up far beyond what the wholesale price is to your municipality or PSD. You want to pay less? Become a retail customer of CWB. The rates are available on the Public Utility Commission’s web site.

As for me, I’m taking a few days off to check on a basketball game and maybe go where the palm trees grow for a few days. Meanwhile, I can’t leave a few people alone with the blog and allow them to comment without adult supervision. A stack of comments have been made about candidates, officials and some individuals that are improper for this venue. I will hold all comments for moderation. This means that your comments will not be published until I return and am able to delete those that would offend a sense of fair play in discussing public policy. I’ll be back early next week.

For the blog, I will keep it up a short while longer before I pull the plug. Clean-up starts soon.

I’ll even miss a few of you kooks. ….lfr