Swearing In Just The Beginning of Expected Changes.

There will be a the swearing-in ceremony for the new commissioners held at 8:30 a.m., Monday, December 1st at the old Lee County Courthouse. This will be far more than just a legal requirement. A reception will follow in the new courthouse. This will be far more than a social event. The Commissioners will meet at the Government Center at 10:00 a.m. for their regular meeting. It will likely be the last meeting scheduled when the timing makes public input difficult for the many employed citizens of Lee County. The election of Richard Hayes, Larry "Doc" Oldham, and Amy Darymple along with the return of long time commissioner Ed Paschal is expected to result in a significant changes from the way the previous commission did business. The County Commissioners are already off to a bipartisan start. Democrat Richard Hayes has the votes lined up to be chairman and Republican Larry "Doc" Oldham has the votes lined up for the position of Vice Chairman. This process was largely carried out without significant input from Commissioners Reives and Kelly by the newly elected commissioners who seem to be working together with little consideration to party affiliation. Part of the expected changes include making one of the previous two meetings a month a work session that begins with public comments. With a work session there is near unanimous agreement that the infamous Finance Committee will be eliminated. This will bring to an end to one of Robert Reives tools for controlling commission actions and intimidating county employees. A change in meeting schedules to make them more accessible to the public is among the new commissioner's top priorities. One idea would schedule the work session at noon which would permit those who are employed to use their lunch hours to come for the pubic comment portions of the meeting. The business meeting is definitely moving to the evening although discussion continues as to the time the meeting would start, and 6:00 pm seems like the preferred choice. There is some concern that starting then would not provide some workers time to get there while others feel it would permit them to come by the meeting on their way home. The adversarial relationship between the commissioners and the Board of Education is likely to come to an end, although it remains to be seen if Commissioner Linda Shook's areas of emphasis will change to focus more on items that the commission can do something about. She seemed on the verge of accomplishing one of her major goals--seeing a new budgeting approach that would increase the school board's transparency in the use of funds and more clearly identify what activities were being funded with county appropriations versus state and federal sources. In fact the measure passed the finance committee, but Commissioner's Reives and Kelly changed their position when the proposal was presented to the full commission and killed the Shook proposal. With the commissioners taking office at a time of economic uncertainty which may require them to deal with budget matters far sooner than normal, she may find the new commission more receptive to her proposal. While the Board of Education and county commission were ultimately forced to deal with health and safety issues largely ignored by the commissioners at Lee Senior High School, the new commission will be much more interested in finding permanent solutions that taxpayers will support. Another vote on the local one quarter cent sales tax is likely but not before the commissioners feel a clear consensus has developed on its use. All this makes the ceremonial swearing in just the start of what will prove to be interesting developments you will want to follow in the e-Lee Dispatch.