The deadline for Frederick News Post’s 2016 Best of the Best is June 15! If you haven’t already, please click here, go to the entertainment page and enter: Frederick Local Yokel under your favorite blog! You know you want to!
So Shreve is dedicating his dozen brain cells to getting refunds for campaign contributions for those with buyer’s remorse who donated to Bud Otis. While it is a shame that they didn’t recognize that he wasn’t going to be a partisan hack, it really isn’t a crisis. It’s a good thing. We recommend visiting the link up top to Billy Shreve’s public page so that you can tell him how little sense he is making right now. Or on any given day.
Particularly astonishing in light of Shreve’s “campaign for a refund” is to read in the paper today that Shrelauter’s BFFs at the hybrid tree-farm-wedding-venue are getting sued for a whole slew of stuff related to the fact that they took money for weddings and now can’t have the weddings because they simply refused to even apply for the necessary temporary permits. But nope, they still aren’t giving the deposit money back. Maybe our two most chivalrous and concerned county level representatives could stop telling illegal operating businesses to do whattheheckever they want, consequences be damned. How about telling these business owners to give back the money they owe these couples? Is this the utopia they envision when they “make doing business easier,” folks? Aren’t most of us more often on the customer end of a transaction, and expecting that we will not be taken advantage of with encouragement from our public officials? All Shrelauter cares about is playing childish games. Furthermore, at the last meeting, Tony Chmelik was more than happy to create a situation where Kirby could get online and spin that Jan was trying to get more money via Tony’s proposed amendment, and then accuse M.C. of playing partisan politics. We’ve been passing around a book amongst the Yokel writers. Based upon our studies, it sounds like we are dealing with some particular cases. We’ll let you decide.
Today, the FNP ran a piece about the statement Billy et al put out about Bud changing parties. We covered it pretty well here, so we won’t revisit the “content” of their statement. What does need attention is this:
At least one person is considering a lawsuit seeking a return of the funds, Shreve said.
“I told them, ‘If you can find an attorney that’s willing to do it, I will bring it before the [central] committee for a vote,’” Shreve said, referring to the possibility of a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Frederick County Republicans.
First bahaha! If you can find an attorney willing to take on a losing case that has NO basis in the law (cha-ching–billable hours, tho!), then sure we’ll join! (And the Yokel has a very good idea who this one individual is). Can you imagine the time and money wasted in such an endeavor? Sounds totally reasonable, doesn’t it? And this coming from people who commonly lament frivolous lawsuits. Just imagine for a moment if every time a donor was upset with a politician’s decision they took them to court. We would have to establish a whole court devoted just to this! Not to mention the fact that politicians would be afraid to do anything lest they be sued. But really, we aren’t suprised. This is just one in a really long list of Billy’s really dumb ideas. Make sure you visit the comment section of this piece. No Billy love at all. Our fave is former BOCC member Lenny Thompson’s post:
jthompson Jun 8, 2016 7:01am
Bud ain’t the first to receive threats from local Republicans. The high-water mark of the Gray BOCC (1998-2002) in terms of camaraderie occurred in 2000 when the Republican Mens Club (forerunner to the Frederick County Republican Club) sent the four GOP members of the board (Gray, Rhoderick, Hogan & moi) a letter threatening “appropriate action” if any of us voted for proposed increases in the County’s property and income taxes. Three BOCC members (Gray, Rhoderick & Gardner) supported the increases with Ilona and moi opposed. Ilona promptly and publicly pointed out some hypocrisy in that the author of the letter had also written the BOCC advocating an increase in spending. I promptly & publicly indicated that while I opposed the tax increases I understood why my colleagues were in favor. I promised to come to the defense of my colleagues, regardless of party, should the Republican Mens Club attempt to take “appropriate action” against them. We never heard any more from the Republican Mens Club.
Billy you really need to step out of your little echo chamber. The people in your club and on WFMD are not indicative of the larger group. There are a lot of people who appreciate the change, order, and sanity that Bud’s leadership has brought forth.
So most of the evening was tame. We smirked at the fact that no one showed up for the before meeting public comment. Billy couldn’t round up just one of the watchers? Lots of presentations tonight. Maryland Association of Counties, Solid Waste Commission and the Agricultural Preservation all expanded our knowledge of our fine county. We are breezing through all this, however, because the meat of the meeting, the crazy of the crazy was in the council member amendments.
We will try to walk you down the path of what happened. But it’s confusing, so don’t feel bad if you get lost. Yesterday we posted about Tony’s amendment to increase the County Executive’s pay. Kirby had a Facebook fit over it and Tony decided to say a few things about it. However, he decided to pull that amendment. Now, remember that readers. He PULLED the amendment. Well, now Billy was not having any of that. He wants to talk about an amendment that is not going to be put forth and he’s going to talk about it real good. So Tony puts the amendment back on, even though he doesn’t want it anymore, and Billy goes on this whole cray cray time discussion. He finds it funny that people are upset that the teachers are the lowest paid in the State but no one is lamenting the fact that they are the lowest paid officials.
Kirby then goes on to say that if you are getting into politics for money then you aren’t doing it for the right reasons.(We know people, we know). But the gold star of the evening goes to M.C.. She asks Tony if he asked the County Executive about this before proposing this amendment. He gives a snarky, “Why should I?” Uh, we don’t know, because she would be the only person thus far that would have an opinion as to whether or not the salary matches the expectations and skills required of the job? But no, Tony accuses M.C. of playing politics. So for keeping your cool in an unbelievably difficult situation, Council woman Keegan-Ayer, you deserve a Yokel tip of the hat:
And, in the end, Tony pulls the amendment…again. Incidentally, just like he pulled his first and sixth amendments, which concerned compensation for council members. Let’s reflect a moment on his desire for minimal government–as far as he is concerned, he would do his job for nothing. Yet, somehow if you care to step through the looking glass with him, he will go to bat for a concept he would ordinarily want to dismantle.
It’s time for Kirby’s amendments. Jerry’s face kinda sums up this section of the evening:
Kirby plagiarized one of his amendments from Cecil county. And then couldn’t remember his reasoning behind proposing three members of the council be able to make budget decisions (oh we are so sure). Weird. There are three in a group of stooges. We thought three was the magic number. Since memory failed when he was pressed to defend these shenanigans, he decided to pull the amendment. Whew!
Now Billy wants to make it clear that if a council member changes their political affiliation and then leaves the council, the central committee of the party that the elected official ran under should be allowed to choose their replacement. How timely. And we must ask here, why is an elected official allowed to be the chairperson of the central committee. Wouldn’t it be a total conflict of interest for Billy to appoint someone to sit up there with him?
To go back to our title, during council member comments, M.C. hands out summer reading pamphlets to all of the council members. Well, one of the pamphlets fights tooth and nail to prevent itself from landing in Billy’s hand. We understand, summer reading pamphlet, we understand.
Seriously folks, if the Lady Yokels find you peeking out of trashcans we may have to put a moratorium on these games! It’s been a few weeks since we’ve had one, so take care if you think your tolerance may be low. Let’s begin this game with a hearty congratulations to Jessica and her husband on the birth of their son. Between us Lady Yokels there are 8 Junior Yokels running around. So welcome to the club Councilwoman Fitzwater!
Grab your agenda and follow along, there’s lots of items tonight and lots of times that the folks on the dais need to utilize their listening skills. Hopefully they are all paying attention and NOT staring at the phones for advice.
Public comment is back on the top of the agenda. 15 minutes max at 3 minutes each, means 5 folks max. If any of these 5 folks decide this is a good time to call our esteemed Council President a turncoat, slam back a Benedict Arnold with a smile upon your face.
Nine, that’s right nine, budget transfers are up next! We are probably pretty good until we get to the bottom two concerning school construction. When the objections come, mix up some Harvey Wallbanger, since we are all so close to banging our heads on the wall.
It’s listening time now. An update will be made by the Maryland Association of Counties. Hopefully Billy and Kirby haven’t partaken of any Fireball shots beforehand and are now engaging in some drunk texting that would cause some kind of embarrassing political resignation. (Who are we kidding, drink away fellas!) In their honor, have a Fireball shot every time they seem to be distracted by their electronic lifeline.
Time to approve the County Executive’s appointment to the Maryland Fire Service Professional Qualifications Board. If this is met with any static, mix up a Flaming Asshole. Yes, we said it!
It’s time to either approve or reject the historic designation for Glenellen Farm in Ijamsville. When Billy or Turncoat Kirby object to this on account of the brain-washers not getting their “drug treatment” facility, go ahead and have yourself a UFO and good luck driving those nasty Thetans out of your body!
Next up is a renewal for a contract for an external audit. We hear some talk here and there about accountability and outside opinions, so if any nonsense shall occur, sip on your Billionaire cocktail. Since that’s what all these county employees are anyway, right?
Listening time again! A presentation from the department of Solid Waste management and an overview of Agricultural Preservation Programs. We’ll keep the drink the same. If anyone is staring at their electronic delight instead of the informative presentation have yourself a Fireball shot!
Lastly, it’s a presentation of amendments to the Charter from both the County Executive and Council. It’s a long list so we will refer you back to the agenda if you want to see it for yourself. Since that’s probably enough drinking for tonight, get yourself a nice cold drink of that EPA regulated water and re-hydrate.
We’ll update you on the meeting as soon as we humanly can!
The Yokel desk is trying to do their charter amendments homework and we find that we need a tutor. What do all y’all make of this crazy sandwich of proposed amendments from Tony Chmelik?
And then he goes on to put the peanut butter n’ fluff in, where he asks for the compensation for the County Executive to be nearly doubled from $95,000 to $180,000. That is highlighted as an amount equal to 125% of the average Frederick County household income. Plus he also strikes through the part where said officeholder can’t hold other offices or work in other capacities. And then if you will follow along, you will see more of the same from above in his 6th Amendment. Pay attention to the parts in bold; those are the proposed changes…
And of course, we know that County Executive Jan Gardner does not support the aforementioned amendments to the charter that would drastically increase the CE salary.
The question is, what is he playing at? And we seem to recall him having derisive things to say at the previous Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) Update when he talked about professional officeholders like they have in <<gasp, clutch pearls>> Montgomery County. Them durned professionals. And yet here he is, acting like an executive should be extra high and mighty. And for what? Is this so Kirby gets a sweet deal if (Bast forbid) he is elected to the CE position? Doesn’t it seem like Kirby is always trying to get a sweet deal from the guv’mint?
This is a have cake, eat it, too, vision, is it not? Coming from the corner of constant bellyaching that according to their intimate acquaintances with them, the Founding Fathers didn’t want professionals in government. Now (Tax & Spend?) Tony wants the executive to be ultra compensated and be allowed to continue to run their construction businesses, or what have you? And FWIW, we can all be pretty sure our forefathers had neither Billy Shreve nor Kirby Delauter in mind as ideals. In fact, they’d have been tragically disappointed by a look ahead into 2016, now wouldn’t they?!
Is this some set up for these human impediments to a functioning society to start in with their buyer’s remorse about the charter government? Probably. And boy howdy, will that be a long winded bellows of misery. It will probably even rival Kirby’s infinite poutrage about the teachers voting on the BOE budget (and in the end the teachers still get no raises, as it turns out–an irony totally lost on that idiot). If they were planning to repeal the charter, as they’ve been hinting at, why bother crafting amendments? Or is the idea to sabotage it from within?
Frederick County Politics would have given the nations forefathers an attack of indigestion.
Unless you’ve had your head buried in the sand in these here parts, you’ve probably heard that Bud Otis switched his political affiliation to Independent. Well, the sole deciders of what a good Republican should be issued a statement. We sure hope they did hurt themselves coming up with this:
In response to Councilman President, Bud Otis’s party affiliation change and leaving the Republican Party, the Frederick County Republican Central Committee would like express a heartfelt thank you for finally acknowledging that you are not a Republican, do not represent Republicans, and we are grateful that you have turned in your card.
Councilman Otis stated “based on the intense acrimony, uncontrolled anger, and mean spirited personal attacks made against me for my council leadership by some outspoken members of the local Republican party led in part by the new local chairman.” This is just another misrepresentation from Councilman Bus Otis. The pressure he felt was from those that had voted for him. The local Republican Clubs and Central Committee received many calls and emails from constituents complaining and angered by Bud Otis’s votes. Councilman Otis was invited to a Club meeting to address his voting record. Republicans came from all over the county came to express their displeasure with him. He heard over and over “I regret ever voting for you, you don’t represent me” from his constituents.
Bud Otis also said “The local leadership of this party in this county has engaged in a policy of petty personal attacks division, anger, and bullying in a misguided and destructive attempt to control me.” If by “control me” he means voting as his constituents thought he should and would, then yes, the Party and the voters expects that. He then went on to say “They clearly have little or no regard for the citizens of Frederick county and this government chosen by our voters, and initially endorsed and pushed by them while part of the previous board.”
Regard??? How can Councilman Otis speak of “regard for the citizens” when he campaigned as a fiscal conservative and once elected ignored his voters.
Bud Otis ran on the reputation of our beloved Congressman Roscoe Bartlett, deceitfully took money from Republican supporters, and sent fundraising letters to Blaine Young’s donors touting Blaine’s endorsement asking for campaign donations. Bud Otis even pledged in writing that he would never vote to raise taxes as he stated here in his own words – https://www.facebook.com/budotis/?fref=ts.
Councilman Bud Otis did all of this for his own benefit and aspirations. He did so because he knew he would never be elected as a Democrat. He used our conservative values, our Party, its members, and constituents all in the name of deception.
After being elected Council Otis’s first act was to meet with the Democrats and construct a deal that would put him a power position. For that, he has voted in unison with them to enact and pass their agenda items to raise taxes, increase spending, and get rid of English as the official language. With Councilman Otis’s vote they have increased County Government spending by $35 million on the last two budgets.
Now, we as a Party Committee no longer have to deflect comments and allegations about Otis’s voting record and defend our Party position. Republicans in Frederick County now see Bud Otis for what he truly is, a” bait and switch” candidate.
We call on Councilman Bud Otis to resign and let the Party place a true conservative on the council, which is what the voters of Frederick County intended when they voted. We also feel the voters are entitled to a refund of their hard earned money wasted on donations to his campaign. Councilman Otis has defrauded the voters of Frederick County and they deserve to be compensated. Maybe his actions and deeds should be brought to the ethics committee as fraud and misrepresentation of the voters is surely an egregious act. But for now they can only ask for their money by contacting him at 240-397-0353 or BOtis@FrederickCountyMD.gov.
Sincerely,Frederick County Republican Central Committee – Billy Shreve, Chairman
Frederick County Republican Club – Mark Schaff, President
Frederick County Young Republicans – Brian Harris, Vice-Chairman
Oh, where to begin? First off, as you well know, your faithful Yokels pay a lot of attention to what happens in Frederick politics. We watch every SINGLE meeting and workshop, read every article in the FNP, Tentacle and the northern rags. We frequently “stalk” various public Facebook pages and other public information sites. Not to mention the times we have nearly given ourselves an ulcer listening to WFMD. So we know that everything Bud said in his statement is true. Every single last word of it. We’ve seen the ugliness in meetings, on Facebook and through email. Honestly, we are surprised he held on as long as he did!
We also know that a lot of this animosity started because Billy was upset that Bud would not accept him as council president. Even though Bud earned more votes in the election and the position should rightly be his. And surprise, surprise Mr. Otis didn’t want to be part of a council that was saying no just to say no and not trying to accomplish anything. To say that he did this out of deception is really stretching it…even for Billy.
The whole ridiculous tone of this statement also assumes that there is only one kind of Republican. And of course that type is defined by Billy and his gang. Too bad his attempt to shame the Governor into supporting Trump hasn’t worked yet. Is Governor Hogan going to be accused of deception next? If he isn’t towing Billy’s line of what a Republican should be is he not also guilty of the old “bait and switch”?
We have many friends, on both the left and the right, who are very pleased that Bud is doing the job he was elected to do. Not abstaining due to some misguided notion of what?…we don’t even know anymore. Most rational people realize that we need government services, and that those services cost money. Many of us also did not like the reputation Frederick was getting as a result of their poorly written (irony anyone?) English Language Ordinance. Bud realizes that, but for some reason this has escaped a few of the other’s attention.
The fact of the matter is, there are widely varying views within both the Democratic and Republican party. There is no one size fits all Republican or Democrat. And you, Mr. Shreve et al, certainly do not get to dictate the belief system of every Frederick County Republican. For we have a suspicion that you, in fact, speak for a very small faction of them.
Seems like the 1st of the month is Kirby’s special time to be a “Guest Columnist” on the noodley appendage. We’ll try to cover it in enough detail so you won’t have to look. However, if you prefer to be a first hand witness to this train wreck of a post, feel free to click here.
Let’s start with some vocabulary:
Kirby’s thought process is just…well bizarre. He tries oh so very hard to come up with some cute anti-business nickname for Jan. The best he can muster is: “County Executive Jan (please take your business elsewhere) Gardner.” So very witty. In this post treating Jan as the most anti-business elected representative in the world, we are graced with three examples.
Example 1!: A rant about a trash company that is not allowed to dump their trash coming from outside the county into our county dump. Kirby doesn’t do a good job explaining how this trash is actually in county. Not at all. Instead he gives an example about buying a couch in Montgomery County and then years later being denied the right to dump it at the Frederick County landfill. Not quite the same thing, but okay. Why does Jack Handy come to mind?
Example #2!: Another company has been told that their refuse would start a fire in the landfill. We don’t know the details, and we are pretty sure that Kirby doesn’t either (just a hunch–see entire Facebook saga of wedding venues with no permits), and if this company has a legitimate claim they would be wise to go through someone other than Kirby. Who, in his analysis of this situation, claims that the county is assuming the worst about this business. There couldn’t be any logical explanations as to why the county could have this policy could there?
Example 3! (is our favorite): Here we find Kirby trying his best to defend the actions of Shade Trees and Evergreens. You know one of the aforementioned wedding venues, which secured ZERO permits? Kirby tries to answer those who would question his stance on this business in the following fashion:
Now you can say, Mr. Delauter, you know damn well Shade Trees knew they were operating illegally and it’s their fault!
I could say that, but I know all too well being in business in Frederick County for 30 years how many times the county has showed up on our jobs and stated the rules have changed without notice. That’s right, they changed county code, no notification to business owners effected, just do as we say, and get over it. Oh, and pay a fee of course.
Ummm, this is not what happened at ALL. So what does Kirby say the solution should be? So glad you asked! Kirby’s solution is that Queen Jan should use her Executive Order powers to declare that this place stay open to the end of the year. Yes, those same Executive Order powers that practically sent him to the soup kitchen. No matter those pesky health and sewage inspections. And we should all ignore the fact that legitimate businesses who went through the proper channels are being undersold.
So this epic poem concludes with Jan killing all the county businesses. And now Kirby has NO choice but to consider a run for County Executive. No choice at all.
Well folks, if you haven’t had a chance to take a gander at today’s Political Notes , it is a must see. First off, we have a summary of the cell phone discussion that we touched on from the last meeting. When Jerry suggested that the council hand over their phones during council meetings, Billy yells:
“Why don’t we just use rice paper?”
His reaction was as though Jerry suggested we do away with technology altogether. What is wrong with putting the phones away during council meetings? On the other hand, if one is waiting for instructions from the puppet master it may be a little hard to know what to do.
Next, Kirby so wants there to be a scandal. So he provided the reporter at the News Post with this:
To show his frustration, Delauter forwarded me an email last week in which a staff member at the county’s Office of Economic Development redirected his questions, on behalf of FSK Holiday Inn owner Randy Cohen, to Browning.
Delauter responded angrily.
“That’s total Bullshit………….but then again,” Delauter wrote back. “I’ll have Randy contact you directly since as an elected official we get treated like third graders from the worthless CE,” referring to the county executive.
He then suggested that Cohen contact the employee — who was copied on the email — directly.
“I don’t have the time to spend to go thru the layers of bureaucratic bullshit that CE Gardner has put in place,” Delauter wrote.
Nice, huh? He’s starting to sound all county executivey isn’t he? And what’s Kirby’s problem with third graders? Well, if Kirby isn’t able to have his issue addressed this very second isn’t the whole system just for shit? Here’s what Jan had to say about this:
Gardner said the process for handling constituent service emails was set up between her staff members and the council’s staff members.
Gardner said the executive and legislative branch staffs worked together to create the system, so staff members wouldn’t be overwhelmed by seven separate requests from each council member on one constituent issue.
“It’s absolutely not impossible for them to talk to county staff. This whole focus is about constituent service,” Gardner said, adding that a high percentage of questions get a response within a day. “… I think the system is working for the majority of council members.”
If Kirby can’t circumvent the procedures that were made by both his and the county executive’s staff, aren’t we already at tyranny’s doorstep?
The last section is our favorite. In an attempt to imitate House of Cards, Delauter, Shreve and Jenkins have created something closer to a Shack of Sharts. Just look at this description of an email exchange that someone forwarded to the FNP:
In an unrelated chain of emails forwarded to The Frederick News-Post this week, Shreve and Delauter expressed disappointment not only with county government policies, but also the form of county government entirely.
Republican Sheriff Chuck Jenkins, who was copied on the multiple email messages, suggested that the councilmen and others “push a movement to go back to the County Commissioner form of government. It worked!”
When another person on the email list suggested that a lot of Republicans who supported charter government before Gardner, a Democrat, took office would have to “eat crow” to support a reversal, Jenkins responded.
“I have no crow to eat because I predicted it would be [a] total disaster as it is turning out to be,” he wrote. “But wouldn’t everyone choke down a little crow if things could be fixed? Just take a big bite and swallow hard.”
Shreve also wrote that he would favor a repeal.
Delauter said he didn’t vote for charter government and is frequently reminded why, though he’s still considering a run for county executive in 2018.
“If I was county executive, [charter government] would be great …,” Delauter said, before adding that he was joking. “I’m kidding. That’s the form of government we have, so I have to live with it.”
Well, well, well, we wonder who forwarded this along! Could it be that someone on that exchange doesn’t drink the Kool-Aid? Or was it one of them thinking this would be a great way to get all this recall charter government nonsense in the news? This isn’t new talk folks, we reported almost a year ago of Blaine’s winds of change. These guys lived in some warped bubble in which they thought Blaine was going to win it all and they would be the Boss Hoggs of the county. So, when that didn’t happen they immediately went into boo hoo, everything’s horrible mode.
Well, we happen to like that an discriminatory language ordinance was repealed. We like that our county has a strong ethics law. We also like that our schools and other services are finally being funded at somewhat reasonable levels. And we are oh so very pleased that the nursing homes are back in the county’s hands. We would also be remiss to not mention that we really like that we have a County Executive who isn’t getting arrested for solicitation of prostitutes. (Thanks Jan!) So we’ll stick with the Charter government thank you very much. For we remember what it was like during the last BOCC. Shiver.
I know it isn’t pleasant, but for a moment let’s take a trip down memory lane. Back to the dark days of the BOCC when the education budget wasn’t funded above the Maintenance of Effort (MOE) required by law. People came out in droves to testify before the BOCC, to no avail. This frustration helped usher Jan Gardner into office in 2014. To her word, County Executive Gardner has increased funding for our county schools. This year she allocated $10.5 million over the MOE funding from the previous year. County Superintendent Alban wanted $13.8 million for salaries in order to revamp the pay scale. The BOE slowly shook it’s collective head from side to side and reallocated $7.4 million from the salary pool. We think the title of FNP’s coverage of last night’s meeting kinda says it all:
We know budgeting is hard, and there will be winners and losers. However, the teachers are sick and tired of being the losers. Every single year. And we are sick and tired for them. Friend of the Yokel Casey Day-Kells was quoted in the paper as saying this:
The FCTA secretary, Casey Day-Kells, offered an alliterative description for how teachers are feeling: “disheartened, discouraged, disrespected, demoralized, dismayed, depressed.”
“Not only one, is the scale broken, but at this time, so are many of your employees,” Day-Kells said.
You business people out there know that demoralized employees are not good for your bottom line. And while we know our county teachers are professionals who put on their best face every day, we can’t help but think this will affect how they perform their jobs.We want to help come up with some solutions, unlike some of our county politicians:
We are going to try to follow this logic. So since the BoE cut the money from salaries , Tony should have been allowed the amendment to do away with over $6 million from the total budget because that would have made this all better…how? So confused. Are we to forget the past, Mr. Delauter? Are you now painting yourself as a “friend of education” who has no problem raising teacher salaries???!!! PLEEAZZZEE!!! What about all those years you voted to keep the budget at MOE and therefore directly contributed to this problem? And how about that other time when you cut that Head Start program because all the women should be at home with their kids baking your pie? Our memory is long and detailed, councilman. As for the teachers voting on their salaries, we’ll let the above gif take care of that. We can’t keep addressing that issue over and over again. We just can’t. But, it sure seems like a hollow complaint, when the “get rich quick plan” to become Frederick County’s brand new council member teacher millionaire hybrid class is nakedly hogwash. Obvious to literally everyone with two brain cells to rub together is that they are not able to control that money pot.
Now onto our Yokel brainstorm. Since we cannot guarantee that money allocated to the school system will be used to increase salaries how about a special little tax increase that is specifically and only for this purpose? Now before you get all:
on us, just hear us out. Things cost money people. And yes, the government should do the absolute best job it can spending it wisely. (That doesn’t mean cutting just for the sake of cutting, Kirby!) However, sometimes things don’t work out the way we want them to and in order to get what we want we have to pony up! So let’s say that we have a special fee just for this purpose. Whatever goes into this fund can and will only be used for salaries. The CE, Council, and BoE cannot use it for anything else ever. Kinda like the Chesapeake restoration fee on your water bill. And it wouldn’t have to be much. If every county resident (census prediction is 245,322 for June 2015) paid $41 a year we would have an extra 10,058,202. If you spread that out in monthly payments it comes to $3.42 a month. If you are ready and able to add more, feel free. And if we ever have a year that our teachers are paid a competitive salary, we can take a break from it. What say you, Yokels? If you have any other ideas, please put them in our comment section. Let’s start a dialogue on how to fix this so we don’t have to have this same cycle of disappointment year after year after year.
frederick local yokel 