The story in which Billy calls Jan a queen because of ethics. Which sounds kinda familiar, but much more fun and fanciful than that earlier ugliness about tyrants and dictators. They’re just not so sparkly and glamorous, and imagining a Good and Lovely Queen makes us think of Glinda the Good Witch, and gives us warm feelings about her kind and wise guidance. Amidst personal attacks, she stands by and keeps her comments to the situation at hand, which makes it that much more a pleasure to sing her praises.
You have no power here! Begone, before somebody drops a house on you, too!
Kirby D had this to say:
Delauter said Gardner’s decision to issue the order is “par for the course.” With the decisions she is making, he said, the county will go back into the same hole that it was in when the last board of commissioners last took office, which was after Gardner’s last term as commissioners president.
Yes indeed. We all remember the utopian vision of the BOCC under Blaine Young, with Billy and Kirby to boot. We could go out to eat with the hundred bucks, and they got to “trim the fat.” You know, county workers who do all the things to make our county the place we call home. County employees who might have liked to afford to go out to eat themselves, we have to suppose.
This all makes us think of con-men, tricksters and cheats in so much detail. In the end they are supposed to turn out to be good. Is that only in old movies? Not to draw out this conceit and suggest Bud Otis has ever been such a bad seed, but at least in him we see that our first impressions were wrong. It’s sad to feel so hopeless in regards to some.
And another word about tricksters. Does it seem a mite strange that if you are on an ethics panel that believes politicization has run amok that the decision would be to resign? That sure strikes us as an odd way to ensure ethics are maintained. It almost sounds like b.s.
So compared to the past few council meetings this one was relatively short. But don’t worry Billy still had plenty of time to put on a show.
Billy has a lot of trouble with procedure, and we mean a lot. We are torn between two possible explanations for his behavior. The first one is that he is purposefully trying to make things difficult for every single person on that council due to some misguided notion that in doing so he will sway others to his point of view. Or perchance he is just a really obtuse buffoon that really has no idea on Zeus’ green Earth what the hell he’s doing up there. You be the judge.
Read the charter Billy! I said read it!!!!
Every meeting begins with public comments. Every single one! So at this point Billy should know that when it’s the public’s time to talk he needs to keep his trap shut for three short minutes. Well, not Billy. When Citizen Patrick takes Billy to task for abstaining and for not serving the citizens of this fine county, Billy interrupts. He is quickly called out for said infraction and we were lucky enough to catch his reaction:
Why can’t I do whatever I want whenever I want? Why?
Next on the agenda–every agenda–is council member comments. Comments, not questions. Well, no,no,no you commoners. Billy wants to ask questions and he wants to do it now!!! He’s really upset about all that’s been going on with the ethics commission and he wants answers right this very second! Well, our poor overworked county lawyer has to explain the difference between the words comment and question. Billy is still having none of this and tries to get Bud to make a motion to allow it. Bud refuses (thumbs up), and gets in a little verbal skirmish with Billy telling him that they would try to get to it at the end of the agenda. PER PROCEDURE!
So let’s get to the voting section of the evening. Can you guess what happened (if you were following ourdrinking game, you are probably in a corner drooling all over yourself right now)? Budget transfers? ABSTAIN! Meeting minutes? ABSTAIN! But, what’s this, is Billy having a change of heart? Because he voted in the affirmative to allow a hearing concerning a grant the Department of Public Works is applying for. Don’t worry, he didn’t have a full change of heart. He still refused to use the word AYE. He instead chose the more flowery YES. Because he is a petulant child man.
Now, dear readers this is at least the third instance in which we have seen council member Shreve render a county employee speechless. Not in an ” Oh Mr. Shreve you rendered me silent with your vast knowledge of this subject” way. More like a “I cannot believe I am being asked this question by a fully formed adult” kind of way.
So back to the ethics question. Billy wants answers about the separation of powers between the county executive and the council. He’s told that no such thing exists. He then starts hammering away about who would represent the council if they had a dispute with the county executive. This is when the pause occurred and our fine county attorney Mathias really had to gather his thoughts before proceeding. He explains again the duties delegated to both bodies as per the charter. But this still isn’t enough. It’s as though Billy really believes that everyone on that council is going to stand in revolt against County Executive Jan because Kirby can not bid on county projects. Like seriously believes that he can stage a coup. Except he has no idea what he is talking about at all! Per protocol.
We will leave you with two screenshots from tonight’s meeting that struck our funny bone. Who is coming to the meetings without any shoes on?
Stock your bar! County Budget Transfers are on Tuesday’s agenda. It will be streaming on FCG TV starting at 4:30. If you have ever enjoyed/stared slack-jawed at a “reality show” on “The Learning Channel,” do we ever have a treat for you! Reality in its purest form: local government. Representative democracy in, um, action…is that the word we are looking for? It’ll have to do.
Suggested rules of the game (you may have to amend these for your own safety):
Environmental science is alluded to as a faith-based matter–drink.
For any reason the spin is spun that the “Rain Tax” has been repealed–drink.
During the budget transfer discussion libraries are regarded as obsolete/undeserving–drink.
Kirby loses his temper–make a round of Angry Balls.
Abstains from vote–drink.
Billy makes it a trend–add Absinthe to your shopping list for next time.
Grover Norquist’s name is invoked during public comments–finish your drink.
Anything that might be paraphrased, “Kirby Delauter is being slighted; teachers are favored: no fair, no fair, no fair.”–drink.
Comment on our Facebook Page to suggest rules for Thursday’s meeting. The agenda looks promising.
We’ve been hearing an awful lot about council folk lining their pockets. We would like to point out you really shouldn’t compare apples to watermelons.
Like many of you, we here at local yokel like to have a peaceful morning with our newspaper and coffee. We do not take too kindly to our peace being viciously snatched away from us with hyperbolic nonsense such as this:
The way that Gardner is running the county is “basically like a dictatorship.”
Who said this? Well of course it was #KirbyDelauter. Of course it was! Why? Because Jan and Bud Otis did not take too kindly to Council Member #KirbyDelauter profiting from his position and making it look as though county business is not on the up and up. This isn’t the first time that Kirby has misused a word. Think back to his labeling Bud a tyrant because he had the gall to remove an item from the agenda. Maybe, just maybe he really doesn’t understand the meaning. Let us help. Here’s the Webster’s definition of a dictator:
a person who rules a country with total authority and often in a cruel or brutal way
Not:
Someone who doesn’t allow me to make a crap load of money from government contracts while serving on the council of said government.
Still not clear? Then let’s use some visuals and play a game. Who is the Dictator?
Yes! Dictator! Millions of people killed under his rule. Millions!Yes again! Controls every aspect of North Korean life. If you dare to say anything negative about him woe is you!No. Not a dictator or a tyrant. Just good Ole Bud, President of the Frederick County Council.Certainly Yes! Thousands upon thousands killed for trying to stand up to his regime.Most certainly not a dictator. Tsk-tsk #KirbyDelauter!
Any questions? If so, we seriously doubt we can help you.
For a few days it had been quiet, almost too quiet in the land of Billy Shreve. But as a mother of young children surely knows, when it’s quiet there’s trouble a brewin’.
Again? Seriously, again?
So this quiet time was spent “updating the facts”. Good Poseidon of the Sea that can’t be good can it?!
Stop going on the radio Billy! Just stop it!
No it was not. And oh how we apologize to Bob Miller for our critique of his morning show. Because we did not know (and wished we still did not) of the horror that awaited us on the afternoon program with Tim May. So many apologies Bob. As an example of the extreme sacrifice we go through for you let us tell you a story. A nice caller pointed out that laws and contracts get changed all the time. When people’s opinion of a matter change or a new administration comes in it isn’t unusual for changes to be made. Well this poor nice caller did not realize that he committed the high crime of blasphemy with what seemed to us perfectly rational arguments. But, thankfully Private Eye/Man of the Cloth Tim May was there to point it out. Because dear caller you know what law can never been changed? THE TEN COMMANDMENTS!!! BAM! Take that you ignorant fool, argument over.
So to continue, we come in at the 3rd hour, because as much as we love you dear readers, there is only so much in terms of our sanity that we are willing to sacrifice. At the beginning of this hour we are welcomed by the very persistant voice of our friend Mary. Mary, leader of the “How could you Bud Otis?” brigade had some very reasonable remarks about Jan. It’s too much b.s. for us to wade through on a Friday. But she did leave us with some good sound bites. Jan’s governance so far has been “hypocrisy in action” and damnit “Facts Matter”! Well thankfully that was over quickly and on comes Billy.
Now, from the looks of his Facebook status it seemed as though we were going to get some new information. But looks are often deceiving. Because all we heard was the same old, same old that we heard on the last two radio appearances. (See#1 and#2here) He was asked why the CEO calls him instead of Jan. The best answer Billy can give is that Jan won’t reach out to him. Why she should have to do this is beyond us. But he then goes on to say that he and Kirby were in on the deal from the beginning so he feels more comfortable calling them. Which one is it?
We pointed out in an earlier post that the way the Continuing Care agreementwas crafted it was very easy for Aurora to get out of treating future indigent patients. Billy as much admitted to this, saying that the county would have to pay the full rate. While he did not specify exact dollars we can only assume the full rate is a shitload of money. Billy did leave us with a couple of thoughts on the subject of Aurora. First of all, he didn’t start all this hoopla because CEO Snow called him (a departure from his earlier statements) it’s because the poor residents have been calling him personally worried about their future. Man, to beBilly’s phone. How does it not ring all day and all night? But the piece de resistance that Billy had to say about the nursing home is this: Aurora is like Disney World and the county’s is like a prison. That’s right folks, it’s all sunshine and cotton candy up in Aurora’s house. But the county run home, you might as well be in Alcatraz.
Then we get to talks of the budget and oh how cute, nobody can remember Bud Otis’ name. These guys are hilarious. Billy starts off by saying that the budget process was the worst process he had ever been involved in. The worst! He wants more positions and he’s still whining about not getting his meeting with the budget officer. But it’s just the same old same old we’ve heard from the past few weeks. We had some glimmer of hope we would hear something new. Right before the last break Billy was warned that he was going to be asked why he can’t be civil. But of course, they never came back to this point. Because Blaine called in and repeated the same exact lines he said on last week’s Bob Miller’s show.
So there you have it folks. Same old same old. The only updated facts was that Billy only acts in the interest of the old, poor patients of Aurora. Not CEO Snow, whom apparently has Billy’s direct line. Why he keeps torturing us with these radio appearances we cannot guess. But we’ll be here to listen so you don’t have to.
Seriously questionable timing. An ethics task force appointed by Jan Gardner has not yet completed its findings on how to strengthen the county’s ethical guidelines, and preemptively we have been tossed a bombshell with the findings of the “ethics commission“. Things that make you go hmmm.
The justification for allowing Councilman Kirby to bid on storm water management projects [which haha, duh, is so nota problem, woohooo the Rain Tax was repealed; pssst that is a huge lie so that everyone gets to smell like roses], plus also the county must let Delauter bid on doing all the other stuff Frederick digs up, relies on the fact that the county executive has a great deal of power in determining what happens with the bidding process and contracts. This is all well and good if you trust County Executive Gardner to make objective decisions. For some odd reason here at the Yokel we have an entirely different vision of the likely outcomes with a different person up in the executive saddle.
Delauter estimates his company could have received $4 million to $5 million in projects during his time as a commissioner if he had been able to submit bids.
“To give up that kind of work just to be a county commissioner, it is giving up a lot to serve your community,” he said.
Ummmm yeah how ’bout no. Kirby should give up serving profiting from Frederick County and go run his business milk it for all it’s worth in a way that doesn’t have anyone questioning whose hand is feeding whom? Plus, we will have to constantly bring up that time a guy working for the county thought his department should get to replace a 17 year old truck, and he was a punk. Teachers who may vote to increase the BOE budget and down the road the BOE may vote to give teachers a little raise so that they can afford to keep buying school supplies for their classrooms, and maybe get a smidge of realistic compensation for working nights, weekends, and summers (who knew!) planning and grading and documenting and doing professional development–those people are sure to be accused of padding their pockets. When a part-time county employee’s family digging business wants to get $5 million-ish from taxpayers, that is to be regarded as ethically sound and fiscally prudent use of public funds. Hoss, we’re hoping to buck you from this part-time gig, eventually, and then you won’t have so much stuff to try and keep consistent up in your dome.
The new county budget will spell doom for each and every one of us!
I know our readers may not believe this but Blaine Young is like a father to us. It’s true! After writing his “Work together or nothing will get accomplished” LTE we were motivated to create this little blog. So for that we will be eternally grateful.
But now we are confused. Because in said LTE we were told:
I have moved on in my life. I wish her the best of luck, as it is very tough trying to keep everyone happy while trying to keep your campaign promises.
But today on his politician Facebook page we see this:
We are sure he really, really hates that he had to tell us so. But this ,and last week’s appearance on the Bob Miller morning show, does not seem as though someone is moving on with his life. We cannot help but remark upon the fact that he seems to be creating hysteria where none really exists. This budget reflects a change that quite frankly many people wanted to see. Enough people, at least, who decided that they would like to see Jan at the helm rather than he. So while Blaine may want us to believe that he’s out, he really still believes that he’s the only one that can keep the sky from crashing down upon us.
A big slap on the back and a firm hand shake goes out to Steve McKay for an LTE in the Frederick News Post. His words align neatly with our sentiments about Bud Otis, and point out some of the problems that come along with partisan posturing in our community. Yer Yokel writers hope that these criticisms coming from within the party will have some impact.
Signing Grover Norquist’s Pledge: you get what you pay for.
Watching The Grover Norquist Fan Club speak against Bud Otis in the most recent county council meeting really chapped our hides. When Democrats like what a Republican is doing, it doesn’t make the man a turn-coat, it makes him a success. We are all conservatives: we want our needs met without waste. We are all liberals: we have needs that we acknowledge must be met with public funds. Considering public safety and property values, we must balance our taxing and spending priorities. Bud Otis is doing this without acting pants-on-head ridiculous.
Shreve and Delauter have a history of running their mouths with partisan rhetoric. Such attention seeking behaviors are great tactics for Bob Miller’s radio show ratings, and for nationally known politicians who want to use their elected position to launch their next gig on the box of crazy obnoxious talking heads. Using techniques pioneered by toddlers who don’t want to leave the sandbox is a farcical approach to local government, though. It makes good neighbors despise you for poisoning their well. People simply need the best possible result with the least amount of drama, particularly when we are likely to be bumping into each other at the schools, parks, sports fields, and libraries. Presuming we are going to have enough realists around here that we don’t let all of that fall into disrepair. Local officials do not enjoy the buffer that Rush Limbaugh has between himself and most of America. Nobody wants to buy Dittohead bumper stickers from the guys they elected to make sure their county continues to be a nice place to live. Clearly stating a refusal to think for ones’ own self makes people lose respect for constant unwillingness to adapt to changing circumstances.
Furthermore, most people are engaged enough with their community–even if they don’t follow its politics–to realize that a single issue focus offered up by Grover Norquist is unmarketable at the local level. Community needs are more nuanced than that (and if you keep your thinking hat on, national needs are, too, but we’ll bet on having more success tackling the smaller messes we’ve stepped in around these parts).
frederick local yokel 