Talk to them: Commmissioners’ meetings might be worth your time

OK, so maybe the last thing you want to do after you come home from work is to head off to a meeting with your county commissioners.

After all, discussing boring stuff like taxes and school buildings is what you pay them for, right?

Well, yes, but maybe this might be the time to put a visit to one of these gatherings into your schedule.

The town hall meetings scheduled for various areas in the county have been poorly attended. There probably are a lot of reasons, but the main one might be that this is one of the busiest times for county families. School has just started and there are all the chores that need to be accomplished to get the youngsters back into the classroom. That doesn’t leave much extra time.

So, consequently, few people are showing up to talk about any issues, let alone their feelings about school funding and taxes.

But the town hall meetings are really designed not to introduce the community to the commission agenda, although there has been some of that, but to listen to concerns and questions about everything related to county services.

This is a chance to ask about your trash, to talk about taxes and, if you think it is important, to let the commissioners know where you stand on a possible bond issue.

The meetings are designed also to gather information in advance of the upcoming decision about how much money to spend and where to spend it when it comes to county schools.

This is your chance to tell them. Don’t pass it up if you want to have a say in how your money is spent.

Published in Editorials on August 31, 2007 11:07 AM