There are members of Northampton County Council who like to complain they are kept in the dark and excluded from what's happening. It's certainly true that there's been unnecessary tension between the Executive and County Council. But when did it start? I believe it was when then Council member Kerry Myers demeaned the Sheriff for refusing to allow deputies to break up a protest outside the courthouse following the election of Joe Biden. Myers stated that, if he were a deputy, he'd refuse to follow the Sheriff's orders because it might put his life in jeopardy. Instead of admonishing these histrionics that undermined the authority of the county's top law enforcement official, County Council rewarded Myers and elected him President. So yeah, things have gone downhill. Now Council member Lori Vargo Heffner wants a progress report on the pay study they voted unanimously to approve on March 2. "I don't need to micromanage them, but I would like to have a conversation at the beginning," she states. But she did have a conversation with Bolton, the company doing the pay study, two weeks before the bid was awarded. Her desire for a mid-study report is an attempt to meddle in what should be an independent review.
On February 15, Bolton's Dave Johnson laid put a timeline of approximately 12 weeks from beginning to end of study. County Council members had the opportunity to question Johnson about his proposal, and they did. So what possible purpose could Vargo Heffner have in summoning Bolton to Council now except to micromanage what is happening?
A suggestion was made to summon Bolton before the full Council, but Council member John Brown cautioned against doing so. He wants to hear from them at a committee meeting instead. He is fearful about exposing Bolton (and Council) "to the other forces that might be present at a full meeting."
In other words, he's afraid of the unwashed masses as well as the people who work for the county who might want to speak out.
Kinda' tells me what's really going on here. This is a turf war, and county workers are the unfortunate victims.
She will have plenty of time to question the work of the agency doing the pay study when the pay study is completed. She had her chance to put her two cents in when they awarded the contract. Council should adopt the pay study as presented and not meddle. If the employee feels that he or she isn't being treated fairly, they can appeal their job classifications to the "Personnel Appeals Board". Read your Home Rule Charter, Read your Administrative Code, and Read your Career service Regulations. You can't designate any employee to a certain pay scale and then deny them the right to appeal. They can also appeal their classifications into the Courts.
ReplyDeleteTime to vote McClure out. It shouldn’t take this long for employees to get a raise, it’s long overdue.
ReplyDeleteEmployees have received raises. Cost of living is a raise
DeleteMcClure should have NEVER been elected but the other choice was just as HORRIBLE! Can't wait for McClueless to go. He and Bow-Tie do nothing but LIE.
ReplyDeleteShe lost the ability to leech clout off this pay study when there was no pushback to limiting it to nonunion positions(aka the higher paying jobs that also conveniently fall outside the union rules of promoting from within the county first). It's too late for them to pretend to care about it.
ReplyDelete"McClure should have NEVER been elected but the other choice was just as HORRIBLE!"
ReplyDeleteThese hilarious comments are the best. They assume the sheep would ever vote for a Republican. I guess it's Republicans' responsibility to correct Democrats' election stupidity.