Thoughts about the Foster County Commissioners Meeting (Tuesday, March 4, 2014)

THOUGHTS about the Foster County Commissioners Meeting(Tuesday, March 4, 2014) :

After watching the entire Foster County Commissioners meeting on Daktel (Tuesday, March 4, 2014) I can see how people can get different ideas about how it was handled.

As well as watching the meeting on DakTel, I've talked to several people who attended the meeting and I've read all of your comments on my Facebook site.

After reviewing everything, it seems that one part of the meeting went extremely well and was very informative, that being John Murphy's presentation about our Foster County taxes. According to his statistics, Foster County is sitting on a 4-million dollar surplus; yet our citizens continue to be taxed excessively to the tune of four hundred thousand dollars a year.

The commissioners did not dispute this fact, but Chairman Straley seemed dismissive of Mr. Murphy's suggested solutions to this problem and Murphy's demand that there be a remedy to this overcharging of the taxpayer. Indeed, Mr. Murphy's grasp of the fiscal status of our county shows why he served successfully as a commissioner for several decades. It would behoove us to listen to his suggestions and the suggestions of other experienced people.

 According to most people, the obvious negative aspect of last night's meeting, was the impatient attitude and continued rudeness exhibited by Chairman Straley. Many of you have commented on the fact that he ran the meeting like a tyrant with no patience for anyone with an opinion different from his own. His blustering, yelling and accusations remind me of someone who feels out of control, is in over his head in a situation, and who thinks that being loud and commanding will impress people.

That kind of behavior just doesn't work with knowledgeble, more experienced adults. As you will have noticed, most of the serious adults who wanted to speak finally left in frustration... some accompanied by Sheriff Tufte (who was standing nearby, off-camera during most of the meeting).

 Lastly, I think we have too many pressing issues in the county to be controlled by ANY inexperienced, immature person. Chairman Straley, or any chairman or commissioner, needs to listen to the ideas of the people, and we, as citizens, need to become more involved in helping them administer to the needs of our county.

 Hopefully, more of us will start attending the commissioners' meetings or watching them on DakTel. Also, I'm going to suggest that the meetings be held in the evening when more people will be able to attend. Perhaps that will help.

 (I especially want to thank everyone who has tuned in to CarringtonNews.com for the last few days, all of you who "liked" my Facebook page, and those of you who took the time to express your opinions. ~Judy Keller)