It appears that our county commissioners could not care less that taxpayers don’t want to go deeper in debt in the worst economy in years.
They want seven new offices, plus a larger meeting room and a few other spaces at a total cost of $464,400, not including more furnishings and electronics. The meeting room would only add 28 more seats. The old meeting room is not the best but it's fine for now.
Now that we will have district elections late next year, the sensible thing to do would be to allow the two commissioners in each district to rent and share an office. A constituent might even donate the space rent-free to the commissioner, or the commissioner could make arrangements with the library or fire department to use a room every other week to meet with the residents of his or her district.
If [people] needed to talk to their commissioner, they wouldn’t have to drive all the way to Asheville to do it. Commissioner Bailey says he works in his office daily. Just think how nice it would be if his office were located in his district near where he lived. I believe it would be appropriate to keep the chairman’s office downtown.
Chairman Gantt says the job will employ construction workers in a slow economy. That it will, but the construction company hires the workers, and all I have seen on city or county construction projects the last few years were foreigners who move from job to job with the company. My well-qualified grandson talked to the supervisor of a big construction job about work and when the boss learned my grandson couldn't speak Spanish he told him he couldn't use him. More jobs, my foot.
Just because Chairman Gantt thinks it’s the right thing to do doesn’t mean it's the right thing to do.
— Peggy Bennett
Leicester
Great letter.
Ms. Bennett offers what is clearly the greener solution. If the commissioners didn’t have to travel as far, they could use multi-modal transportation and consume less gas, or ride a bike. I know a lot of people who’d pay money to see Bill Stanley ride a bike.