Protesteth too much

     Commissioner-elect Haven Shoemaker is apoplectic that he didn't get a chance to carry out the threats he had made against certain staff members of the outgoing board of commissioners. He was a man with a plan, and it was going to happen, "right off the bat." Big changes, fast.
     Richard Rothschild's comments in Friday's Carroll County Times smack of disingenuousness. In response to the dismissals of the four directors, he complained about the timing, and said, "the new board has never made plans to come in and make replacements without having talked with every appointed employee".  But during the hearings for the Pathways master plan he questioned the abilities and even the motives of at least two of the directors who took advantage of their contracts and vacated the premises before he arrives on Monday.
     Former commissioners Robin Frazier was silent: But her actions of the past speak volumes. When she took office in her first term, she requested the resignations of all department heads. If they refused, she said, they could find themselves dismissed for insubordination, without accrued benefits. Of all the members of the incoming board of commissioners, the return of Frazier seems to cause the most concern among county employees.
     Doug Howard of District 5 is apparently out of the loop already. While Shoemaker and Frazier have been making public comments about rapid changes and "right-sizing" the county staff, Howard says he thinks the release of four directors was intended to disrupt the transition from the current board of commissioners to the new five-member board. He said, "But it was never our intention to make massive changes without a process first."
     But that's inconsistent with remarks Howard himself has made to the effect that the administration is top-heavy, and with the vast expertise and business acumen of the incoming board, there should an expectation that reorganization and downsizing is in order. There seems to be an expectation that instead of paying professionals, the work of the new board of commissioners can be turned over to volunteers.
     Maybe the five have lined up some action plan or so, but a few disconnects are beginning to show already. Howard thinks he has the business and administrative ability to run the county with no -- or less -- input in some current departments. David Roush expressed concern about losing the experience and institutional knowledge of key people, so perhaps he does not share the thinking that volunteers can fill in; give him credit for that. Frazier has demonstrated that she's willing to dictate actions to departments on her own, quietly and behind the scenes. In one of a series of interviews in the Times with the new board, Shoemaker rants about big changes fast; Howard is now saying no big changes so fast. Rothschild talks about making changes "not with a meat cleaver, but rather with a surgeon's scalpel."
     Either way you slice it, the directors who were key to the formation and implementation of the policies of the outgoing board might be expected to use the tools legally at their disposal to protect their families and their professional integrity, and their future careers.