How About No MONEY for Serving on a Board?!?

I went to the Heber City Council meeting tonight (02-16-2012) and let me tell you, I sure am glad I supported Erik Rowland.

He presented an idea on how the city council members should stop taking any money for serving on boards!  And that the money should go to the city to offset city council expenses that would otherwise come out of the general fund and be paid for by us, the taxpayer!  I congratulate him for taking on this position during such a difficult time!  They are now drafting up the necessary document so they can vote on the issue and it appears it may pass unanimously!!

Let me tell you why I think Erik has such a good idea:

1. It will eliminate the fiasco that was created by a very bad policy adopted a year ago where the council voted to share all money from every paying board equally.  I say fiasco, because councilmen received money (HL&P Board) when they did not have any say in receiving the compensation.
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2. Now the Mayors of the future can freely appoint to boards who they think is the best candidate without worrying about being accused of favoritism or cronyism.  The best man for the job can be chosen without the appearance of getting "my guy" on a certain board because it pays more.
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3. Now the money paid by the Boards will offset expenses previously paid for by the general fund and that's just plain old good for the taxpayer.
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4. The public wants it....  With that said, I don't condone misconduct on any citizen's part during a public meeting.  Outburst, personal attacks, and misleading or false accusations have no place in our city.  We can disagree without being disrespectful.  We aren't always going to agree with our city officials, but we must remember the personal sacrifices they make to serve us and now with even less compensation.  My hat off to those city officials that "kept their cool" while being personally attacked over what should have been a "non-personal" issue.  Business is business and some folks did not like the business decision that was made with the Power Board, but they made it a personal attack and that's sad; like a small child throwing a fit at the store because mom won't buy them a toy...

A major downside of this whole situation is now some citizens think they can roll up with personal attacks and disrespectful behavior and the city council will just "roll-over."  A local government that sways to and fro with every whim will be ineffective and frankly will be wasting their time and ours.

They must stand up for what they think is right while serving the public's best interest.

If you're late to the party and you're not sure what I'm talking about when referring to Board Compensation, please check out these two websites written by friends of mine:

Alan McDonald wrote about the Heber Light and Power Board compensation on his blog:

• www.HeberInformed.org
  
  
  
  
  
  Eric Straddeck also wrote about this
  issue as it effected him being one of the former councilman who received
  compensation without having any
  say on how much or why...
  
  His site is called: THE OTHER SIDE
  
  

I hope this was informative.  I'm excited to see the councilmen come together over this issue and I look forward to them being able to continue to work as a quorum in the best interest of our city.

I welcome your comments and emails and I look forward to seeing you at the next Heber City Council Meeting!

Thanks again,

DANIEL MAUER
info@HeberWatch.com

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