Don’t Forget to Vote

vote

You can read about Trump, Cruz, Hillary and Bernie elsewhere.

But there’s another election on Tuesday that is of some import to Delray Beach.

Two questions are on the ballot:

The first asks voters to give the Commission the authority to hire an independent internal auditor who will report to the City Commission not the City Manager.

The second asks for permission to make some changes to civil service rules.

Here’s my take. And it’s simple really.

We have a building full of administrators hired to provide municipal services in an efficient, ethical and cost effective manner.

We have a City Manager, two Assistant City Managers, a CFO (I prefer the term finance director, but why quibble?), a finance department, a City Attorney’s Office and outside auditors who help to mind the store.

We also have a five member City Commission who are in office to help ensure that things are done properly.

Oh and we also have an Ethics Commission and an Office of Inspector General who are responsible for ensuring against waste, fraud, abuse and procurement problems.

Seems like we have a lot of protection and it also seems that if we can’t operate properly we may have the wrong people in some of these positions. Long story short, there’s no need for an internal auditor.

Here’s a radical thought: hire competent managers and get out their way and let them do their jobs. Trust but verify that they are doing their jobs. If they perform—great; if they don’t—hire new people.

As for question 2, it seems the change is being sought to enable our city government to make changes to the civil service code without going to the state legislature or holding a referendum. Sounds innocuous enough, but I worry about those “changes” and especially stripping protections from non-union workers.

Regardless, we certainly hope you vote.

Too few people exercise a right that people in America and across the world have fought and died for.