The review of last night's board meeting has been delayed. I am making calls and researching the legality of the actions taken by the board last night. After I get the paperwork together to file the ethics complaint against themayor, board and city attorney, I will blog my review. For those that may not have heard, Jay McGraw Kent Crider and Tommy Dukes voted to cut the police department. If the Chief carryout their orders, we will have three police officers serving as the Lumberton Police Department. The question I've been asking is how they're cutting positions that were already included in the budget. The budget for this disc year does not end until September. So, they're essentially putting the cart before the horse. Also, the cuts they're making are arbitrary. They say they're cutting all departments but that's not true. The two part time positions they're cutting in the public works department are seasonal employees and the clerks are being cut back by give hours. It doesn't seem like the proposed cuts are equitable. Another point of reference. The board held a budget workshop in executive session. A clear violation if the Open Meetings Act. Another violation is the fact that the mayor and boardmade the decision for the department heads. In a code charter municipality, the board has the authority to hire, fire, promote and denote; they are not endowed with the authority to delegate. They can make recommendations to the department heads but cannot interfere with the day to day operations of the departments. And that's the reason why I'm filing the ethics complaint. The board spent over an hour in executive session, with the city attorney present, and decided what cuts were going to bemade and after a decision was made, they called the department heads into the room to delegate what actions were tobe ttaken. I am making sure my summary is legally correct and will file the complaint accordingly. Afterwards, I will post my review. Thank you for your patience.
The review of last night's board meeting has been delayed. I am making calls and researching the legality of the actions taken by the board last night. After I get the paperwork together to file the ethics complaint against themayor, board and city attorney, I will blog my review. For those that may not have heard, Jay McGraw Kent Crider and Tommy Dukes voted to cut the police department. If the Chief carryout their orders, we will have three police officers serving as the Lumberton Police Department. The question I've been asking is how they're cutting positions that were already included in the budget. The budget for this disc year does not end until September. So, they're essentially putting the cart before the horse. Also, the cuts they're making are arbitrary. They say they're cutting all departments but that's not true. The two part time positions they're cutting in the public works department are seasonal employees and the clerks are being cut back by give hours. It doesn't seem like the proposed cuts are equitable. Another point of reference. The board held a budget workshop in executive session. A clear violation if the Open Meetings Act. Another violation is the fact that the mayor and boardmade the decision for the department heads. In a code charter municipality, the board has the authority to hire, fire, promote and denote; they are not endowed with the authority to delegate. They can make recommendations to the department heads but cannot interfere with the day to day operations of the departments. And that's the reason why I'm filing the ethics complaint. The board spent over an hour in executive session, with the city attorney present, and decided what cuts were going to bemade and after a decision was made, they called the department heads into the room to delegate what actions were tobe ttaken. I am making sure my summary is legally correct and will file the complaint accordingly. Afterwards, I will post my review. Thank you for your patience.
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