Solution to County Problems Solved in Just Four Days
Posted by: SB Veritas | 07/04/2008 8:20 AM
Biane says he's aiming at county weaknesses
San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Chairman Paul Biane says his proposed charter amendment will address the weaknesses in the elected office of county Assessor Bill Postmus that were identified in a grand jury report released Monday.
But Supervisor-elect Neil Derry says the proposed charter amendment will affect no one except himself.
"This charter amendment is about cutting me off at the knees," Derry said. "It has nothing to do with ethics. It has everything to do with maintaining the power of one individual - Paul. I'm a reformer coming in. ... Paul wants to stymie that reform effort."
The proposed amendment would make it a requirement that the board approve any supervisors' hires by a four-fifths vote. Derry is expected to hire Jim Erwin, a former ally of Postmus, as his chief of staff, a choice that may be distasteful to some board members.
Biane maintains he is addressing all the weaknesses mentioned in the report.
"If a staff member is so out-of-line and contrary to the best interest of the county, a tool should be available to the super-majority of the board to remove this person," Biane said, referring to the fact that the board has no authority over the assessor's staff members.
Biane said the amendment will require ethics training for elected officials' staff members, something not required under state law. An ordinance also can be passed further restricting how staffers obtain reimbursement for college,he said.
Biane and Derry also disagree on the duties that should be assigned to an ethics commission, which the grand jury suggested the county should form.
Biane believes the commission should investigate all facets of county government. Derry says it should focus only on elected officials.
The board will consider voting on the charter amendment on Tuesday. County voters would ultimately have to approve it.
Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, on vacation, called to say he opposed the four-fifths hiring requirement. He has requested that the board hold off voting on the measure.
lauren.mcsherry@
inlandnewspapers.com
(909) 386-3875
This is why many sports ban the use of performance enhancing drugs. Another form of doping is blood...
Funny how the Editor just happened to miss this article.
OMG, I looked at the headline for this story three times thinking that the long hours Red County staff have put in this week finally got to them. Then I realized who the author was. Thanks for the laugh! I needed that today.
Derry is 100% correct. Biane tried to get Foster fired in 2004 but County Counsel said the BOS had no authority to fire any other Board staff except for their own hires. This is just another way of Biane trying to get control of something he has no right to.
It would be nice to have the ethics commission take on the entire County, but it is the electred officials who need it the most. Once they are under control then the commission can dig into why the State of the County cost nearly $500,000 and why tuxedo rentals for two county employees was paid for by tax payer money.
Kudos to Brad for taking the time from his vacation to voice is disapproval of what Biane is plotting. I hope the other sups have the same guts to voice their opposition.
The ethics commission should start with the electeds and then move to the Departments...especially EDA who just spent alomost $500k on the State of the County. Too bad the grand jury missed that one.
(BTW) this may sounds a repeat of a previous post, but I don't know if it went through the first time...the server said it did, but it did not post)
Yep, I never thought Brad and I would be on the same side of any issue, but I have to applaud him for standing up to Biane on this one, especially when a majority of the Kool-aid drinkers may not grasp the consequences of what Biane is trying to do.