A few questions..
A few questions I’ve received both this morning and over the weekend:
From this morning:
Why did you recess and why did you vote no?
According to Chair Moss, certain members need more time with the evidence. As far as my vote; on the one hand, I do want to give my colleagues the time they need to sift through the evidence, and that was why I didn’t oppose the first motion to recess last Wednesday. On the other, I do think we owe it to all parties involved, most importantly the Ottawa community, to render a timely verdict, which is why I voted no on the second motion to recess this morning.
From this weekend:
Shouldn’t Director Hambley assume some responsibility for the sense of crisis her words seemed to enable?
Ms. Hambley’s public communication was extraordinary. However, it was in response to Chair Moss’s proposal which was unprecendented, at least in my opinion. Chair Moss’s proposal targeted the Health Department in a very open and blatant manner, and the depth and impunity of cuts proposed set off a deep sense of crisis in the community. His proposal was unwarranted, unworkable and, to the extent that it violated minimum standards of care levels, likely not lawful. Without Chair Moss’s very public proposal, none of the ensuing events would have occurred. In my mind, 100% of the responsibilty for the events of the last two months, and the sense of crisis that exists currently within the community, lies with the Chair and his proposal.
No business employer would or should ‘tolerate’ an employee talking to the public directly like Director Hambley did. Why should or would the Administrator or the Board ‘tolerate’ Director Hambley’s talking to the public?
This is an easy to make analogy, but it doesn’t take into account the simple fact that it’s not the Administrator or the Board who are Director Hambley’s real employer. Rather it is the Ottawa County public itself who is the employer. Each and every taxpayer and resident in the county deserve to know relevant information that is going on in the entity that they are supporting with their tax dollars, and Ms. Hambley carried out her mission as Health Director of letting the public, her ultimate employer, know what was going in their entity, the county government.
