Part of the problem
or part of the solution?
Peabody seems to be going through public officials faster than toilet paper in the bathroom of a patient preparing for a colonoscopy.
And Marion seems to be setting close to the same pace with spending — begging for even more money while overlooking what should be healthy surpluses in other areas of its budget.
The only common thread appears to be that both towns are doing their best impersonations of Washington, D.C., where a lot less luster than bluster emerges these days.
Peabody is in many regards a wonderful town. Some parts of its government seem quite forward-thinking. Peabody firefighters’ transmissions during storms make it clear they are well-organized and effective in spotting weather and patrolling for such things as fallen limbs and street flooding. Why this seems not to have carried over into other aspects of government is mind-boggling.
Even before a convicted financial felon who was serving as dog catcher took over a grant project, became interim city clerk, and then mysteriously died, Peabody’s government too often has resembled Afghanistan’s — effectively nonexistent. In a few short years, the town has lost more police chiefs, city clerks, patrol officers, and now mayors and council members than most towns lose in several decades.
As we debate whether there should be cease-fires in Lebanon, the Gulf of Hormuz, and Ukraine, it seems high time for a cease-fire in the war of words that has ravaged Peabody.
That may be unlikely. Both sides in ongoing disputes have valid points to press, and the side that now finds itself shoved out of power is unlikely to make concessions to an occupying force. But that’s exactly what’s needed — a moratorium on sniping and a mandate for community-building. As moratoriums go, one on sniping would be far more productive than the moratoriums on data centers and wind farms that county commissioners seem to obsess over.
In Marion, meanwhile, it may actually be time not for sniping but for more careful examination of what bureaucrats are peddling to elected officials.
Decrying unplanned expenses in one area — including hefty overruns on a grant to benefit very few residents at the city’s airport — officials pointedly have neglected to cite savings the city should have achieved by having budgeted for several years as if it had five full-time police officers when most of that time it had only two or three.
That money is far more significant than the penny-ante fees paid by peddlers trying to sell roofing services, but it never is mentioned. Perhaps it’s because much of it already has been siphoned off into other things, like paying half the insurance of the city clerk because she’s also filling in as a court clerk.
Truth be known, municipal court is a huge money-losing operation for the city. It brings in very little in the way of traffic fines — which would be the main justification for paying the clerk’s insurance out of police allocations — particularly with officers writing so few tickets and so many warnings.
Municipal court is more about violation of building and zoning codes, and even then fines imposed don’t pay for the high-level judge and prosecutor the city hires each month, much less pay for half the insurance of the city clerk.
There also were clerical errors in recent posting of bills, attributing to police funds things that didn’t belong there, and a lot of spending for vehicles, light bars, bullet-resistant vests, and other things that might be nice to have but shouldn’t be paid for out of cannibalized salaries.
Other spending also seems to run rampant. Council members this week bought each city full-timer a Chingawassa Days button without even asking how much it would cost. They approved paying a bill of more than $1,000 for long-sleeved T-shirts for the city’s four electricians. That’s $250 per electrician, a lump sum that few if any taxpayers would spend at one time on T-shirts for themselves. And this is just one of a continuing series of clothing purchases — pants, shirts, boots, even baseball caps — for city workers.
All these things are nice and might even be desirable, but when you’re extending loan repayment schedules (and thereby interest rates) and fretting about needing even more money, some frugality might be in order. It will happen, however, only if elected officials open their eyes, minds, and mouths to make sure taxpayer money is being spent on necessities not niceties.
There may be perfectly legitimate answers to these and other questions. Part of the reason so many people distrust government is that answers rarely are forthcoming, and people who innocently ask questions too often are condemned as being negative.
Openness isn’t a set of procedures. It’s an attitude. Questions should always be welcome unless there’s something to hide. Deflecting questions makes people believe there is.
Peabody needs to quiet down for a while, and Marion needs to speak up. Both will make the towns — and democracy — stronger.
— ERIC MEYER