The county seat is in the toilet!
As previously published, in 2008, County Manager David Dear began to receive what would be a 4-year run of receiving a merit raise/bonus (according to which spin cycle was relevant) of $10,068 annually. The reason, according to the Cleveland County Commissioners, was to keep Dear from retiring. In August 2011, it was revealed by the John Locke Foundation in an article found in The Carolina Journal. In December 2011, Dear “retired”. As we have discovered through various documents, Dear tends to do what he claims about various things he’s attached to. Such as the “old, abandoned, neglected, dilapidated” courthouse/museum. And only with the help of DCC and the good graces of the commissioners along with Dear, could this old run-down structure be saved, and Shelby would become booming with tourism. It shall be called…Destination Destruction!
Dear received these raises/bonuses when wages were frozen amidst a hiring freeze statewide. Dear was doing to the people of Cleveland County exactly what he accused the occupants of the old courthouse of doing…except Dear was also getting paid to do it. He abandoned the people. He neglected the people. For his selfish gain…and then he cut and ran. And this pattern would continue to manifest itself.
Dear-Holbrook-and-DCC-1c-minutes03182008-1
As the last document above shows, Dear wasn’t the only cheerleader for DCC to obtain the old dilapidated, abandoned, rundown historical courthouse. Commissioner Holbrook also jumped in with both feet, as did Commissioner Jo Boggs. The other three commissioners were already on board publicly. No matter how often compliance appeared to be broken, there was no accountability required on the part of DCC.
Now, we’re getting to the nitty-gritty of what’s important to these public servants, who were so willing to serve the people, except the people’s appetites weren’t quite ready for what they were being served. More money for County Manager David Dear and money for the American Legion World Series, but they can’t really afford the advertising in the papers anymore because it would cost $3000. The Peter Principle is in full force. Never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
As the meeting was about ready to close….by the way…Here we go again, more money for David Dear. It was only a few meetings ago that he was asking for his unused vacation days’ pay.
As the saga continues, the commissioners and others are still giving money to these entities that continue to lose money on a regular basis…yet, still have over $5M in the bank. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.
Next, we’ll look at those numbers and see how things add up…or not.
