Cleveland County Commissioners’ meeting thoughts – 9/6/2022

As I watched the Cleveland County Commissioners’ meeting Tuesday evening, I wanted to offer the chairman a cup of coffee. He acted bored and sleepy as he’d rather be someplace else. His posture, body language, and general demeanor were a show of contempt. Through it all, the entire crew acted as if this was an ill-timed obligation to be sitting there. During public participation, the chairman seemed to be uninterested in the speakers and what they had to say. It was as if he was trying to stare them down without having to actually speak out loud his disdain for them.

In the presentations that were given, the commissioners again seemed nonplussed, even though they voted unanimously when the time came to vote. There was a lot of repetition during those presentations, and not a lot of input from the duly elected. As a matter of fact, the first speaker during public participation expressed his thoughts in a direct and compelling way. And you could see that the chairman was not too keen on what the man had to say. If you’d like to see it for yourself (below), start at the 7:04 mark on the video to see and hear the first speaker, Mr. Carter York.

The issue that really grabbed my attention was Article 46 Sales Tax Referendum. More information can be found on this page on the Cleveland County website.

Those of you who have kept up with the Cleveland County School board and the school system, are already aware of the lack of control when it comes to spending money and keeping the people informed of what’s going on. As has been for many years, still no accountability or transparency, yet the commissioners continue to enable them and pour money back into a black hole. Even Commissioner Hutchins spoke about how he was very disappointed in the school system, that they don’t seem to be willing to help themselves. Even the presenter, Assistant County Manager Kerry Melton stated that they have had several meetings with their (the school) team but have not made much progress at this point.

On a brighter note, it was good to see the number of people in attendance at this meeting. Hopefully, this will continue, along with the increasing attendance of the school board meetings also.