Staff – Help, Or Hinder

One question the newly elected official needs to ask is; what the hired help are there for?  Every form of government has paid staff, the people who do all the work.  Contrary to popular opinion Elected persons actually don’t do much in the way of work, as such.

There is much that can be learned from the staff.  History, about the local area, projects that have failed, and, most importantly, where all the information is about everything is located.  Consulting the staff about the water plants, concurrent interagency agreements, where do road funds come from?

Many elected persons treat the staff like little, mindless, minions.  This is not the case but the issue is a bit larger than it seems.  The staff has a workload that is in place when you take office.  So when you ask them for information, and you want an answer right away, it causes their workload to grow.  Every government creates reports and there are time frames with those.  You come along and gum up the whole works.  The better plan of action, the one I used, was to get permission from the town administrator and then make my request.  Asking the staff member to just place at the bottom of the pile so it became just another thing to do, no rush.

On occasion, I made a list and then let the town administrator know what sort of information I was looking for.  This avoids a whole lot of issues, like treating the paid staff like small people, stepping on toes and causing anger issues.  If you think about it a bit it only makes sense to do this, this way.  The staff gets their job done; you get he information, a win for all around.

The idea that he staff is there to hinder occurs, most often, from elected people that want stuff right now.  Placing an extra burden on the hired help does not make friends.  In serving your community it behooves you to treat the staff well, from the standpoint of being human.  There is a line in a British sitcom, Yes Minister” that sums it up best,  “elected officials come and go, bureaucrats are forever.”

Sherman

Laws, How Do You Need?

One of the first lesions that an elected office holder learns is, there are more laws on the books than are enforced.  Every year the Congress of the Untied Sates of America passes thousands of laws. Add to this the hundreds of laws passed by the fifty States, the half of a hundred laws passed by each county, and the tens of laws passed by each town. The amount of laws nationally easily reaches half a million. The question is; how many laws do the, local, county, township, State, or Federal government need?

There are reasons for laws, and then there are reasons to have laws that assist the police in catching bad people.  Think about this a bit though, and then explain to your constituents, just why does your community need so many laws.  This will be hard to do if the conditions that created the law in the first place have ceases to exist.  Like herding sheep down the main street of town, or keeping a mule in a hotel room.  While we laugh now, there were valid reasons when these sorts of laws were created.

The challenge, at least to me, in creating laws is to find if there is a law on the books already.  If the State or Federal government has a law that address the issue then see if they will enforce their own laws.  If there is a law that you have that almost addresses the issue, make some changes.  If no one has such a law, create a new one, and then get an old never enforced law off the books.

If you remove a law that is out of date, every time you create a new law, your community will actually think that you are making their life better.  Rather like cleaning up a very old house and removing the cobwebs.

Sherman

Native Plants Verses Implants

There is a lot of talk these days on conserving water.  Let the lawn turn brown, no oxygen producing grass. Plant drought resistant plants, in the wettest spring in one hundred years, and use native plants.

Using native plants would mean that, in the Northwest, using:

• Dogwood
• Sugar Pine
• Douglass fir
• Vine maple
• Broadleaf maple
• Raspberries
• Logan berries
• Strawberries
• Rhododendrons
• Lilacs
• Lilly’s
• Some roses
• Arbor Vitas
• Cider
• Heather
• Oak

And a lot more, that I will not name, because the list would be so very long.  When making legislation for your community, look around.  Because some things, like Iris plants, are drought resistant but not local, virtually all the early spring bulbs we plant aren’t local either. But due to the weather they seem to grow rather well.

You could try this approach, compile a list of the native plants, including garden ones, and then offer a money off coupon in the newspaper.  Say ten bucks off for Rhododendrons, if you live in Oregon, so that people will turn them into hedges.  They stay green all year around, don’t need a lot of water after the first year, and produce as much oxygen as ten square feet of lawn.

In this manor you can assist your community from the trip, down the sewer pipe.

Sherman

Water Should Cost Less In The Summer

Every year, about this time, cities and towns all across America send out flyers about conserving water.  As an elected official you will take part in conservation discussions and perhaps even enact some laws.  Fee structures will be set in place and woe to them that use too much.

There is a much boarder picture here than meets the eye.  A well cared for lawn, not over watered or over fertilized, produces a very needful element.  This element is needed by almost everything on he planet.

I am, of course, talking about oxygen.  Oxygen is one o the two components of water and producing it eats up Carbon Dioxide.  With the notion of producing less CO2 ought to come the notion of producing more OXY.  After al if we have less we al die, of that I am pretty sure.

So in the fee structure there ought to be the notion that people should be able to keep their lawn green.  A thousand square feet of green lawn produces as much OXY in a year as a full-grown tree.  Summer fee structures have the effect of forcing people to cut back on their watering.   Ground water tales fall and fire danger increases.  Consider an alternative that would avoid this.

Create an above ground storage impound for water, treated of course, of five million gallons for every thousand of population.  Disallow outside water bibs but allow for tow water meters.  One for the building and one for watering, no cross connections allowed, but the watering water meter water rate would be half of what the building rate is.  The basic rate would stay the same.

In the winter Town crews would turn off he watering meter, and padlock if needed.  The benefit, as I see it, is that people could keep their plants and yards green and producing Oxygen.  The water table would be higher, making the plant moisture levels higher, and lowering the danger of fire.

Sherman

A Word About Comparing Cities

A reader made some comments about comparing Portland Oregon with Redmond Oregon.  Portland sits in a hole while Redmond sits on a flat plain.  Redmond receives more sun more times of he year.

As this relates to solar power there are some valid points.  The reason I use Friday Harbor Washington as an example is because I served on that Town’s council for eight years.  I helped create laws, make tough decisions, and provide leadership.  As opposed to enacting my own agenda at every one else’s expense.

This is how I know Sam Adams is a good politician with, in my opinion, real bad ideas. However, I used Redmond as an example because of a law that they have.

This law has nothing to do with providing solar power as such, but it does have that effect.  Redmond Oregon has a law that limits how much sunlight can be taken away from streets.  This affects the placement and size of houses and businesses.  Setbacks are required because the sun must reach the street.

Redmond found out log ago that the sun would keep the streets clear of ice and snow cheaper than snow removal equipment.  The added benefit is, that houses have the most available sunlight during the better part of the day.

In simple terms this means that the neighbors house will not block your solar panel and visa versa.  Contrast this with Portland Oregon and the difference not only real but striking. 

Striking, because Portland Oregon says that they are the leader in the “Green” movement.  But as we have seen Portland allows other parcels to block the sunlight from both roads and parcels.  In a word, the Portland City council lies, plain and simple.

Sherman

Infilling And Solar Power

The latest thing in land use planning is called infilling.  This is where property is re-plated so additional housing or business can be built. As the population increases, a provision to house them, and provide places for them to work becomes paramount.

In Portland Oregon, this translates to single-family houses on seven thousand square foot properties, with three or four story apartment buildings with shops underneath.  This makes sense to someone, I suppose, but the rational is a bit odd.  We are told to use less because resources are limited.  If resources are limited why allow for additional housing?  After if resources are actually limited than how can the city plan for more population?

We are told to purchase less, but as we do garbage collection rates increase.  We are forced into the privations of econaziism, which disallows democracy, while at the same time the economy takes a dive.  Purchasing in smaller quantities, as with purchasing less, increases cost.  As costs increase and people purchase less the economy becomes worse.

The most flagrant hypocritical statement is that Oregon is the leader in becoming green.  This is a flat out lie in the most heinous meaning of the word.  What we are is over regulated.  Infilling, in the method that Portland Oregon uses, casts shadows on the adjacent property

Shadows are not good for the purpose of solar heating.  It makes no difference if the use of solar is for making hot water or electricity.  Cast a shadow on the roof next door and the benefits of the sun are lost.  Infilling makes going green by using solar power, for anything, useless

The best town to use as an example of how provide each property with the most benefit of the sun, that I have found, is Redmond Oregon.  In the area of going solar that town really is a leader. While Portland Oregon is the leader of what not to do and how not to do it.

Sherman