Council should not be hiring in this economy

Sam Aitken
Published: February 21, 2008

I read with great interest the story in the Feb. 16 Star-Exponent "Council creates two new positions."

Aren't we in a tight budget year- We're creating two new positions when the Town Council hasn't been able to fill the three much needed positions (town manager, assistant town manager and director of environmental serices).

The position that really put a knot in my stomach was the part-time public information officer at $26-$42 an hour! In the old days, this job was done by the receptionist or someone in the front office.

Now we need to have an officer. Do we really have that much information to disseminate to the public and at that huge of an expense-

From my standpoint, the less I know about what the Town Council is doing, the better. I won't get into the hiring of a $300-an-hour attorney. What is the Town Council thinking- What happened to the campaign promises of cutting unnecessary expenses-

Oh, I get it. With the consolidation looming, you're trying a reverse Pac Man approach. Instead of gobbling up other governments to make yourself too large to be taken over, you're incurring so much debt that that the county won't want you. Is it any wonder that so many people look at this consolidation as a must- happen-soon issue-