CNB

That could describe the current Fayette County Commission in its belated move to provide for some public input into the controversial county jail expansion project in Fayetteville.

They have collectively shown a tin ear to months of calls for citizen input into the process. Now they promise to have a full-blown public hearing in January.

We could say, It's about time. But, the fact is, it may be too late for public input to have any bearing on the outcome, given the commission's mindset.

The commissioners worry aloud that they must build a new jail before the federal courts require them to. But no lawsuit has been filed. And any such lawsuit would take years to adjudicate.

Acting presumably on the advice of the county attorney and county staff, the commission formulated a plan for jail expansion without public input; they negotiated and bought land for the site behind closed doors and without public input; and then they presented the whole package as a fait accompli, a decision already made, a deal already done.

Their deafness to rising public clamor for input is surprising, given that three of the five members were elected as “reform” candidates after their predecessors ran rough-shod over residents in a rush to rezone for large developments.

Now the same disease that overtakes many “reform” candidates, once elected, seems to have infected our current group of commissioners. They seem to have lost their ability to hear what the public is telling them. And they seem about to make an even larger mistake.

The commissioners seem poised to sidestep voter participation in the $70 million project by a fancy legal mechanism that allows them to borrow money without asking the voters. No sales tax referendum, no property tax referendum, no vote, period.

Except that we taxpayers will certainly cough up every dime to put up the new bars, through our county property tax rate — set by the commission! We just won't have a dime's worth of say-so in the process.

The commission should take a deep breath and call a time-out.

There is time for sober reflection, for abundant public input and for education of the voters on why the project is a necessary expenditure of our limited county tax money. There is time to be reflective.

But instead of being reflective, the commission seems to be leaning toward an authoritarian approach — “We know what's needed, we know you don't like it, and we are going to do it anyway. We'll have a `public hearing,' but the new jail and its in-town site is a done deal.”

The commission should have done better than this. Our elected servants must do better than this. The public deserves better than this. — CNB

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