SOE TO VERIFY LAST BATCH OF NAMES FOR PETITION DRIVE

For over a year, an elderly gentleman named Dewey Smith has been working to making three major changes to Polk County's Home Rule Charter:

--- To cut the County Commission's $36,469 salary in half,

--- To bring constitutional officers such as the Sheriff, Tax Collector, Property Appraiser, and Clerk of the Courts under control of the County Commission, effectively making them department heads, and

--- Limiting the length of time those officers can remain.

The elderly Mr. Smith has gotten one of his wishes. He succeeded in getting the Commissioner's salaries slashed in half in 2000. He may just succeed with the others.

After a discussion of how the Home Rule Charter reads regarding the length of time required to gather signatures from seven percent of the registered voters in each of the county's five commission districts to get a charter change measure on the ballot (one year or a year plus 30 days), Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards said she will verify the names on the last batch of petitions. If everything is in order, the County Commission could schedule a special election this year or the question(s) could be on the November 2006 general election ballot.

The problem with this whole sceanario is that a county as large and diverse as Polk --- larger than the state of Rhode Island --- cannot be governed by a part-time Board of County Commissioners. And by cutting their salaries in half --- to approximately $18,234 a year --- you're not going to attract the type of people you truly need to run this county effectively. Hell, I make more than that working in a freakin' CALL CENTRE!

True, this BOCC is at times more of a clown show than a serious governmental body with all their infighting and nitpicky ways, but I certainly would hate to see who would be sitting there if these questions were actually approved by the electorate. It would be Amateur Hour again in Bartow!

The best thing to do is to lay this dog to rest...permanantly!