Giving thanks, airing complaints

With the holiday season upon us, it?s an opportune time to give thanks for the great many blessings we enjoy in this community. For a loudmouth like me, it?s also an opportune time to complain ? and give some thanks along the way.

? We can all be thankful the vast majority of quality teachers in our school system don?t share the intelligence of the teachers who are leading the teachers union.

If we can go back nine months, that?s when the teachers union was clamouring for pay raises to boost the salaries of beginning teachers, which are nearly last in the state. The school board listened to this request and offered a generous $2,500 pay raise for teachers with only a bachelor?s degree and $2,000 for teachers with a master?s degree.

After getting exactly what it asked for, the teachers union has spent the last nine months finding reasons it doesn?t like the pay raise package. Now we?re nearly halfway through the school year and no teachers have received a county-funded raise.

Here?s a great idea for teachers union officials to contemplate. Maybe they can argue with the school board for the rest of the year and find a way for no one to get a raise. What a concept!

??We can hope one day McMinnville officials will put enough faith in local residents to consider a local person for city administrator. That?s especially true when two of the local applicants are current city department heads with a combined 38 years experience with the city ? and they aren?t even granted an interview for the city administrator job.

Instead, McMinnville officials come up with five out-of-town finalists and two of those candidates promptly withdraw.

And here?s a story I just love. The city administrator candidate that withdrew his name Tuesday said his wife had just fallen and suffered injuries that would prevent the family from relocating to McMinnville.

So is the city looking to the old folks home to find a new city administrator? Just how old are these candidates? I know senior citizens can suffer serious injuries when they fall, but not working folks in their prime.

I?m a firm believer the city needs to find a bright, energetic city administrator who can get around without the aid of a walker.

? I can be thankful I?m not a county employee depending on my Christmas bonus to buy gifts for my kids. The bonuses were removed from this year?s budget and apparently no one thought to tell county employees.

I can understand the need to cut bonuses in tough economic times. Considering the county has $70,000 in its fund balance right now, I?d call these tough times.

But when some employees are losing as much as $1,500, they need to be told the Christmas bonuses were eliminated. County Executive John Pelham is new to the job and didn?t realize the bonuses had been removed, but there has to be some county government veteran who could have stepped up and spread the word.

? To show I do have a sensitive side (although it?s buried deep), I can be thankful for Leadership Warren, which for years has organized a quality Christmas parade for our enjoyment. Too, the city of McMinnville has stepped to the plate to offer cash prizes as much as $500 for the best parade float.

Here?s a hearty thank you to everyone responsible for making tomorrow?s Christmas parade happen.

James Clark is editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].