It’s a scene you frequently see on TV and in movies—a driver, tired, daydreaming or otherwise distracted, is coasting down the road. Suddenly, a quick camera shift, a blaring horn and the screech of tires and a near disaster is averted.
The driver, panicking and sweaty, breathes a sigh of relief as he watches the semi drive past or stares at the inches between his car and the tree.
We need that kind of scene in Holly—not a near-fatal miss, but a wake-up call for the public.
A year ago, then candidates Jeff Miller and Jackie Campbell campaigned for the Holly Village Council on a theme of “ethics”. Council, they reasoned, had crossed too many lines, lacked decorum and honor, and darned if they weren’t going to set it right if elected.
Among the first actions the Council under Mr. Miller’s presidency took was the establishment of an ethics committee, tasked with drafting a code of ethics. After several months of more pertinent business, the committee convened to do its job.
What a joke.
Among the topics discussed at the meeting was the desire to be able to discipline, or even remove, Council members, committee members, or other individuals affiliated with the Village. Mr. Miller stated he needed some recourse if someone was particularly disagreeable.
In other words, if someone didn’t toe Mr. Miller’s line, he wanted to be able to get rid of them, and the “ethics” committee was to provide that recourse.
That’s not an “ethics” committee, that’s a witch-hunt, and a travesty of the principles of American democracy and freedom at that.
It is true that the members of the Village boards and commissions serve at the pleasure of the Village Council, nominated by the Village President. It is also true that membership on Council committees is the prerogative of the Village President.
That doesn’t mean that we can bypass a relatively benign “spoils” system and move straight to an autocratic system of government, where power is vested in one ruler (elected or not) instead of the will of the voters.
What’s particularly troubling about this is Mr. Miller has not advanced any sort of agenda or plan of action. He has not encountered stifling resistance to his initiatives by other Council members or boards, mainly because he hasn’t advanced any initiatives at all.
While not condonable, at least if he was trying to push through something, one could rationalize that he’s at a desperation point and is resorting to low-ball politics to advance his agenda. Instead, Mr. Miller has bent whatever way the council has blown, spewing rhetoric and tirades on an issue and then voting lock-step with whatever the sentiment of the Council is, or in an attempt to please the throngs of the public who might come out to speak.
No, it appears that Mr. Miller seems only to want to consolidate power to himself, perhaps to rid him of the irritation of other Council members who think differently than him, or perhaps think at all.
The question has become tiresome, “aren’t there more important things that the Village Council needs to address for the sakes of its residents?” How can we expect Holly to take positive steps to alleviating the burden of outrageous water bills, to clean up the blight in town, to attract jobs that will solidify our local economy and save our school district, when Mr. Miller’s only priority is to usurp the will of the voters, and doing it by wasting time in a farcically-named “ethics” committee?
The rest of the council shares the blame in this latest debacle as well. There are measures in place to ensure the ethical conduct of public officials and administrators. Village employees work under a duly-negotiated contract with established disciplinary measures. The Council as a whole has the ability to remove board and commission members whose conduct is unbecoming of a Holly representative. They should know this, and yet the only questioning of forming this “ethics” committee was to the time and place.
And for elected officials, the power of “discipline” lies in higher authorities than the Council—short of death or resignation, only the Governor or a successful recall initiative (i.e the voters) can remove an elected official from office. Mr. Miller far from qualifies as a higher authority, and at least this latest situation was shut down before going any further.
Since Mr. Miller has taken office, we have seen witch-hunts over the hiring of the Village Manager. We have beaten all of the scapegoats for the water/sewer bond issue into the ground. We have witch-hunts for “disagreeable” officials. The Council agenda is full of rumor, innuendo, back-room politicking and gossip-mongering, and we can only guess what happens outside of the Council chambers.
Our officials, including Mr. Miller, need to be held accountable for their conduct, through our voice and our vote. Holly needs a quick flash of the camera, screeching tires and blaring horns. Our citizens need to see who their leaders are and how they conduct the business of the Village, before we go slamming into a tree.
Maybe we already have. The dead make no noise.
2 Responses to “A Wake-up Call For Holly”
I can’t help but take the “What a joke” statement personally. While very few were in attendance at the first Ethics Committee meeting you may be shocked to discover that:
a) the other committee members were outspoken about the ability to institute disciplinary measures against council members
b) committee members were firm in the idea that the basis and purpose of a Code of Ethics is to provide a general code of conduct and shouldn’t include disciplinary measures that are already defined in existing documents such as The Village Charter
c) committee members continued to remind that methods are currently in place to ensure ethical conduct of public officials and administrators (charter, rules of procedure, etc)
That being said, is it entirely incomprehensible that the village consider a Code of Ethics? I don’t think it is since many municipalities and businesses utilize a Code of Ethics in addition to other tools (employee manuals, job responsibilitees, corporate guidelines, personnel manuals, etc). What really needs to be questioned is the purpose that is being served. Is a committee member seeking results based on personal desires or are topics approached from an unbiased perspective where the best interest of the community is truly what is sought?
Council and committee meetings should contain productive dialogue in the interest of gathering information and forming an opinion (even if there is opposing views). That dialogue, complete with outspoken opposing viewpoints, was present at both Ethics Committee meetings. You may argue that it wasn’t productive but conclusions were drawn and answers were provided.
now that hollytownship has agreed to pool funding with the village for a community center,it should become clear why miller would not want any dissension especially in the are of ethics. The question was asked why did miller want to expand the water/sewer system that was for not profit ? Larry lillies dogs are barking,just not at the right tree.