May 4 2021
Clay Town Council
holds their public meetings the first Tuesday of each month.
Minus Council person Joyce Gibson, Council convened at 5:30
May 4th in the WaWa Plant, Town Hall.
That last figure continues a month old spree of being in the red.
Here comes the first reaction by Govt leadership in Clayberry, from Mayor Josh Shamblin, "We may be deciding on a rate increase."
Jack Brown is the eldest Council person still active. From Brown: Issac's time and a half is killing us... We need to stop all overtime.
Brown was referring to the sewer plant operator who logs in a bunch of weekend wages at a time and a half rate of pay. The rest of Council would not say one word in public. They may be embarrassed by the financial report. Why?
A few years back, when town finances were in turmoil, Council voted to stop all OT without prior approval. We figure, they're hoping no one remembers that vote. The only other explanation would be, Council is derelict in duty and ain't paying attention to the info.
Councilperson Brown wasn't done yet. While looking at the read outs, Brown asked about a huge dumpster stationed at the Log Factory and not being used. Brown "It's been there two years."
Know what he's talking about readers? As best we can remember, the costly metal box was placed there to hold the left overs, dried up, poo. When full, it would be hauled off. Some how, it's not being used. The real question may be, where's all the crap going?
For sure they no longer have a permit to disperse the dried poo on land. Council lost their permit several years back for dry application of the material.
We could hear friction between Brown and Council person Jerry Stover. It was Stover that questioned why he, the rest of Council, hadn't heard anything about that dumpster. When Brown told Stover he should be more involved with the "financials", Stover, The Mayor should know, it's his job.
What's the holdup on the long stalled wawa line extension project? According to the Mayor, one lady is holding up locating a new storage tank on her property. Shamblin told all assembled, we may have to take legal action.
The Log Factory operator was a little tardy for the meeting but after arriving, from Issac: the main aerator at the factory is not working. For those that don't know, that's a very serious problem. Instead of treating poo, it remains crapola for all intents and purposes.
Several years ago, during Mayor Arthur Jarrett's term in office, at the same high tech facility, raw sewage was dumped into the river. DEP fined the Town, $50K for the mess. We wonder, is the Town still paying off that debt? And, are they ready for another dose of state govt intervention.
Issac wasn't done. He told the elected body, he had already made the call to the dumpster company attempting to get the box removed and off the debt list.
While he was there, not one elected official was willing to ask about excessive overtime... to his face.
Any time things aren't running right, someone points the fickled finger of fate to Go Mart in Clay. Those rotten scallywags must be dumping grease in the sewer!!!!. Issac responded, nope, they are putting their used grease in barrels properly.
When the sewer plant, I mean Log Factory, was built 20 plus years ago, the carpet baggers, sellers, promoters said the place would last 50 years and was as high tech as it gets. During this meeting, "Everything is hold together with duct tape."
I biggest disdain has already been when elected officials go into secret time. Nothing good ever comes out of keeping the public at arm's length.
At 5:47 on May 4th, Council did the secret thang. When asked for a reason, Mayor Shamblin : personnel matters. If anybody is interested, that reason can NOT be used to go secret. State Law and the W Va Ethics Commission demands the public be given a fairly detailed reason for going behind closed doors.
So..... what were they up to. Here's our completely undocumented guesstimate.
First they told Issac to cut out all overtime. They may have also told him to stay in the municipality while working too.
Next still guessing of course, they discussed a problem they may have with an employee that was hired unbeknownst to them, with a criminal record. Criminal records, including felony convictions, are nothing knew for the municipality... and they shouldn't be! What is a problem is, if the worker didn't provide that info on his job application.
Often, with the public at bay, their conversations go many different directions. Often they get their heads together on future votes. That secret decision making stuff is always unlawful in this state.
Since all we're doing is taking guesses... here's one more. We will put a dime to a doughnut, they discussed hiring back Dwana Murphy as a wawa operator. Ms Murphy was fired from Town operations several years ago.... for those that don't remember.
That last figure continues a month old spree of being in the red.
Here comes the first reaction by Govt leadership in Clayberry, from Mayor Josh Shamblin, "We may be deciding on a rate increase."
Jack Brown is the eldest Council person still active. From Brown: Issac's time and a half is killing us... We need to stop all overtime.
Brown was referring to the sewer plant operator who logs in a bunch of weekend wages at a time and a half rate of pay. The rest of Council would not say one word in public. They may be embarrassed by the financial report. Why?
A few years back, when town finances were in turmoil, Council voted to stop all OT without prior approval. We figure, they're hoping no one remembers that vote. The only other explanation would be, Council is derelict in duty and ain't paying attention to the info.
Councilperson Brown wasn't done yet. While looking at the read outs, Brown asked about a huge dumpster stationed at the Log Factory and not being used. Brown "It's been there two years."
Know what he's talking about readers? As best we can remember, the costly metal box was placed there to hold the left overs, dried up, poo. When full, it would be hauled off. Some how, it's not being used. The real question may be, where's all the crap going?
For sure they no longer have a permit to disperse the dried poo on land. Council lost their permit several years back for dry application of the material.
We could hear friction between Brown and Council person Jerry Stover. It was Stover that questioned why he, the rest of Council, hadn't heard anything about that dumpster. When Brown told Stover he should be more involved with the "financials", Stover, The Mayor should know, it's his job.
What's the holdup on the long stalled wawa line extension project? According to the Mayor, one lady is holding up locating a new storage tank on her property. Shamblin told all assembled, we may have to take legal action.
The Log Factory operator was a little tardy for the meeting but after arriving, from Issac: the main aerator at the factory is not working. For those that don't know, that's a very serious problem. Instead of treating poo, it remains crapola for all intents and purposes.
Several years ago, during Mayor Arthur Jarrett's term in office, at the same high tech facility, raw sewage was dumped into the river. DEP fined the Town, $50K for the mess. We wonder, is the Town still paying off that debt? And, are they ready for another dose of state govt intervention.
Issac wasn't done. He told the elected body, he had already made the call to the dumpster company attempting to get the box removed and off the debt list.
While he was there, not one elected official was willing to ask about excessive overtime... to his face.
Any time things aren't running right, someone points the fickled finger of fate to Go Mart in Clay. Those rotten scallywags must be dumping grease in the sewer!!!!. Issac responded, nope, they are putting their used grease in barrels properly.
When the sewer plant, I mean Log Factory, was built 20 plus years ago, the carpet baggers, sellers, promoters said the place would last 50 years and was as high tech as it gets. During this meeting, "Everything is hold together with duct tape."
I biggest disdain has already been when elected officials go into secret time. Nothing good ever comes out of keeping the public at arm's length.
At 5:47 on May 4th, Council did the secret thang. When asked for a reason, Mayor Shamblin : personnel matters. If anybody is interested, that reason can NOT be used to go secret. State Law and the W Va Ethics Commission demands the public be given a fairly detailed reason for going behind closed doors.
So..... what were they up to. Here's our completely undocumented guesstimate.
First they told Issac to cut out all overtime. They may have also told him to stay in the municipality while working too.
Next still guessing of course, they discussed a problem they may have with an employee that was hired unbeknownst to them, with a criminal record. Criminal records, including felony convictions, are nothing knew for the municipality... and they shouldn't be! What is a problem is, if the worker didn't provide that info on his job application.
Often, with the public at bay, their conversations go many different directions. Often they get their heads together on future votes. That secret decision making stuff is always unlawful in this state.
Since all we're doing is taking guesses... here's one more. We will put a dime to a doughnut, they discussed hiring back Dwana Murphy as a wawa operator. Ms Murphy was fired from Town operations several years ago.... for those that don't remember.
Mayor Shamblin
We left the
meeting as soon as things went secret. They may have have come
clean after the session, cleaned up their act and we just
weren't there to witness the salvation.
When we are putting two and three together , we often come up with seven. Translation: our uneducated guesses can make thing worser than if the elected officials just did their jobs in public.
Nothing any good ever comes from those secret sessions. Nothing is as burdensome as a secret. Ben Franklin once wrote: Three can keep a secret if two of em are dead.
AW
When we are putting two and three together , we often come up with seven. Translation: our uneducated guesses can make thing worser than if the elected officials just did their jobs in public.
Nothing any good ever comes from those secret sessions. Nothing is as burdensome as a secret. Ben Franklin once wrote: Three can keep a secret if two of em are dead.
AW