The Time To Cut

Thursday night the Wayne County Board will have a familiar topic to discuss. They will talk, once again, about cutting the number of board members in half, from the present 14 members, to seven.

This doesn’t seem that hard because nobody seems to want to be a Wayne County board member these days. The filing period to be on the primary ballot was last Monday…and nobody…and I mean nobody…filed to run for either party in three districts. And in the rest of those up for re-election, there isn’t going to be a race---if you filed---you are going to win.

Back in 2010, county voters, by a 3-to-1 margin, voted to recommend the board be cut in half. It was an advisory vote. The county board ignored the electorate. So, here we are again and tomorrow night the topic is on the agenda for discussion.

Seven districts. Two board members a district. Thirteen Republicans and one Democrat.

Trust me, this isn’t going to make or break the county financially. Board members only make $45 a meeting and get paid mileage. There are committee meetings, but nobody’s making a killing here.

I think this is about the old Reagan philosophy of less government. And if you buy that, seven is much better than 14. I’d even be for the addition of a couple of at-large seats elected by countywide election.

But you know, what better way to tell the county board to reduce their size than to have nobody run. That simple fact should make this easy….

Now is the time to cut.