As taxpayers we foot the bill for salaries of Fayetteville city staff. They are supposed to work for us. Many of them are terrific people who love their job and take pride in it. There are others for whom it’s just a pay check.
The Council members are supposed to be public servants. Some of them do behave as public servants. Currently we have four people with real estate licenses, two with science backgrounds, a teacher (who spoke against allowing residents to elect their ward 4 representative in November 2017), and one with a background in both pharmaceuticals and mortgage loans.
There is no way these people, most of whom work full time jobs, can read and absorb the hundreds of pages of information they are given weekly. Check the Fayetteville Flyer to see how the votes go, almost always 8-0. You could say great minds think alike or you could say a lack of background, business experience, age, and diversity can lead to trouble.
Hopefully we will see some folks run for Council who have the time to at least scan the material weekly and visit with people outside City Hall who have some expertise in different areas, just to give some diversity to the discussions before voting 8-0. Be great to see some retirees with strong business backgrounds get on board as money is going to be tight with more pandemics and other climate related challenges.
We are living in a different world than before and we need elders, middle age, and young people all involved with governing Fayetteville through future challenges.
Some salaries of interest are displayed on the right.