Ferndale Councill makes wrong desicion on staff

Why is it when a government entity gets into financial trouble they take one of the following courses of action: 1. Raise taxes or 2. Let staff go? I was sad to read in the Ferndale Record Journal that our city council has recently taken option two. There is a third option and that option is to cut or postpone projects.

At last weeks council meeting our elected officials chose to eliminate city staff positions. I think this is wrong especially when there are several projects in the works that could be postponed thereby allowing the staff to remain. A good example of this is the Main Street project. This is a great example of a project that could be put on hold until the economy improves. Another example is the reconfiguring of the parking along 1st Street by the school.

Elected official like to do projects over people because they can point to a project with pride and say "See I got that done, aren't I great and don't I deserve to be re-elected?" The reality is they are only serving their own egos. Yes, underground utilities make a street look nice, but in this economy, it is the best use of our monies? Additional parking along 1st Street would be nice, but does it have to be done this year? Why aren't our council members asking these questions? Instead they hid behind closed doors, not letting the public listen to the their discussion or comment.

Our city staff does an excellent job and does not deserve to be treated in this manner. I would urge our council to reconsider their decision and look at all the projects going on and if after cutting or postponing there is still a shortfall, then implement the staff cuts.