|
|
Concerned Fairfield County Realtors
(Comments from Jon Myers)
March 17th, 2005
Today I recieved phone calls from concerned Fairfield County
Realtors. They told me that during a meeting with the Board of
Realtors, Jon Myers interrupted Mike Kiger and informed the gallery
that he spoke to several deputies that were outside picketing and that
we don't care about our fellow laid off employees, but that we only
care about ourselves. This statement disgusts me. I cannot
believe that he would say something like this in front of so many
people when it couldn't be further from the truth. We had no one
there to rebuke his statement, so I will do it now.
I spoke to the deputies with whom he had his conversation. They
told me that at no time did they infer that they were only looking out
for themselves. The only statement that he could twist into this
lie was when he asked if the deputies recieved raises this year and
they told him that they had, but that they were not going to recieve
any raises next year unless this situation was resolved. He did
not take the time to inquire further or he would have learned that this
statement would have meant that they realize the financial difficulties
not only facing Fairfield County, but the State of Ohio. We
realize that any significant raises will be out of the question during
contract negotiations that will take place later this year.
But to say we don't care! We care so much about our fellow employees
that we are currently working with the Auditor's Office to create a
fund to donate our acumulated Comp Time to the laid off
employees. (For those who are not familiar with the concept of
Comp Time, it is a bank where overtime hours can be placed so that we
may take off time from work at a later time.) If we did not care
about our fellow employees, would we be doing this? Will he
donate any of his time to this fund? The statement that he made
today tells me no.
My message to him and the other Commissioners is simple. Do what
is right. Raise the Conveyance Fees to $4. Earmark $2 to the
Sheriff's Office and put these employees back to work. We are the third
fastest growing county in the State of Ohio and should be bolstering
our number of Law Enforcement personnel, not slashing them. Raise
the fees and let the "growth" pay for the services they will recieve.
James E Nicolia
Jeff Tipple
Jon Myers told the members of the Lancaster Board of
Realtors about a
conversation he had with a picketin member of the Fairfield County
F.O.P. He told the large crowd that he had spoken with a picketer, and
the deputy mentioned a past 4% raise, and that he just wanted more,
more, more! He stated that the F.O.P. members do not care about other
county employees being laid off. He said they are only interested in
their own self interest. Well upon further review, that may not be a
truthful representation of how the conversation went. The conversation
started with someone mentioning a 4% raise in the past. But it evolved
into the deputy explaining how the raise went toward the rising cost of
health care. And furthermore, the deputy mentioned the nearly
$61,000.00 income that the commissioner receives and how he has free
health care! That part of the conversation was left out. That part of
the conversation is when Jon Myers walked away. I ask these questions.
Is it possible that the attitudes of our elected officials with their
anti-worker/rampant pro-business stance. Should they be held
accountable for Ohioans ranking second in the nation for the rate of
foreclosures? Or are the people who want health care, retirements, and
living wages to blame?
By Jeff Tipple
|
|
|
