Why does it always seem hard to do the right thing?
Here’s a case in point: Having usurped a portion of the powers of the county clerk a couple of decades ago, it seems there is a reluctance to restore those powers, even though it’s the right thing to do.
How much money and time is being wasted just to maintain the status quo?
Was not the point of County Clerk's legal action to return from the BOCC, the administration of the budget to the County Clerk?
Specifically the County Clerk, on the Citizens' behalf, is emphatically calling for the return of all statutory duties to the County Clerk. Period.
In response the BOCC and County Administration has given the Citizen, taxpayer, over 6 months of legal fees, payed by the taxpayer, for lawyers for the County Clerk, County Commissioners, and council to mediate between the two. The end result being…? MOU version 1 & 2.
The larger problem here is this: Are actions taken by a government entity that are outside its specified powers and authorities legitimate? One agency performing tasks that are the purview of another is against all principals of ordered government, separation of powers, and Republican government principles. We, the people, established our governments and gave them their powers and responsibilities. It is not the place of government to give itself any powers other than those provided for by law.
Below is the current state of the work product(s) from the 3 different lawyer groups involved in the legal mediation of this issue (all payed for by taxpayers).
Background Materials:
Legend for Comparative Document:
Blue strike-through font is for deletion from original to new version.
Red font is for addition in new version.
Comparative of Publicly Available Work Products to date 2024.02.19:
Well done Noll!!
Stuff like this is why lawyers rank at the bottom of everyone's list of favorite professions. The current BOCC does not have the snap to dream this up. We have 5% of world population and 85% of world's lawyers. Everything is over- litigated. Sheesh.