Manager hiring raises questions
The hiring of Jason Bajor as city manager in Des Plaines under his own terms (his pushing a higher pay scale for all the department heads did not hurt) left some questions that Mayor Arredia's answer, "He is better qualified," does not fully satisfy.
Bajor's experience, good or bad, is not the whole story. A person's attitude, honesty and a conscious attempt to handle public funds in a responsible manner should count for much more.
A good manager need not know every job; his job is to find qualified people who do. Bajor's raise from $89,000 in 2005 to $138,000 per year now is an amazing jump, and hopefully he will listen more to the council and lose some arrogance that some seem to think he displayed thus far.
The continual free spending of public funds by our politicians has to be curbed. This practice extends to the local, state, federal and all levels in between. One reason a manager will be sure to spend his full budget is that if he does not do this his budget next year would probably be reduced. There should be rewards given to workers who can point out cost savings in their jobs.
Our aldermen have busy schedules and (after discarding silly gripes or complaints) could use more input and advice.
I still remember our professor at Northwestern University when he explained the many values of a suggestion box. An efficiency expert will ask questions for improvements from the working staff, more so than from those in the head office.
Our city can perhaps spend less money on expensive studies, and rather publicize and utilize such a municipal suggestion system.
Many of these tax increases are needed simply to support the many wastes in government. The cost of the war in Iraq is huge, but not when it is compared to the many political pork projects and wastes that are paid for by our tax dollars. This misuse of public funds permeates at all levels of government and helps create the serious economic problems that we now face.
Just as a thousand-mile walk begins with one step, so, too, our federal government's financial problems can rightfully be blamed in part to the practice of poor management of funds at the local level.
William McNutt
Des Plaines