Thank you for your coverage on what is going on with the Freestone Commissioner’s Court (Four Commissioners and the County Judge) (July 25, August 1, 8, and 15 issues). It seems that they have developed the “Freestone Three Step”. Here is how it goes:

1. Wasteful spending (one-half million dollars for a non-emergent special interest courtroom redecoration project at the urging of a few, and has been in the works since last Fall, long before the vote on how much to spend),

2. Raise their own income, and

3. Raise the taxpayers’ taxes (that is also voter’s taxes).

What happened to the “conservative fiscal spending” that they promised when they ran for office?

Could there be a worse time for this project and such unnecessary spending and raises for compensation? They don’t listen to their own conversations: The plant and mine have closed. Jobs have been lost and there are no replacement jobs in sight. Oil and gas income is extremely depressed. There is a huge million dollar expense for a capital murder trial looming over us like a tornado. And, there is a pending lawsuit against the County Clerk and the County by a former County Clerk employee over alleged conduct of the County Clerk (anybody got an estimate on that deal?). Again, could there be a worse time for such lavish court room redecoration and spending?

How many days a month does that courtroom sit idle with the lights off? Someone ought to check that and report on it. Why is there more focus on official travel allowances and the luxury courtroom than on the salaries of the staff that are the county worker bees?

What happened to the notion that these folks are supposed to be “public servants”, and guardians of the tax dollars? Their excessive spending and demands are more like a “CEO” in a “for-profit” corporation than at county government. When did the emphasis change from “the greater good” to the “I want” or “my kinfolks want”, or “my buddy wants?” Where is it written in stone that any public servant is entitled to any raise, whether for any year, every other year, or any other kind? So, in order to properly evaluate their demands for raises, should they consider the entire employee compensation package (with supplements) for each of the elected officials? Wouldn’t that be relevant to their demands? Nothing has been mentioned about the big supplemental incomes that the District Judges, County Judge, and County Attorney receive (others may receive supplements, too). The taxpayers might be surprised to learn what money their elected officials are really receiving with all of their supplements and perks. Would you please publish those total compensation numbers (including supplements and perks) for each elected official?

Doesn’t all of this seem selfish and arrogant? The higher taxes to pay for extravagant courtroom work, and travel allowances, etc. take opportunities away from taxpayers. It takes dollars away for their healthcare, childcare, housing, food, and job transportation. But who cares at the courthouse? It’s all about “them” not “us”. There is no “them” in “justice”. Isn’t easier to spend some other person’s money than your own?

Would they spend their own money so lavishly? Didn’t four (4) Justices in the West Virginia Supreme Court just get impeached for similar conduct?

How long has it been that taxpayers got stuck with paying for a courthouse annex? That was driven for a need to store official records. Each elected official has storage space in the offsite records storage building at the County Annex on Main Street.

That storage is supposed to be for official county records. Yet, the elected officials are not properly using the storage. Here is why.

I was working on a title search this week and utilizing tax records in the Freestone County Tax Office. Those records only went back to about 1910. Yet, the county was formed in 1851. “Where are the rest of the records?” The Tax Collector advised that other records back to 1880 were located in the remote storage facility. But when I checked, those stored records, there were still gaps in the years and they did not go back to 1851.

“Are these all of the records?” “Yes”. I was told. But, I decided to check the Freestone County Museum, just to see if any other official county records might be there. Bingo!

Yes, I did find that some of the official county tax, district court, county clerk and county court records had been donated to the Museum instead of being placed in secure county storage! I told the Tax Assessor what I found. She then admitted that she was aware of some donated books.

We should all give thanks to the staff at the Freestone County Museum for preserving and protecting official county records when the elected officials failed to do so. Maybe the Commissioner’s Court can retrieve the donated official records from the Museum and put them in the proper official secured county storage facility paid for by taxpayers, especially now that they all got their raises and travel allowances and extravagant courtroom! These official records are very important and are used in trials for property and inheritance issues. They should be maintained and preserved by the respective elected official. That’s part of their duties. Isn’t this one of the reasons that we keep and maintain county facilities?

Is the luxury courtroom going to end up like the off site storage / annex facility?

Can we really afford to keep this Commissioner’s Court in charge of our county government? Where are some hungry qualified candidates willing to run for office that have a desire to do a good job, be a guardian for the tax dollars, and act as a public servant?

Val Fulcher

Tax payer, Attorney, and Resident