May 17, 2004
Monday

Who governs the king? When you are the top dog, there is no merit to doggedly doing the work. You need to be above the process so that you can intervene when things go wrong. Unfortunately the Borough Assembly is now the recipient of the wrath of locals for circumstances beyond Assembly control. And instead of being ready to step in and assist another board, they are the body doing the work. In short, the Assembly is trying to do too much.

It is time to return school construction powers to the school board. And along with it they ought to return the pool. The district has the staff and the expertise to handle both functions.

During the design and early construction of the new KayHi the School Board had reports at every meeting. The whole process was closely monitored. The Borough Assembly just has too many divergent tasks to give anything that level of scrutiny (until it becomes a crisis). During the KayHi reconstruction, the School Board was always aware that the Assembly was monitoring progress and would demand accountability. That is how the Borough Assembly can be most effective, by supervising and demanding accountability of boards that report to the Assembly. But they need to leave the work to the other boards.

John Harrington
Ketchikan, AK - USA

 

Post a Comment -------View Comments

Submit an Opinion - Letter

Sitnews
Stories In The News
Ketchikan, Alaska