County Commissioners
- Thread starter nutz
- Start date
glhs837
Power with Control
Sheriffs an elected office, so in that sense, we are in charge of the Sheriff and through him the office. I would say they are in charge of the Sheriffs budget an so exert some control that way. But if he can enter into financial deals with private contractors, maybe that's not so true. :shrug:
glhs837
Power with Control
I'm pretty sure the job of Commissioner makes nobody rich. Like national politics, it attracts folks who already have money, but I can't see where any of them are what most folks consider wealthy.
I've never seen nor heard of an example of that. The President receives 43K and the rest 38K, I believe. That's not exactly "get rich" money....
Not bad for part time pay either, plus perks. But none of this explains what they do to earn any pay.
From Wikipedia; "A county commission (also known as a board of county commissioners) is a group of elected officials charged with administering the county government in some states of the United States. County commissions are usually made up of three or more individuals. In some counties in Georgia and New Hampshire however, a sole commissioner holds the authority of the commission.
The commission acts as the executive of the local government, levies local taxes, administers county governmental services such as prisons, courts, public health oversight, property registration, building code enforcement, and public works such as road maintenance. The system has been supplanted in large part as disparate sparsely settled regions become urbanized and establish tighter local governmental control usually in municipalities, but in many more rural states the county commission retains more control and even in some urbanized areas may be responsible for significant government services."
I also know they do budgeting for beautification projects. I am not totally sure but I think they are the ones responsible for budgeting for stuff like the trees in the medians and the red brick in the intersections along 235. I believe stuff like that comes from county money.
NorthBeachPerso
Honorary SMIB
And in Maryland (as well as other Southern states) the County Commissioners have a lot of power/authority/whatever descriptive you want to use. In all of Maryland there are only 157 municipalities, so a County based government handles a lot of functions that in other states they don't. Contrast with PA where the County governments, for most of the state, have very few duties other than the Court system and Sheriff.
For 235, the County may have planted it (being a State road SHA probably did it) but even if the County did, the funds were probably grant funds from the State.
A friend/neighbor of mine was a commissioner for a while; it required a LOT of his time. I'll ask him for an actual estimate of the hours next time he stops by.
One of my old bosses was a county commissioner president and during the time she was in office we did not see very much of her around the workplace. One of my cousins was the president before my boss was and during her reign they had a huge surplus. From what I heard the surplus was gone by the time my old boss was done with her run. If the OP is really interested in what they do I think they have regular scheduled meetings that are open to the public. If they don't want to go to the trouble of actually attending a meeting they are televised on one of the local channels. I have never been interested enough to make the effort to attend a meeting.
kom526
They call me ... Sarcasmo
That cat was and still is always hustling.
..and is enjoying being back on the water more. Has a new venture started up to take folks who have never tried it, out crabbing.
People don't see the prep time, they only see the required meeting time, of course that's what makes the news - what the commissioners do at the meeting.
How much effort they want to put in is up to the individual.
In some areas, each board member can be assigned to head up a specific office
As for running the government, the commissioners hire the county executive who does run the government on a day to day basis. Sort of like the school board hires the superintendent.
In both cases the executive manages the day to day business and the staff. That staff in turn also provides support to the board The staff typically prepares the budget.
The one big difference between the school board and the county commissioners is that the school board uses the staff to prepare a budget that they then pass along to the country commissioners.
It's the county commissioners who have to decide where the money goes, schools, sheriff or other agencies.
That would be great. Thanks
awpitt
Main Streeter
Actually, St. Mary's has a County Administrator who is hired by the Commissioners. Only counties that have charter govt have County Executives who are elected.
Probably financed by the State of Maryland.......
KevinSully
New Member
This just sounds like sour grapes to me. Unless you can point to something this multimillionaire did to benefit him, then your comment just makes you seem envious of someone else's accomplishments.
Actually..not. The restoration of the Dee was completed with State help, and it's doubtful she would have been saved and in USCG now otherwise, but now where is the skipjack? Hint: It's not here and it's not his any more.