T he photo said a lot.
Jefferson County workers were scurrying around as they processed hundreds of thousands of dollars in past due paychecks for themselves and the close to 400 county employees who hadn’t been paid since late last year.
Thankfully, many of the unpaid workers continued to work, hoping that eventually the budget impasse would come to an end and the pay spigot would be turned on again.
But even at that, a trip to the courthouse could become an unusual adventure with the security guard at the door not saying hello but something along the lines of what’s your business? The question was valid since many of the offices inside were operating at times with a skeleton crew or no crew.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Fixing the problem was beyond the capabilities of the Quorum Court and county judge to fix on their own. Real leaders would not have left the office chambers until they knocked out something, anything that would keep the wheels turning. That didn’t happen.
In swoops state Rep. Glenn Barnes with a bill, co-signed by Reps. Ken Ferguson and Mike Holcomb, that said if you can’t get a budget pulled together for the new year, you have to work from last year’s budget.
The rest is history. The bill moved to the Senate and then quickly to the governor’s desk. Once the ink dried, people in Jefferson County were lining up to get paid.
It’s a bad look that Jefferson County’s ox got so far into the ditch that the state had to react. But it was a worse look for hundreds of county workers to go without pay.
So now that the immediate fire has been put out, what does the rest of the year hold? Will the county judge and Quorum Court be able to hit the reset button and start handling county business? Or will the meetings, like most of the ones over the past two-plus years, devolve into angry voices and a quick gavel ending the inconsequential get-togethers?
What then? For many months last year, vendors who had done work for the county, in good faith, weren’t being paid because of the snarl between the opposing sides.
Will the state need to come in and write up another bill saying the county needs to pay the night custodial crew? The furnace repair guy? The water bill? In short, will the state need to run Jefferson County government?
There are options. Enormous entities, such as large labor unions, get sideways with management. But through mediation and negotiation, they eventually work out their differences, and life returns to normal. Is it time to bring in a professional? Like a marriage counselor for political foes? We think we speak for many in the county by saying the 24-7 impasse in county government needs to end.
Perhaps when the next election comes along, the electorate will take the opportunity to trade out this bunch for others who pledge to work for the people and not against the person across the table. But until then, these folks who couldn’t get their act together long enough to get people paid are the same folks who will sit down in March and April and the rest of this year and next and be responsible for getting stuff done. Make it happen, folks. It’s why you’re there in the first place.