Tired of back room deals
I don’t know if the taxpayers of this county are tired of the back room decisions perpetrated by Fayette County Commissioner Vincent A. Vicites and joined by Commissioner Joseph A. Hardy III, but I am. They co-signed a $300,000 mortgage for the Fayette County Fair board. If the fair board should default on payment, the taxpayers of the county would be liable for the payment. This business should have been addressed at a public meeting and not privately, even if a special meeting had to be called.
I’m not implying that the fair board will default, but I feel if the public is ultimately liable, they should have knowledge of the transaction before the fact, not after the fact.
It seems to me that the trend in this board of commissioners is to keep the chairperson out of the loop as often as possible.This was the method used by Vicites toward his fellow commissioners when he was chairman and is being employed by him and his cronies again. This is wrong!
The first person to be addressed about any business involving this board should be the chairperson. If another member of this board is addressed first, it is their obligation to inform the chairperson whose duty it is to inform the other (third) member.
It seems that no matter what plan Chairperson Angela M. Zimmerlink presents to meet a request or solve a problem, Vicites tries to undermine her efforts. Case in point: The poll workers requested additional training on the new voting machines so they would be able to better meet the inquiries of the voting public.
Zimmerlink spent time and effort to enlist the aid of the manufacturer and the election bureau to comply with that request, and to further educate those people who so desired it. Vicites and Hardy voted to duplicate those efforts, although I doubt either will have any input.
A contract was awarded for the firemen’s training building roof. According to Vicites, (as per law) three bids were solicited. However, county manager Warren Hughes was given one bid and Vicites couldn’t state who submitted the two other bids. Then miraculously the two bids appeared.
One of the bids supposedly was from Shallenberger Construction, one of his political supporters. He appointed Terry “Tuffy” Shallenberger to the Fayette County Airport Authority. Vicites doesn’t forget his contributors.
He insults every thinking person’s intelligence in this county.
The standard answer by Vicites to my inquiries is, “You never supported me.” You’re right, Mr. Vicites, I don’t support people who wouldn’t know truth and integrity if it hit them in the face.
Ralph A. Mazza
Vanderbilt