Dangerous liaisons?
In person attendance or watching recorded Commissioners Court meetings doesn’t make one privy to everything that goes on behind closed court doors but it’s eye opening when it comes to the personalities that make up the court. That was a fact 20 years ago when my late husband and my gentleman friend began attending commissioners court together, partially for its entertainment value, and five years ago when I started covering it for the Examiner for its news value.
A side note: If you’re a registered voter, you should really take an interest. Viewing these meetings is certainly one way to evaluate whether or not to keep an elected official on the payroll, but I digress.
Though the faces have changed over the years, personalities continue to be front and center such as at a recent commissioners court workshop. The workshop was called to ponder the role of commissioners as liaisons to department heads and organizations that receive funding from the county. As for what a liaison does, it appears to mean different things to different commissioners and different things to different government entities.
My first exposure to “government” liaisons was at the City of Navasota. Each council member is assigned as the quarterly liaison to one of the City’s boards or commissions. They don’t always attend but when they do, they may or may not be asked questions or even feel the need to comment. They’re there to clarify ordinances, share some history if it’s warranted and make sure the board or commission doesn’t go off the rails in a direction wildly counter to the city’s comprehensive plan. It’s not nor has it ever been perceived to be, a power trip, billy club or guardian of the gate to city council.
But back to the workshop, commissioners’ opinions about the role of a liaison varied to the extent that there were some heated exchanges and is perhaps why one commissioner thinks an “official” defining of roles is warranted.
During the discussion, the example which troubled me the most involved the relationship between one particular non-profit board and its commissioner liaison. Apparently, the board president doesn’t confer with the commissioner liaison, preferring to address the court directly, a situation which doesn’t sit well with that particular commissioner liaison.
Don’t freak out but sometimes I’m prone to visions when I attend long government meetings. As this particular discussion intensified, the vision that popped into my head was from Bible scripture referenced in Matthew, Mark and Luke — “and the veil of the temple was torn in two.” The veil separated the Holy of Holies where only the high priests could meet with God. The tearing of the veil at the time of Christ’s crucifixion means we can all meet with God through Jesus’ sacrifice.
After an hour of discussion, the court was still unable to define the role of a liaison and will schedule yet another workshop in hopes they can all get on the same page.
Wrapping this puppy up, the court and you our readers, may totally disagree with me but I have strong opinions about access. In my opinion, there is no “veil” or commissioner liaison who should come between or separate a board member, county employee, department head or citizen of Grimes County from the commissioners court we elect to serve us. Anything else could make for a dangerous liaison.
The column represents the thoughts and opinions of Connie Clements. Opinion columns are NOT the opinion of the Navasota Examiner.
Clements is a freelance reporter for the Navasota Examiner and an award-winning columnist.