Winder Georgia: Could it become the next Bell, California? The Vote

According to Mayor George "Chip" Thompson, he would like to think so. A recent decision that was decided by his vote, referring to the City Administrator's salary, was voted too high according to some City Council members. At a time when Winder, Georgia is in the red and will end the year in the red, City Council members Charlie Eberhart, Frank Dunagan & Ridley Parrish along with Mayor Chip Thompson voted to increase the City Administrator's salary, when City Council members Bob Dixon, Sonny Morris & David Maynard fought to have that salary reduced to a reasonable salary.
Winder Georgia is currently in the market for a new City Administrator due to the death of Bob Beck. Councilmen Dixon, who introduced this bill to have the City Counsel set the City Administrator's salary was irate that the salary was set higher than he had introduced and looked for the City Attorney to intervene only to be told by the attorney, you had to vote on what you see before you. As you will see in this video, at the City Council vote session, Councilmen Dixon did not take this news lightly.
A city of 12,000 should we really be paying our City Administrator $130,000 a year?
One can only assume that Mayor Thompson voted as quickly as he did on this measure because he was defeated on two other measures, one including a 5 million dollar loan that the City Council said the City of Winder did not need at this time and on the Stormwater Ordinance that would have made the residents, businesses and non profits cough up large amounts of money that the city will ultimately pay for this year.
It appears Mayor Thompson wants to use Winder's money as his own piggy bank, which he can dip into anytime he so feels.
I wonder if Councilmen Eberhardt even understood what he was voting on, never weighing in on this decision. At a time when so many are out of work, Councilmen Dixon was positive they could get a qualified person to fill the City Administrator's position at a reasonable salary, thus freeing up some of that cash to be used for other things. I understand the audio is not as good as I would like it to be based on my position at the City Council meeting; however take a look and take a listen at the video and you will see which Council members have the best interest in the city at heart and who doesn't care about what we spend.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• winder georgia
• mayor George Thompson
• city of Winder

[purerevere]

Hey can you tell me why you think this might be another Bell? I'm asking because I live in the city of Bell and am a member of a movement to end the corruption in Bell... I just think it's great that people all over are beginning to question their local government! Good job!