Memo to the Elk Grove City Council when addressing city staff - 'You shouldn't have to get credit for doing your job'


On the Sunday, December 13 edition of Jake Tapper's CNN weekly program State of the Union was voting rights activist Stacey Abrams. The former Georgia legislator and gubernatorial candidate, Abrams has been widely and rightfully praised for the efforts she led to register Georgia voters and get them to turn out for President-elect Joe Biden in the November election.

Abrams' efforts in large part swung Georgia from Donald Trump in 2016 to Biden this year. It was the first time Georgia voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since the election of Bill Clinton in the three-candidate race of 1992.

Of course, the path to the election has been obstructed by numerous frivolous and democracy-damaging lawsuits from Donald Trump and his cultist. Regardless, Georgia Republican Governor and Secretary of State Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger did not fall into line with Trump and his cultist's demands and followed that law.

In the CNN interview, Tapper asked Abrams if she gave Kemp credit "for standing up for the basic rule of law.

Abrams gave a superb answer when she quickly stated "you shouldn't have to get credit for doing your job."

Rarely have truer words ever been said about the work of elected and many government officials. Unfortunately, this has infiltrated many aspects of governance, and the Elk Grove City Council has exemplified this practice.

How many have times have you heard Elk Grove city councilmembers falling all over themselves praising city staff, the highly paid executives in particular, for a report or activity that is part of their job description? Isn't that their job?

Given many of these highly paid public employee executives, some of whom are nothing more than gloried order-fulfilling salespeople - think of economic development director Darrell Doan - are making up to four times the median family income in Elk Grove - shouldn't consistent high performance be the norm and not the exception?

This is why they make the big bucks, especially when compared to the people of Elk Grove that they are there to serve.

But alas, members of the Elk Grove City Council, for unclear reasons, continually praise these highly-compensated individuals for doing their regular job duties. Perhaps they are projecting their feelings about their perceptions of their performance.

Also, it is curious when councilmembers engage in self-praise as Steve Detrick did of himself at his last city council meeting. Last week Detrick heaped praise on himself and his city council colleagues for doing the job they sought and were elected by the people to perform. 

While we doubt there will be any change to this practice even with fresh blood on the city council, it is insulting to the hard-working people of Elk Grove, most of whom earn far less than their employees lounging around the wellness facilities at city hall that they are supposedly there to serve them, that the city council continually sees fit to praise these fat cat public employees. 

 


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