Dear Editor: The mayor and the council have once again decided to split the D.P.S., two departments, two chiefs and more dissension. We have tried different chiefs with different ideas. We hired a director with an excellent resume. Most of us thought he would be good for the community. Somehow I guess he did not fit well with the politicians. If we had established a chain of command from day one, we could have avoided plenty of heartburns. A council member suggested that the director should answer to them. They convene one night a month. The D.P.S. is in harm's way daily. If the taxpayers are paying a man to do a job, and make decisions, then so be it. The city manager wants full control, then we should not have to pay him and two chiefs. It's nice to feel important, but it's more important to be nice. We can understand wanting to be independent from the county, but independence comes with a price. We have terminations, resignations, allegations, investigations, lawsuits, settled lawsuits, dropped lawsuits and not to mention the embarrassments. There comes a time when you swallow your losses and move on.

The 106 of Social Circle
Community Affairs and Ethics in Politics