You Got Elected; Do The Job.

For those who don't know,Zephyrhills has a political system which provides for 6 city council positions,whose members represent the entire city.There are no districts.Council seats are elected on alternate years,so as to have continuity.One of those positions is filled by a mayor who has no vote,but does have veto power on some council actions.Zephyrhills is a small city;much smaller than most cities having district representatives.When these councilmen were running for office,they were available and accessible.Now that they have been elected,a movement has arisen among them,to have Quasi officials from various areas or districts to represent the people to them.Also mentioned,was a need for watchers of code violations and other dastardly acts.While it is true that the city has not staffed or funded the building department to meet the needs of the rapid growth of the past few years,along with the other departments,this does not demand volunteer or unelected adjuncts.What is clear to me,is that it does require work and courage,on the part of the city council and other government members.Council members need to announce and publish their stance on these matters and schedule themselves to be available to the people,long before any voting is done.This low pay,underfunding and understaffing is not even nearly new.We have been losing good people.Until responsible heads are removed from the sand,it will only worsen.Getting elected is the easy part;you smile and tell everyone what they want to hear.Doing the job could prove to be a little more demanding.Concerning the advocation of unelected watchers,minders,violation reporters or opinion consolidators for various parts districts or areas of town:I suggest that anyone having an interest in such a thing should talk to people who have escaped from countries where this is commonly used.many of our elderly,here, know about Fascist block watchers,communist minders,correct thinkers and helpers to the supreme council. one only has to look to Cuba,red China or Iran to understand the implications of this function.I had two coworkers who escaped from cuba.They had stories of watchers and correct thinkers being found dead.No,Not a good idea.NPUBLICI Delbert W Allegood

Time For Change With The Changing Times

I moved to Zephyrhills at age thirteen,in 1955.In order to help feed my family, during the first few weeks,I pulled moss out of a 60 foot tall oak tree for 25 cents an hour,for an area new car dealer.The minimum wage was a dollar an hour then.I worked for similar wages for many other people in Zephyrhills.Most were retired.Most had lived through the depression and believed they were poor,no matter how much they had.Many were retired from good jobs and had excellent retirement, along with social security,yet they saw themselves as poor.I was not alone. Anyone else who worked by the hour,worked for nothing in Zephyrhills.Fees,taxes,utilities and wages have been artificially low in Zephyrhills,most of my life.In order to be elected,or hold any position of power one had to hold the line and continue the cheap haven for retirees in Zephyrhills.In recent years the demographics have changed drasticly,yet elected officials still tremble in fear when hearing the calls to continue "on the cheap".I am retired on social security alone.There is no young working family I want to cheat out of a just wage;not the city manager,not the cops,not the librarians,nor the guys on the garbage trucks.It wasn't right when I was a boy and it isn't right now.I particularly disagree with holding down the salary of those in midlevel management,because you think they'll stay anyway,because of their time invested,and that they're a little better off than they were.This has long been the situation in the police department.It may work,but it is patently unfair.This"government on the cheap and pass the cost on down to the grandkids"is a sickness. It is not necessary,and should not be the product of americans of good will. NPUBLICI Delbert W Allegood

Common Sense And Commendation

I applaud Cliff McDuffie,the mayor of Zephyrhills,for opposing a law which would make it much less likely to be able to control sexual predators,because of human nature.People don't obey laws which are unreasonable.I also applaud the mayor on revealing that he would veto the draconian measure,which had no merit,before there was any more time wasted on a do nothing law.There are things that the city council should be openly discussing,at length,which recieve a perfunctory glance,if any at all.I wish, also, to commend the wisdom and common sense of the council in rejecting the law.I applaud the city manager and city government members for paving sidewalks,at long last.Sidewalks are a measure of the soul of a city.Towns without sidewalks are for corporations and business,not for people.NPUBLICI Delbert W Allegood

Who do you represent?

Apparently,we need to provide a job description for the job of city council person,so that they will know how to do the job.Once they're elected,we seem to not hear from them,until the next election.One only hears that the elected has voted because of what he believes or what his friends or family believes.Once in awhile you'll hear that "the majority of the people of Zephyrhills" think or feel a certain way about an issue and you know that the council person hasn't walked one city block to discover any opinion, as they did when they were running for election.They have only talked to their close circle, who mostly agree with them ,and in truth,other opinions don't really matter.most of the time these council people find out that there is overwhelming, vehement disagreement to their stance only during a city council meeting,especially a second one.NPUBLICI Delbert W Allegood