Concerning behavior from new board chair:
At last Wednesday’s WBS, newly appointed commissioner Andreas Blech, had a short tirade scolding some members of the audience for not understanding the County Charter. He belittled them by stating the Charter is short, written in plain language and can be read in ten minutes. My initial response to hearing his comments was irritation. Here is a newly appointed board chair patronizing his constituents and speaking down to them like petulant children. A few weeks ago, County Legal Counsel had to scold Andreas for attempting to create a position that would likely violate the provisions of the Charter. Andreas wanted to create a highly paid “efficiency supervisor” to oversee multiple departments and determine if the County needs restructure in the name of efficiency. Many speculated it was a thinly veiled attempt to find a highly paid position for his political crony Simon Hare. However, Legal prevented his efforts by telling him creation of this position that looked much like a County Manager was in potential violation of the Charter.
In one meeting, Mr. Blech is scolded for not having an effective understanding of the Charter while in another, he admonishes the public for their supposed lack of understanding. This showed our new board chair to be an arrogant simpleton who believes himself smarter than everyone else while actually displaying incompetence.
However, in looking deeper at Blech’s history with Josephine County. another option arose. Andreas served on the Charter Review Committee. Because of that, he is well aware of how complex the Charter is. Due to attending months of meetings, he knows the Charter contains conflicting and confusing passages many of which are either legally unenforceable or in some cases unconstitutional. With this in mind, his derision of his constituents juxtaposed with attempts to blatantly violate the Charter in creating a quasi-County Manager, Blech has displayed his preferred leadership style: Arrogance, Abuse, and Corruption.
I do hope that I am woefully incorrect in my summation of newly appointed Board Chair Andreas Blech. (I think it important to emphasize that he was appointed and was never elected to ANY office). In the days and months to come, time will tell us who is leading the current board. I hope he listens to the public he serves and no longer does the bidding of disgraced former commissioners.
JJ Scofield