Opinion
I left Thursday’s Insurance Subcommittee meeting of the Giles County Commission far more unnerved than I arrived.
It was sobering enough to hear Committee Chairman Wendell Wilburn compare our county’s outrageous and jaw-dropping insurance rate to that of neighboring counties; only to have him further mention that the powers-that-be refused to provide him the contents of this bill, something I’m pretty sure should be public information, and certainly privy to him. To the contrary, he said he was told several times it was none of his business. If this doesn’t send up a red flag, I don’t know what will. To top it off, Wilburn claims surrounding counties had no issues whatsoever providing him copies of their insurance bills. But what really took the biscuit was the, not only total lack of concern from most of the other committee members, but the downright cold shoulder it was met with. This resistance was led by Tommy Campbell (someone I’d long pegged a hero of the county commission), Bill Holt and Edwin Lovell. In fact between them, they stopped Chairman Wilburn well into his testimony and motioned to adjourn the meeting right then and there. I was prepared to stay an hour to an hour-and-a-half for what turned out to be a half-hour meeting. James Harwell was the sole commissioner to show Wilburn any support whatsoever. The remaining commissioner there, David Adams, kept his thoughts to himself.
My former editor (a position I’ve now assumed) Scott Stewart had given me some insight as to what to expect at this meeting and because of it encouraged me to attend. Now let me admit right up front for purposes of full disclosure that Scott stepped down to run for county executive in the upcoming August election, so he does have some political interest in what is happening here. Still, being members of the press, we understand the importance of transparency in government. In fact, I’m a proud founding-member of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government (www.tcog.info), a board upon which I still serve. I also need to admit that I’ve yet learned all the nuances and goings-on of the county commission as I am relatively new to this arena, other than what I see in the paper. Still, it doesn’t take a betrayed prince to smell something rotten in the state of affairs. If items are being concealed, there’s a reason they’re being concealed. I just hope personal agendas aren’t coming before the public’s.
The argument the commissioners returned to Chairman Wilburn was the issue came before the wrong committee, which is fine to remedy as far as I’m concerned; but if I was on the insurance committee and had met such news concerning our county’s insurance, I’d be looking for ways to get to the bottom of it, not push it aside, which is the clear appearance that was given at this meeting. I think the public will be watching a little more closely from here on in.
Details of this meeting can be found in Paul Manke’s front page story.