A FINE MESS WE HAVE IN STALLINGS

Since the election in November, attitudes have apparently gone into the dumpster between the Mayor and the Town Council. In the last couple of weeks though it has truly hit new lows. The last volley was an ordinance passed by the council to basically outline the duties and responsibilities of the mayor. Some actions since her election have supposedly upset members of the council as well as employees of the town. Both sides firing shots at each other as if in an old time ship battle. Unfortunately, the ordinance really had no need to be passed. The town of Stallings has operated under a Manager/Council form of government for years. The mayor in that type of setup has only a few official duties such as presiding over the meeting, voting in case of a tie, ceremonial head of the town. Under NO circumstance does her power authorize the mayor to authorize money to be spent, contracts to be signed, employees to be hired or fired or in that matter reprimanded. That is a duty designated to the Manager for day to day operations of the town by the Council. The mayors duties and responsibilities are clearly explained in the state statutes thus the ordinance was never really needed. That however is only one part of the story and had either side or both, backed off a little and communicated better with one another the councils actions may not have come to this. The mayor coming into office made a lot of statements about eliminating costs with staff, police, and the likes. She never had such power but made the statements. There was talk of a tax cut...again, a nice idea but hardly something she could really follow through on. Letters to Mr. Black praising him when he took $6 million of our repair fund and designated it to Mint Hill. I could go on but why? The council is not completely innocent either. For their part, they could have drafted a letter expressing the understanding that the Mayor was overstepping her boundries and outlined the statutes for her. Especially before all of this mess escalated. The people of Stallings deserve better than a power struggle between the elected officials. Everyone should know and understand their own duties and responsiblities and at the same time understand conflict of interest, eithical standards, and the open meeting laws. You all are adults and should act like it. Not everything in Stallings need to be a media event. You all have to learn to compromise and work together in order to get anything accomplished in the next couple of years.