ON THE MARK... Leadership... And Lack Of It
Commentary
By Mark Hallburn
Publisher
PutnamLIVE.com
They say there are three kinds of people in this world:
1) Those that make
things happen.
2) Those that watch
things happen.
3) Those that wonder
what happened.
Earlier this summer, when H.C.A. announced that it was closing Putnam General Hospital, we had the chance to see which category Putnam County's so-called leaders fell into.
And it wasn’t pretty. In fact, it was very embarrassing to our county’s citizens. And the Clueless County Commission’s lack of leadership is absolutely unacceptable.
While H.C.A. planned to put 350 employees out of work, while closing down Putnam County’s only hospital, negatively impacting health care and the local economy, our county commission sat back and watched. Or wondered. Or both. What it didn’t do was show
any leadership.
None.
Instead of speaking out on the issue, instead of immediately flying to H.C.A. headquarters, instead of publicly calling on immediate action from Governor Joe Manchin, III, our commissioners were mostly silent. Mostly, because Commissioner Stephen Andes did tell
PutnamLIVE.com that he didn’t have time to answer questions about what he’d done to save P.G.H. because he was training "an associate" at Goody’s in Charleston.
It was comforting to know that training a clothing store associate was such a high priority to Andes in comparison to saving our hospital and hundreds of jobs.
Across town, we saw another aspect of leadership. While the commission fumbled, bumbled, and failed in its duties to Putnam County, showing its' lack of leadership, a former county leader stepped up to the plate and led a movement to save Putnam General.
Oshel Craigo (who, yes, is a sponsor of PutnamLIVE.com-but DOES NOT tell us what to publish) worked tirelessly to "Save our Hospital."
Which says something great about Craigo’s integrity. Because just a few years after ungrateful voters tossed his butt out of the West Virginia Senate, Craigo donated time and resources to save our butts by saving our hospital.
And he showed what
true leadership is all about.
That isn’t surprising.
While the ineffective part-time Putnam County Commission focuses on petty politics with Parks and Recreation, while it blows hundreds of thousands of dollars on interest while planning a Wal-Mart in a neighborhood where it isn’t wanted, while it proves that economic development are foreign terms, Craigo, who brought Putnam County millions during decades in the senate, saved our hospital.
And Craigo isn’t even a Putnam County office-holder anymore.
Which is bad for Putnam County.
Because Oshel Craigo was Putnam County's version of Robert Byrd, taking great care of his constituents. (The person who beat Craigo in the election, Lisa Smith, resigned for "health reasons" and now faces federal tax evasion charges and a possible 100-year prison term)
So while the Putnam County Commission nearly watched our only hospital disappear, Craigo stepped up to the plate and made positive things happen.
While Steve Andes worried about clothing store employees in Charleston, Craigo made sure 350 highly-paid healthcare workers had jobs.
While Raymond "Joe" Haynes worked full-time for a utility company, Craigo worked full-time to save Putnam General Hospital.
And while Commission President James H. "Jim" Caruthers hopes you will vote for him this fall, Craigo, who isn’t running, earned our votes-again.
Amazingly, despite working part-time and accomplishing very little, the Putnam County Commissioners agreed to take a raise of nearly $8,000 this year. They should give the raise back. They haven't earned it.
Meanwhile, Craigo saved Putnam General Hospital at no cost to the taxpayers.
Which is why Craigo should run for local office again. And why the Putnam County Commissioners should resign to create open offices for real leaders, including Craigo.
This issue goes beyond the Putnam General Hospital.
Look around Putnam County.
* U.S. 35 is deadly. Dozens of people have died or been injured in accidents on the deadly highway-including my wife and me. The road should have been widened decades ago. Because U.S. 35 hasn’t been developed, not only have innocent people died, jobs have not been developed, jobs which are badly needed in Putnam County.
* We don’t have a regional airport. Putnam County is the perfect place for a regional airport, between Charleston and Huntington. A river port could be included. A regional air and shipping port would bring hundreds of high-paying jobs to Putnam County. But our Clueless Commission has not been strongly promoting a regional airport here. When the Lincoln County regional airport proposal died, our county commission should have seized the opportunity to propose a Putnam County Regional Airport. But once again, our commissioners failed us.
* Despite Craigo's saving of Putnam General Hospital, five director positions are being eliminated. Thse are high-paying jobs. Had the county commission worked to keep HCA from deciding to close PGH, these hard-working directors would still have their jobs.
* We have little retail or restaurants for a major county located on a major interstate. There’s no shortage of shopping or retail in our neighboring counties. The Putnam County Development Authority has failed to bring enough companies to Putnam County. The Fraziers Bottom Industrial Park and the Hurricane Business Park are mostly vacant. The PCDA wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars of our money paying interest on the land in Hurricane. For what? The Marshall campus has never been built there, the lottery won’t be coming, (both broken promises) and the promised Wal-Mart with mostly low-paying jobs, has yet to be built. If the Wal-Mart is ever built, it will be too-little, too late, and in the wrong location, filling in a beautiful pond, ruining a neighborhood, and is expected to hurt small businesses in Hurricane.
* Because we don’t have a university, which Craigo was working to bring before being voted out, our college students have to leave Putnam County to earn a higher education. This means a lack of jobs and lack of economic development.
* Because there isn’t a university in Putnam County, Waves of Fun and the county pool in Eleanor have to close early because park officials (appointed by the inept Putnam County Commission) can’t keep lifeguards staffed. So Putnam County residents, who pay for these facilities, can’t use them. Waves of Fun is also our only "tourist attraction" bringing people to Putnam County from as far away as eastern Kentucky and Southern Ohio, as well as from Cabell and Kanawha Counties. Imagine Disney World shutting down in August and on Labor Day Sunday because there are no workers. It won't happen because Orlando's leaders are competent, have vision, and realize that attracting people from out of the area means support for not only Disney World and other parks, but local businesses as well. Our commissioners haven't learned this lesson. When PutnamLIVE.com called them about the Labor Day Sunday closure, no calls were returned. Parks and Recreation Commissioner Bill Byus, who was appointed by Andes, Caruthers, and Haynes (who also serves on the Parks and Rec Commission) refused to open Waves of Fun. This summertime and holiday weekend closure shows lack of vision and fiscal irresponsibility.
* The way the County Commission removed longtime Parks and Recreation Commissioners in order to fire award-winning Parks and Recreation Director Cordie Hudkins was politics at its lowest level and another embarrassment to Putnam County.
* When you replace a commissioner, the least you should do is remove them from the proper commission. But the Putnam County Commission sent Parks and Recreation Commissioner Sally Holliday a letter that removed her from the Planning Commission. Holliday had served on the Parks and Recreation Commission for more than 30 years. There is no excuse for this mistake.
* For several months the Putnam County Commission refused to remove their appointee, Dennis Prisk, from the Parks and Recreation Commission despite the fact that he had moved to Cabell County. West Virginia law is clear that Prisk was disqualified, but in a display of arrogance of power, the county commission defied state law. This conduct is inexcusable and makes the Putnam County Commission unfit to hold office. Commissioners should endeavor to abide by the law, not violate the law.
* We have a Toyota plant but no Toyota dealerships in Putnam County. Or Buick, or Pontiac, or Cadillac, or Subaru. Last month when I bought new car I had to go to Charleston to buy it. We need a way to spend that money in Putnam County.
* We still don't have a smoking ban in the workplace. Cities and states across America have stood for public health, but despite the public cry for a smoking ban, our Putnam County County Commissioners have blindly refused to appoint a health board which will protect the health of our citizens.
* The Ames building and former Big Bear Supermarket sites have been vacant for years. The commission needs to wotk with the landlord and companies to replace those stores and bring back the dozens of lost jobs.
* Our libraries are woefully under-funde
*
Our museum is nearly broke.
* Our courts are overwhelmed because we need another Magistrate.
* We don’t have a 4-H camp.
* Our county fairground is too small.
* Our senior programs are woefully under-funded.
* With the exception of Nitro, we don’t have a full-time fire department anywhere in Putnam County, resulting in higher home and business insurance premiums. Parts of our county still doesn’t have running water, which could create dangerous situations for our volunteer firefighters.
* The Crooked Creek interchange wont be completed until 2008 and the commission hasn’t demanded that the ramps be opened sooner.
* While the state has purchased land for the Culloden interstate 64 Interchange, ground has yet to be broken-and the commission has remained silent. I could make a list that would stretch from border-to-border in Putnam County, but why bother? The Putnam County Commission is unresponsive to the needs of its citizens.
* Our schools are overcrowded. The commission's refusal to adopt "impact fees" for new homes has negatively impacted our students.
* Our Sheriff's Department is understaffed. Until recently it was so underpaid we were losing deputies left and right to Kanawha County and Charleston which paid better. The recent raises are a good start, but it's too late to recover all the training money paid for the deputies we lost as well as the money paid to train their replacements. This is another way that impact fee money could have been used.
It’s beyond time to get rid of the dead weight in Putnam County. Under the commission's lack of leadership Putnam County has been floundering for years. It's time to put a stop to the floundering. In 20 years of journalism, I have never called for a commission to resign. But this one deserves that call. Unfortunately, we don’t have a recall process for county commissioners in West Virginia. Commission President Caruthers is running for re-election. He should do society a favor and drop out of the race. Andes and Haynes should also do Putnam County a favor and resign immediately as Putnam County Commissioners. They also must resign from any other commissions that they appointed themselves to serve on. They aren’t getting the job done, and need to step out of the way so that Putnam County can get leaders who make things happen.
