Letter: Wants Versus Needs

“Poor leaders sacrifice the people to save themselves.”

That old adage seems to have been written with the council 5 in mind.

This past Monday night the 5 revealed their true self-serving selves with budget votes to enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else.

Of course, their budgeted  $15,000 for the bird cage liner campaign “newsletter” mailed to all Fairfield residents at the residents’ expense, is just one illustration of putting the 5’s wants over lifesaving citizen needs to support our First Responders.

 Yes, their vote to boost the budget for council expenses while burdening citizens and employees with ill-thought-out budget reductions and fees is yet another example of their greed supplanting real leadership.

Yes, this is the same group that made an attempt to illegally grab federal relief money meant for our First Responders. The group did finally reverse themselves after weeks of immense public pressure which made the majority members realize it was not in their best interest to proceed with their planned high jacking of the relief monies.

Last week councilman Gilbert best described the 5’s latest self-serving hypocrisy.

“We’ve asked every department to help with cuts,” Gilbert said, ‘but we as a council haven’t done anything to make cuts in our own budget.” 

Today, they still reject leadership by example, expanding their own council budget as taxpayers and employees suffer the consequences of council’s thoughtless, selfish budgeting.

Looking forward to November when we can elect council members who place citizens’ needs above council members’ wants.

Randy Bright

Ridgeway