GOP addresses checks, balances concerns in Monroe County

Local GOP leaders led a press conference Monday to voice concerns surrounding an alleged lack of “checks and balances” within the county government.

Monroe County Republican Chairman Steve Hogan claimed several local issues have received insufficient or biased media coverage.

“In two weeks we will be electing county leadership, and issues that will drastically change the future of Monroe County are on the table,” Hogan said.
 
Hogan focused much of the press conference on criticisms surrounding the Monroe County Comprehensive Land Use Plan, a plan for economic and residential
development.

Hogan said the plan was passed by the Board of Commissioners in February 2012, allegedly disregard Monroe County Comprehensive Land Use Planing public input in the process. Hogan claimed that no ordinances have been passed with reference to the plan because “to do so prior to the election could prove disastrous to the incumbents.”

New property restrictions in the plan include prohibiting construction on a 15 percent slope or on any land without a connection to city sewers, according to the plan document.

Hogan said he believed the plan could be summed up with a quote from page 59 of the 111-page document. It states, “The presumed future use of rural property shall be the current vested use.”

Hogan suggested that as a result there will be little room for development on rural property, preventing economic growth.
 
“Democrat Commissioners and County Council voted this through as if it were a normal part of our future to take away private property rights,” Hogan said.

Monroe County Planning Director Larry Wilson responded to Hogan’s allegations by clarifying that the plan simply presents broad guidelines.
 
Just because a provision is mentioned in the plan doesn’t mean it will be passed on. He also said the Planning Commission aims to approach the County Council by the end of the year with a proposal to fund the hiring of a consultant to assist with the development of the ordinance.

The Planning Commission will seek additional input through public hearings during the development of the ordinance, possibly modifying provisions included in the comprehensive plan.

“The ordinance was not delayed for political reasons,” Wilson said. “It was delayed for lack of funding.”

Wilson also defended the plan’s guidelines and said the commission hopes to encourage urban growth but direct it to areas where existing infrastructure is available.

“It will not prohibit housing development in non-urban areas, but you don’t want a dense shopping center to go in the middle of a cornfield,” he said. “There’s no money to make new infrastructure.”

During the press conference, Hogan also mentioned Auditor Amy Gerstman’s alleged use of county credit cards for personal reasons, an act currently under investigation.
He criticized current commissioners for continuing to provide Gerstman with her $50,0000 payroll despite the fact that “she has not actively nor otherwise been in that office since this was reported a year ago.”

Hogan and Republican candidate for auditor Vivien Bridges, who was also in attendance at the press conference, also questioned the reasoning behind an alleged “interlocal agreement” made between the auditor’s office and the Solid Waste District in August 2011.

Bridges said an unnamed employee in the auditor’s office, who had been fired, secured a job in the Solid Waste District, a completely separate entity, with the help of County Commissioners. Bridges called it a “sweetheart deal” on behalf of the commissioners.  

“The commissioners need to be responsible,” Hogan said. “If they’re shuffling stuff under the rug, they need to be held accountable.”

A representative from the Commissioner’s Office could not be reached for comment.
Hogan said he hopes to incite public discussion surrounding the issues mentioned prior to the election in two weeks.

“These issues should be reported and be hot topics of conversation with everyone,” Hogan said.