May 20
Pleasant Grove Says “NO” To Dual Role
2009 at 8:02 am | posted by Rep. Craig Frank 3 comments
Pleasant Grove is a city in northeast Utah County with a population of approximately 30,000. Since May of 2003, I have represented the good people of this area.
By Council declaration, individuals who hold an elected position within Pleasant Grove cannot simultaneously be employed by the City. An article in the Daily Herald reports on this determination by the Council. I understand their reasoning. Individuals who sit in Council seats can (and usually are) biased by their employment circumstances. Voting on budgets directly tied to their departmental costs and pay is too risky a business and may compromise the integrity and create conflict for those persons in that position.
If that logic is accurate, then, if we follow that thinking through to the state level, should state and county employees including teachers, county managers, etc. be able serve in the state legislature? Hmmmmm….
3 Responses to “Pleasant Grove Says “NO” To Dual Role”
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May 20th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Is it a complete analogy? State govt is much, much larger than city govt, so the benefits that a state employee can steer toward herself are much smaller than those that a city employee can steer herself.
For example, if a teacher in the legislature pushes for a large increase in education funding, he’s unlikely to see much personal gain. But if a police officer pushes for much higher law enforcement budgets in PG, different story–there are far fewer cops in PG than teachers in Utah.
May 20th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Economies of scale. Any other responses…I’m looking for answers.
May 21st, 2009 at 9:02 am
The isssue becomes those that serve on the council, who essentially become the bosses of those over their own supervisors, and then are under the responsibility of someone that the council guides. I was at that meeting, and I proclaimed that this was how I wished for the council to vote and change the rules.
After the meeting, there were a couple of city employees (I don’t know their names so don’t try and get it from me) that thanked those that stood up for our opinions and for getting this changed because it has been such a problem for so many years.
So, yes, this is a problem, and yes it should be changed.