Macsay Embittered
Monday Night Group Gains Ground
The Monday Night Group overcame an obstinate Modoc County Board of Supervisors Tuesday, Sept. 7, in getting the board to listen to a six-point plan for fiscal responsibility.
While the group of local business leaders managed to get a foot in the door, the board temporarily closed it until a finance training session for department heads can be conducted by Auditor Darcy Locken next week.
Calling the Sept. 7 discussion of the six-point proposal, which is largely aimed at the county’s management accountabilities, one of the most cordial he had heard by the Monday Night Group, Chair Dan Macsay then leveled a personal blast of bitterness at the ad hoc citizen committee.
“I get this distinct impression you guys feel we’re doing nothing, that we are sitting here doing nothing,” Macsay told Don Demsher and Rev. Ben Zandstra, spokesmen for the Monday Night Group.
“I’ve been on this board seven and a half years and all this crap happened a hell of lot longer before I got on the board,” Macsay said. “The transparency is there, obviously we need to get out to the public on some things, but you’re asking us to adopt these whether we want them or not.”
Macsay went on to credit the Monday Night Group for doing its best in working with the board, but then reversed himself saying the six-point proposal was a “take it or leave it” matter “and if we leave you will be back.”
“You tell us we don‘t know what we are doing, you cut us down and come back week after week,” Macsay went on. “It’s just the way it’s brought in here. Take it or leave it. And if we leave it you will be back. I’m sorry,” Macsay said.
What the Monday Night Group has persisted in accomplishing, after the board refused to hear its plan on Aug. 24, is to bring before the board a step-by-step plan aimed at making the board accountable for its financial oversight of county expenditures dependent on withdrawals from the treasury.
After Supervisor Patricia Cantrall withdrew her motion for approval, she came back with a motion to table further action on the six-point plan until the board’s Sept. 28 meeting when it is expected the supervisors will reconsider the proposal on a point-by-point basis. Supervisor Shorty Crabtree seconded the motion.
Demsher, when asked later if he was satisfied with the board’s reception, told the Modoc Independent News he was cautious.
“There seemed to be a overall change in attitude,” Demsher said. “But they tabled it and will probably take one or two points at a time, which is okay if they are serious about working on them. But if it’s a holding pattern, that’s a problem.
“Without a plan that is comprehensive, manageable and detailed there will not be a bond, and the state’s not going to be of any assistance,” Demsher predicted. “If legislation is going to be introduced in the next session, the state is going to want guarantees about management and this is what it’s all about.”
In the meantime Auditor Locken is planning a training session for department heads on the complex intricacies of the county’s budget and accounting practices.
