County legislators’ feud with Frank White is costing Jackson County taxpayers

Spats between legislators and county executives are the stuff of legend in Jackson County.

Long-timers remember a particularly bitter public exchange between then-County Executive Katheryn Shields and legislative Chairman Victor Callahan in the late 1990s that was likened to a mud-wrestling scrum.

“You are a sick man, Victor,”' Shields proclaimed that day. “You are a sick human being.”

Other county executives — namely Bill Waris, Marsha Murphy and Mike Sanders — also whipped up their share of headlines as the result of squabbles with legislators.

But few disputes between county executives and legislators have reached the depths we’re seeing now. The rhetoric may not have reached the same pitch, but the financial cost of the breakdown in relations may never have been higher.

As The Star reported this week, legislators are taking steps to hire their own staff to help them sort out the upcoming budget process and guide them through the challenge of building a new jail.

In more normal times, the county executive’s staff handles that work.

But these aren’t normal times. Relations between County Executive Frank White, who’s still a relative newcomer in the job, and a squad of legislators, several of whom have double-digit years of experience, have devolved into distrust and discord. Now legislators are considering spending nearly $400,000 to create three new executive positions to do work that White’s staff normally does.

And that figure doesn’t include benefits.

This is the very definition of duplicative and is a sign of utter dysfunction. It can’t continue.

It’s particularly troubling given the county’s relatively small portfolio of responsibilities. But even that light workload has proven too much. As things stand now, the county is facing mounting criticism for its botched administration of its county jail, which is beset with overcrowding and guard shortages that have raised serious questions about the facility’s security.

Also in question is the county’s ability to accurately assess commercial property. Those assessments, critics say, often vary wildly from the market. The recent controversy over the value of the Country Club Plaza suggests exactly that.

Now we have a serious dispute over how to prepare the next county budget and how to proceed with the all-but-inevitable rebuilding of the county jail.

All this brings to mind the old saw about politics: the smaller the stakes, the more vicious the infighting.

We understand the frustration with White, the former Royal all-star second baseman who was way too slow to recognize the seriousness of the jail crisis that’s already cost lives and resulted in lawsuits.

“Let’s get on the stick,” legislator Dan Tarwater barked earlier this month at a legislative meeting. “It’s a public safety matter. People are getting hurt!”

Now, legislative veterans — we’re talking about Tarwater (22 years on the Legislature), chairman Scott Burnett (18 years) and Dennis Waits (30 years) — need to find a way to overcome their frustrations and work with White. They need to back off their demands to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in largely duplicative hires at a time the legislature is looking at the likelihood of spending upwards of $200 million on a new jail.

The infighting is getting out of control, and that’s saying something in Jackson County.

This story was originally published October 27, 2017 at 4:30 PM with the headline "County legislators’ feud with Frank White is costing Jackson County taxpayers."