Letter: Not all of Willows' City staff belong here

Willows has a group of hard-working, dedicated public employees. This includes but certainly is not limited to our new public works director, the building inspector, the Fire Chief, the Chief of Police, the finance director, and the staff in City Hall.  And they treat people with the respect the public deserves.  These individuals can do their jobs and enforce the mandates required by their positions in a way that serves the “public’s interest” while allowing for and protecting the rights of others.

I, and many others have enjoyed excellent working relationships with these people and their predecessors.  Why?  Because these employees are members of the local community.  Our sheriff, police and fire departments protect their homes and families.  Their children attend local schools.  Our hospital, doctors and dentists provide their family’s healthcare.  Many city workers pass their neighbors in our grocery stores or see them at social events and in our restaurants.  They sit next to their neighbors at our football games Fridays and in our churches on Sundays. 

These people have personal and collective investments in our community.

However, there is a clear distinction between the local city staff and the City’s “contract employees.”  For example, the city engineer and the city planner don’t live here.  One is from Yuba City, the other from Davis.  They don’t belong here.  They drain our City coffers of its revenue and they extract fees from the individuals and businesses that are here and the companies that come here.  But they don’t suffer any personal losses for being here—only income.  Most importantly, what they do and their decisions do not impact the livelihoods of the neighbors of Mr. Swartz and Ms. Mantele—not one little bit. 

These out-of-town contract employees then take the local tax and business dollars to their hometowns.  Plus, they don’t live with the effects and pay for the mischief they cause--but we, the people in our community do.  Stay tuned.  In coming weeks we will see how much these people cost our community and its citizens. 

Forrest J. Sprague

Editor’s note:  Forrest J. Sprague is a past Glenn County Supervisor and former Chief of Staff for a state senator.  Currently he is a home builder and land use consultant.  From time to time, his opinions will be shared on this page.  Comments for or questions of him can be emailed to forsprague@aol.com, or by calling 934-8100.