Cabarrus Cheap Seats

Dear Mr. Smith and Commissioner Privette,

I know that this is the 180th post that I’ve written since May of 2005 on this blog and many of those posts have been critical, and some would say overly strident, of statements and decisions made by the both of you in concert or separately. So, you have absolutely no reason to listen to me. It would be difficult for me to claim that I’m an ally calling in a favor nor could I threaten either of you as an adversary. I’m writing you in appeal to your sense of decency as a fellow, concerned citizen in Cabarrus County.

Recently, Harold Smith has posted on his site the names, position titles, and annual compensation of what he claims are all of the Cabarrus County employees. Harold requested the information from the Cabarrus County Manager, John Day, and the Huma Resources Director, Don Cummings, under the auspices of an “independent review”. Harold never mentioned in his request that he was going to plaster the raw data on his website for the entire world to pick apart.

Don Cummings, the Human Resources Director, provided this information to Harold in a timely manner (Harold made the request late Monday night and Don presented Harold with the salaries for 849 employees by close-of-business Friday) in good faith and in accordance with North Carolina law. A more cynical individual would view Harold’s endeavor as political recompense for actions taken by the County Manager which were perceived as an affront to the effort of your mutual political allies in the Cabarrus Taxpayers’ Association PAC. For now, I’m offering the benefit of the doubt and believing that you both sincerely feel as though Harold and “his subscribers” can do a job superior to that of an experienced, compensation professional with data and sophisticated analysis tools. As the old saying goes, “Amateurs built the Ark; but professionals designed the Titanic”

In either case, I fail to see where it is necessary to publish the full names along with their titles and salary to perform a detailed analysis or even a callous political stunt. Violating the privacy of more than 800 people is an unnecessary means to either of those ends. These people are our neighbors, they work hard, and many of them contribute to our community by volunteering time outside of their civil service in various churches and organizations. I feel that they and their families should not have their privacy unnecessarily violated to serve your purposes whatever they may be.

I’m asking for the following changes in this “analysis”. Continue the review and posting of salaries and positions for all employees; but limit your publishing of names with the salaries to only the top 1% of Cabarrus County Employees and the members of the Board of Commissioners. Please exclude publishing the names of the remaining 99% of employees. One percent would be about nine County Employees. It would be helpful to include the five Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners members. These 14 people earn more than $950,000 a year cumulatively. The nine County Employees who make up the top 1% earn an annual salary greater than or equal to $80,669.89 per year. Reviewing the level of service of these 14 individuals would be a good starting point in a sincere, objective review of Cabarrus County personnel operations or it would serve whatever political ends that this review might be intended to achieve.

By posting the only salaries and position titles of the remaining 99%, that segment of the public who frequents your site can participate in a comprehensive review of the entire personnel budget without compromising the privacy of our friends and neighbors.

So to Harold, I will commend you for actually going and getting the correct information straight from the staff. I know that I’ve criticized the accuracy of some of the data backing the statements you’ve made on your site. However, as someone whose career is largely analyzing data, I’ve found that it’s important to be discrete and judicious. What one does with the data is often more important than the raw data itself. As a professional, I’m asking you to reconsider your methods and follow the recommendations previously stated in this letter.

And to Commissoner Privette, I’m asking you, as Harold’s friend, to reach out to him and have him reconsider his methods. You and he have both contributed to many of the same political efforts and you are both officers in the Cabarrus Republican Men’s Club. Undoubtedly, he respects and admires you. You work with Cabarrus County staff on a regular basis and I’m sure that you respect them as colleagues - and, in some cases, as friends. I know for certain than many of them have provided you with information for several of your proposals and I’ve been there at meetings when they’ve stayed long into the night at meetings. I’m asking that you leverage these mutual relationships with Harold and Cabarrus County staff for the good of the families of Cabarrus County employees.

I’m fortunate to work in the private sector and have my compensation and personal information guarded by my employer. It’s unfortunate that, even in this age where our identity is endangered, the same protections cannot be afforded to public employees. While we live in a democracy that requires disclosure of government operations, it is up to us as citizens to apply neighborly decency when investigating those who innocently and honestly operate in government.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Justin Thibault