By JUDY and DON MACHEN Los Alamos
We urge the citizens of Los Alamos, and the members of our County Council, to support Council Vice Chair Susan O’Leary’s request for an independent audit of the county’s personnel policies and how they are executed.
While some will respond to Councilor O’Leary’s request with resistance, what she is proposing is the right thing to do. Recent lawsuits against the county have added up to millions of dollars. It is incumbent upon the citizens of Los Alamos, and the County Council members who represent us, to ask why these lawsuits, and the resulting compensatory payments to county employees, are occurring.
Councilor O’Leary is not proposing a witch hunt. She is fulfilling her duty, as a member of the County Council, to oversee the management of our county. She is doing, for example, what responsible administrators of any business would do if lawsuits against that business began to increase: asking why. Her goal is not retribution but an outcome that all well-run businesses aspire to: continuous improvement of operations. She is being responsible both to the citizens of Los Alamos and to the county staff in asking why the county is making repeated settlement payments, why the careers and lives of some of the county’s employees have been adversely affected, and what the root causes could be.
These are questions that need to be asked—and answered.
While some will respond to Councilor O’Leary’s request with resistance, what she is proposing is the right thing to do. Recent lawsuits against the county have added up to millions of dollars. It is incumbent upon the citizens of Los Alamos, and the County Council members who represent us, to ask why these lawsuits, and the resulting compensatory payments to county employees, are occurring.
Councilor O’Leary is not proposing a witch hunt. She is fulfilling her duty, as a member of the County Council, to oversee the management of our county. She is doing, for example, what responsible administrators of any business would do if lawsuits against that business began to increase: asking why. Her goal is not retribution but an outcome that all well-run businesses aspire to: continuous improvement of operations. She is being responsible both to the citizens of Los Alamos and to the county staff in asking why the county is making repeated settlement payments, why the careers and lives of some of the county’s employees have been adversely affected, and what the root causes could be.
These are questions that need to be asked—and answered.
