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Nepotism or Not? In both the city and the CISD school board elections, nepotism has become an issue. Nepotism is defined as "Favoritism shown or patronage granted to relatives or close friends by those in power." Columnist Keith Ferrazzi of Inc. Magazine lists the advantage nepotism gives as "1) Superior ACCESS to people in power; 2) The deepest CARE and concern from those people who can speed you to success, and then, and only then; 3) Sufficient SKILL." One example of nepotism at CISD is Jo Damron working for her husband, Superintendent Robert Damron (Salary $137,500.00). Mrs. Damron, with only a Bachelors degree and two years service at CISD, gets paid more than teachers with Masters degrees and over 30 years service at CISD. Ask all the teachers you know if their base salary is more than Mrs. Damron's base salary of $58,219.00. If you find one, let me know. Nepotism makes this possible. Another example of nepotism at CISD is Amy Martin (Salary $45,292.00 plus $1,000.00 stipend), who works for her mother, Sharron Miles (Salary $78,530.00). Sharron Miles job title is Executive Director of Special Projects. Amy Martin's job title is TANF/Migrant/Adult Literacy Coordinator for Adult Education. Could Amy Martin find a job in the world of business for as much money? Another example of nepotism at CISD is Kara Mead (Salary $37,936.00) whose husband Brad Mead sits on the CISD school board. This year Mrs. Mead was given the additional job of cheerleader sponsor for which she receives a $3,000 stipend. This addition to her salary was made with her husband sitting on the school board. That is nepotism. And in recent news at CISD, there is the case of Kyle Boles (CISD Salary $47,999.00) whose mother Donna Boles is president of the CISD School Board. Kyle (who has been a good city councilman), has been a CISD assistant principal for four years. He would like to and deserves the opportunity to move up to a principal position at CISD or another school. He is currently being considered as a candidate for Principal of Cleburne Intermediate School. Even though his mother Donna steps out of the closed meeting when the Board discusses her son Kyle, her influence is there in her absence. That is nepotism. Nepotism is not confined within one body. It can cross over or be shared among entities. In the case of Sharron Miles, her son Adam Miles has a job with the City of Cleburne in the overpaid position of Assistant City Manager - a position created just for him. He is essentially an apprentice City Manager since he was not really needed because we already had a City Manager, Chester Nolen (Salary $156,372.76) and Deputy City Manager Larry Barkman (Salary $128,494.02). Mr. Miles pay of $79,104.38 makes him a very highly paid apprentice. When it's time for a new city manager, why can't Cleburne recruit an experienced person from another city who is ready to move up? Now we come to the nepotism to top all. Current CISD School Board member Elaine Wilmore is running for Mayor of Cleburne. Her husband, Greg Wilmore (Salary $105,461.85) is the Director of Finance for the city. Mrs. Wilmore claims this would not be nepotism because the mayor only has three employees, and the Director of Finance is not one of them. This statement by her shows her lack of knowledge of city government. The mayor does not have any employees. The three she is apparently referring to includes the city manager, who answers to and is hired and fired by the city council. The city council consists of the mayor and the four single member district councilmen. It takes a majority, or three votes, to do anything. That majority may or may not include the mayor. The mayor IS the highest elected official in city government and should have the dominant influence in all decisions related to city business, including city employees. However, we have a misguided government which gives the most of that power to the non-elected city manager. The mayor does have the power to set items on the agenda of the city council. The mayor could place the firing of the present city manager and the hiring of a new manager on the agenda. If he or she got two councilmen to go along, we would have a new city manager, possibly with a mandate to reduce the bureaucracy and streamline operations. This might include replacing the Finance Director, Mrs. Wilmore's husband. If Mrs. Wilmore was Mayor, would this happen? The Salaries paid to the three people in the City Managers Department is a very real campaign issue. Council Candidate Sonny Russell has a chart on his campaign site at http://www.votesonnyrussell.com showing the average yearly compensation for the City Managers Department. Cleburne's compensation, even without the 5% recent raise, is 47% above the average of cities of comparable size. None of the other cities the size of Cleburne have 3 City Managers. Compare these figures:
While Mrs. Wilmore claims that her being Mayor technically would not be nepotism, it really is. Having a husband and wife team as Director of Finance and Mayor is a very bad idea. They will be able to sit down at the supper table and discuss how city business is to be conducted and what favors will be given to whom. That is nepotism. A friend said "They (the Wilmores) should sit down and decide together whether they want Greg's salary (of $105,461.85) or the unpaid position of Mayor for Elaine." Choosing one and dropping the other is the only way nepotism can be avoided in this case. The various governing entities and even the state all have "rules" of exception to the prohibition of nepotism. Those self-serving exceptions notwithstanding, nepotism is nepotism and should be purged from all levels of government.
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