Officials respond to criticism

Criticism of the Jay County Commissioners’ job performance by the president of the Jay County Council drew a sharp rebuke Monday.
Mike Leonhard, a former commissioner who is opposing fellow Republican Faron Parr in the May primary, took aim at the commissioners in a candidate profile in Saturday’s edition of The Commercial Review.
Leonhard had noted, in particular, that commissioners’ meetings are now wrapped up by noon but had spilled over into the afternoon in the past.
“It is our belief that not all of the business of the county is to be conducted on Mondays in the Commissioners’ Room,” said Faron Parr, reading a prepared statement into the record on behalf of all three commissioners.
“Each of the commissioners puts in many more hours each week beyond the scheduled meeting and are in regular contact with department heads. Thanks to cell phones, email and text messaging, there is less and less need for the public and department heads to attend a commissioners’ meeting. We feel that our doors are never closed to anyone, the public or our department heads. We also believe that it is not our job to micromanage the work done by county employees, so you will not find us driving around the county inspecting ditches,” the statement said.