On Tuesday, interim Deputy County Administrator Stephanie Garrison told commissioners that the county had delayed a ham-fisted plan to eliminate the public’s ability to comment on BOCC meeting live streams until after the primary elections because staff knew it would be “unpopular” with the public and presumably didn’t want them taking out their frustrations at the ballot box. Top members of the administration were said to have been sweating bullets over the fate of their employment until the developer darlings carried the day.
As TBT’s Dawn Kitterman reported, Garrison’s explanation “drew audible shock and laughter from citizens seated in the chambers.” Chair Tal Siddique immediately threatened to “vacate the chambers,” probably because the laughter seemed to come from nearly everyone in attendance, making it impossible to identify individual offenders. Also, come on, Tal, there’s a difference between being disrespectful and having a genuinely spontaneous response, like when a fart embarrassingly sneaks out in a public setting, rather than being crudely ripped by some boorish lout. This laughter was definitely spontaneous.
Garrison’s explanation was hilarious precisely because public officials rarely say the quiet part out loud. In Garrison’s defense, despite her ascendant role in MCG, she has very little experience in the public sector. When she was hired last year into the newly created role of Director of Government Relations, then-Deputy Administrator Courtney De Pol told commissioners, “Ms. Garrison brings a wealth of experience in legislative affairs, strategic communications, and community engagement,” having “honed her skills in policy development and stakeholder relations” in her previous position as senior legislative aide to State Senator and current RNC Chair Joe Gruters…