GUEST: Doing your job not meddling



By BOB STOETZEL

Editor West I would like to add my two cents into the story of the CTAS agent Doug Bodary. This will be my opinion only, although I am on the Board of Commissioners for Cannon County and as such I am the Chairman of said Commission, they are still my own words.

I read with interest your story in the January 30, 2013 edition of the Cannon Courier on pages 1 and 9 where the headlines read CTAS official out. Although it can be argued that transferring from one duty station to another can be called a resignation, I feel the word unjustly states what transpired with Mr. Bodary. The man is dedicated to CTAS and Cannon County to help the county get in compliance with state laws and county policies. He lives in the first district and is a taxpayer, homeowner and church goer. He wants what is best for the county. I have seen this personally on a daily basis.

I read what County Executive Mike Gannon had to say about Mr. Bodary and it enraged me. He says "I think it is the best for everyone that he no longer represents Cannon County.” What was Mr. Bodary doing that he was a menace to the county? Or was it that he was a menace to Mr. Gannon? Mr. Gannon tells of at least five office holders complaining about Mr. Bodary. I am aware of their complaints because they expressed them to me. However this was early on and after they got to know him, most of them let it go.

As far as phone calls from the County Executive they have been continual, almost on a weekly basis. Mr. Bodary would notify me when the calls were made. We would laugh about them because they got to be so many that the people who Mr. Gannon was calling took the calls and then ignored him. And as far as being a year ago for calling the boss, that is not so.

The point is this, what Mr. Gannon feels is a threat to Cannon County is just the opposite. He was quoted in the same article, "Bodary was meddling in local issues to the point that I felt we needed someone else to advise us.” I wonder how he was able to force out Bodary if he only talked to Bodary’s boss a year ago. But here is the kicker: Mr.Bodary decided for the sake of the county he would transfer to another county because this was now starting to be an obstacle in the way of progress.  The one thing that Mr. Gannon did not know is that everything  Doug Bodary did was ordered by the commission. He did what we asked him to do and the result of that, we were internationally credited with an A2* bond rating; we were saving a lot of money on lower interest rates. Mr. Bodary helped us pay off notes that were 30 years in longevity. In doing so we saved over $300,000.00 worth of interests payment. That is money we can use over the next 30 years on something other than mortgage payments.

Doug Bodary was also instrumental in getting an Audit Committee going to help the county find out where bad money management was going on in the county's departments. He designed a debt policy that was modeled from CTAS.  We now have a policy to go after money to help us grow as a viable county where we should be able to bring businesses in here to help our citizens' work in their own county instead of traveling long distances to go to work. He is on the county's Industrial Development Board which was able to find out all discrepancies in that department and found where the county has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars of revenue by allowing companies to take over the buildings the county owns and then not pay any rent for years to the IDB. The IDB was financially broke when the new board members were appointed and they now have turned the IDB around. Bodary has been side by side with the Sheriff to get money for a new roof and upgrades to the building which will keep the county out of lawsuits in the future.

No, Doug Bodary wasn't a menace or a meddler to the county. He was a solution to many of the  problems in our local government. I have to ask myself, why would Mike Gannon want to get rid of a person that has been nothing but a blessing to this county?

Thank you for allowing me to voice my opinion.

Bob Stoetzel

112 Houston Lane   Woodbury Tn. 

563-8191