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Too many ‘pros’ ?
AN INTERESTING question of “lay” versus “professional” representation on public organizations such as regional mental health Commissions was brought up at last Thursday’s meeting of the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors.
Obviously concerned about getting maximum representation for her county’s interests, one of the Rappahannock members of the so-called Chapter Ten regional commission expressed the fear that perhaps the county might be better served if a “professional” person were named instead of her.
Quite rightly, the Supervisors gently disagreed. Her very presentation of the problem illustrated the value of having a “lay” person among all the “professionals.” Some people might even use the word “bureaucrats.”
AND AS THE Chairman of the Board remarked, such professional bureaucrats can be quite adept at dreaming up programs and of devising elaborate schemes for obtaining funds to finance these programs.
The problem is in how those funds are spent, and too often, professional bureaucrats just want to speqd money because it’s there—-not because it might be doing the job it was intended to do, and sometimes—without any great thoughts about the appropriateness of the program itself.
So, let’s keep non-professional “lay” members among such conclaves of bureaucrats, by all means. As Clemenceau put it long ago: “War is too important to be left to generals.” □
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