Manatee County commissioners err in dumping Ed Hunzeker

The board of directors for a corporation hires a president/CEO to manage the day-to-day operations of the corporation. The CEO in turn hires a management staff to assist with the management process. A good board does not micromanage operations. Can you imagine that a board of directors would fire a president/CEO who had successfully brought the company through a very difficult economic downturn and is poised to move forward in better times.

It appears that this is exactly what four county commissioners are willing to do by voting to replace our current county administrator. Ed Hunzeker has done a yeoman's job of guiding the county through very difficult economic times.

Now that better economic times are here and tax revenues are available to shore up infrastructure needs and address new challenges, these four county commissioners want to change horses in the middle of the stream. Since Mr. Hunzeker had to make the hard decisions with his staff of how to reduce and control costs, it is logical he would know how to judiciously apply now available funding to best serve our county. A new administrator is going to have a learning curve concerning our culture and needs.

This is a prime example of politics over sound business decision-making and the need for campaign finance reform to mitigate special-interest influence.

If the current vote stands, let me be one of the first to say thank you, Ed, for your outstanding service for Manatee County during very difficult times.

This story was originally published January 12, 2017 at 2:24 PM with the headline "Manatee County commissioners err in dumping Ed Hunzeker."