In just a couple of sentences, Frank Robinson managed to sum up just how bad things became in Apple Valley with him as Town Manager (Former Apple Valley Town Manager Frank Robinson looks to the future,
Daily Press, July 29, 2017).
To start with, no government is like a multi-million-dollar corporation,
including that of Apple Valley. Corporations don’t have the ability to levy taxes, so they have to pay attention to the bottom line. With government, the only restrictions are how much you can squeeze from your tax base without providing promised services, and how long you can get away with malfeasance.
But it goes further than that. Corporations are run for the benefit of its owners. Municipalities are supposed to be run for the benefit of the citizenry. Clearly, Robinson’s reference to multi-million-dollar corporations was attempting to justify the sky-high salaries at Town Hall, but in so doing he has revealed that what they do is for their own welfare, not ours. How does it feel living in a company town
run by the Town Manager who receives ten times the income of the average citizen, plus benefits worth three times the income of the average citizen?
As for being a looking forward kind of guy,
this is certainly true in terms of his success at boosting his massive pension, as well as in his leaving town (and even the state) before problems with millions in HUD funds, RDA funds, misspent Town reserves, and rising crime become common knowledge.
I hope everyone who still thinks the Town plans to run the water system for the advantage of the citizens rather than for its own ends is paying attention.
Greg Raven, Apple Valley, CA