Screening checks should start at the top
To the editor:
How proper it is that our Town Council has established a policy that all potential town volunteers will undergo a “Criminal Background Screening Check.”
How correct our town attorney Marilyn Miller is when she states the importance of such checks to be certain the town isn’t exposed to “potential liabilities for negligent hiring even though they are just volunteers.” The checks are so “we do not unknowingly have someone working with the public that has been convicted of a crime.”
How congruent this is with the existing policy that all salaried employees from the town manager to the maintenance staff are subjected to this same screening.
How monumentally disingenuous and hypocritical it is for the Council not to have included themselves and all future council candidates among those to be screened.
How lame Town Manager Terry Stewart’s explanation is that elected officials, Council-appointed boards, committees and commissions will not be subjected to the screening because they “are meeting in a public environment.”
How much more credible the policy would be if the screening process started at the top.
Jay Light
Fort Myers Beach