I said on Monday that I would give an update today on the progress of the ARPA paperwork, the consideration of my Resignation and my plans moving forward on the Commission. I made the decision not to attend the meeting today to address these topics in person as I felt the majority of those in attendance were not there to listen to real answers but to tell their assumptions and publicly chastise me.
First, I would like to address the topic of the ARPA paperwork. I will not make excuses or try to shift blame. I admit that I dropped the ball as I was the one who had the sign into the account. For that, I apologize and realize the detriment that it could have caused the County and the citizens. I personally worked well into the night on Monday and then again on Tuesday and corrected the issue. To clarify, there was no question whether the money was spent according to the guidelines and was solely just an issue with lack of reporting the expenditures. I plan to give real-time updates as to the status of this issue moving forward.
Next, I will address the call for my Resignation. To that, I am informing you that I will not be Resigning my position as Presiding Commissioner. I will not be bullied into Resigning by a select few citizens that may or may not have even voted for me. Resigning would be a disservice to the Citizens that did vote for me and truly know me and know that I have worked and fought for them for the past 11 years, and I will not give up for them and will continue to fight.
Lastly, I will address my plans for moving forward on the Commission. From this point on until my term is up, I pledge to do better for all the Citizens of the County and work productively with my fellow Commissioners, vowing to make sure there is full transparency moving forward and focusing my attention on the issues of the County and be willing to listen to the concerns of the great Citizens we have in our Communities.
Again, I sincerely apologize for my errors and have learned moving forward to ask for help when needed and to be open to accepting that help when offered.
Respectfully,
Jim Wheatley, Presiding Commissioner
