Less than four months after making former CAO Walter Schmid walk the proverbial plank, it looks like taxpayers are in for more purse-string piracy thanks to bad planning.

Not only must we buy out the former CAO, but we could pay his replacement somewhere between $14,000 and $28,000 more per year to do the same job. When can we hire a new CAO? It’s anybody’s guess.

Brilliant strategy.

Those on council who pushed for Schmid’s removal have much to account for these days.

They should have known before dropping Schmid like yesterday’s news what the plan was to replace him. They didn’t care to hammer out those details.

They should have known what it was going to cost to replace him before bringing down the axe. They didn’t care to figure that out either.

Now we have our fire chief, top planner and arguably the best administrative co-ordinator this town has ever had acting as a collective CAO, and we have no idea how long they will have to keep on in this capacity.

Did the councillors responsible for Schmid’s departure consider how a prolonged use of this triumvirate system might strain other areas of municipal operation?

They are starting to ask these questions now, but anybody with a sense of duty to this community would have demanded answers and action long before Schmid was packing up his desk.

The visioning process this council is going through is about six to eight months late. Council should have established a clear path for such a significant administrative shift shortly after taking office. Now, instead of carefully plotting things out, we fly from month to month not knowing what’s coming next, and the costs keep climbing.

Make no mistake, all the bickering, backstabbing and blundering is taking a toll on more than the treasury. Can you hear the snickering? It started as a whisper, but it is growing louder.

Within our town and in circles outside of it, the municipality of Huntsville is becoming laughable, and that is frustrating and perplexing. There is an abundance of community passion and experience around that council table, but instead of channeling it in the right direction, council chooses to run around chasing its tail.

This town doesn’t deserve a make-it-up-as-we-go approach, and it definitely shouldn’t have to swallow any pride.

B.H.