It isn't hot-off-the-presses news that now former Paducah city manager Jim Zumwalt has been forced out of his position, but I haven't written about it yet. I actually was gone the last couple weeks visiting my mom, and I didn't post anything on this page in that time. But I have been trying to find the time since we got back to write some of my thoughts about these changes.

I had written about the Paducah city government before. I was not a fan of Zumwalt. I think that it was time for a new vision in that office. In fact, I don't even like the city manager type of government. As I've written before, it is a form of government which gives too much authority and pay to a person that isn't even elected. I say, make the elected folks run the government. That makes them accountable to the people that elected them.

But what is different now in the Paducah city council that I sense is a realization that relying too much on the mayor and city manager hasn't been producing the best results. It actually took them too long to figure it out - some real damage has been done to the city through bad decisions made in the past year or two - but better late than never.

Let's hope that a conscientious city council will now start making decisions which benefit the majority of the people in the city and not just a few of the elite. There's been too much of that in the past. Change can be good or bad, but I'm pretty sure that in this case, the change is good. I did however, roll my eyes a few times when I heard that the city is paying a "consultant" $23,000 to find a new city manager. This only adds to the absurdity of the city manager form of government. Why elect people if the people elected are going to pay other people to do the most important work? Take that money and pay the elected officials to do the work. If they don't want to spend their time doing the people's work, then they shouldn't run for office. That's sort of how I feel about it.