Danielsville’s mayor resigned Jan. 10, saying the job has “gotten the best of him.”
“I’m a good person and I’ve not done anything wrong, I’ve tried to do the right thing (as mayor),” Croya told The Journal Tuesday. “Politics is the devil, it’s evil.”
He added that he feels as if the council has “spent too much time worrying about what I’m doing” and that neither the council, the attorney nor the police chief trusted him to do his job.
Croya was not present for the council’s regular business meeting Jan. 9, which lasted a mere 30 minutes, but left documents with mayor pro-tem Junne Temple prior to the meeting outlining some of the issues that he feels impeded him from doing his job.
He said he gave her his keys and told Temple he was resigning, though he did not present an official letter of resignation until Tuesday afternoon. The matter was not mentioned during the Jan. 9 meeting.
Philip Croya
So much to say, just don't know where to start. He says that nobody "trusted him", these people don't trust anyone. There's a lot to be said for people that trust no one, I believe their trust issues make them less trust-worthy themselves. Then, mayor pro-tem June Temple said it "saddened" her? I doubt this statement, in my opinion it is exactly what she wanted. Temple also goes on to say that she held a staff meeting and "I’ve had a positive response from the employees, who will continue to do their jobs,". I'd say they're scared to death do or say anything different. The last staff meeting this council had, they told the staff they could do or say anything and it resulted in an employee being terminated just days later. Some honest people really need to step up and run for office in this poor city. Their drama is only inflicting damage on the county seat's respectability and its' citizens. People who have personal agendas should not run for public office. Just Sayin'...
Let He who is without sin cast the first stone.
Most of you have NO idea what actually is going on there. But, GOD willing, one day ALL will know, as the truth has a way of surfacing to the top of the muck.
She's about as saddened as someone who just ran over a snake!
It will be interesting to see what happens next. Hopefully, it will be for the good of Danielsville citizens.
Were you a fly on the wall for the last two years OR a REAL concerned citizen who went to the meetings, gave your input and know this first hand?
I seriously doubt you have valid information. You sound like the proverbial gossip monger to me. Just saying.............
Maybe YOU are the one who needs to "Fade" Away!
It seems most people here have that problem; everyone here views all relationships as personal which is inappropriate and counter-productive. There are personal relationships, there are business relationships and there are political relationships. Only the first involves feelings. The last involves point of view but not feelings. Business relationships should be completely devoid of feelings and point of view. Business is about money, value, time, effort, profit and commerce.
If you don't like the price of something, do you feel the need to declare to the owner with great indignation that they have personally insulted you by charging too much? No, you simply don't buy it; no emotion involved. If somebody fairly beats you at checkers, do you feel put upon? You have no grounds for that because the rules are clear so why whine?
Running a small town is part business and part political; neither has room for personal feelings. Rational point of view, yes. Functioning within clear rules, yes. No emotion. Just reason.
Of course, "when you buy peanuts, you get monkeys"!
point your finger all you want at specific persons but the system itself is problematic. There is often more that one acceptable answer. You have 5 people charged with determining which is best. That is where opinions and agendas can get it the way. There is NO training for running a city or for politics at all. We get elected,we take our seats, and we hope we don't drown.
Keep in mind, we did all this ALONE! No one was in the audience helping us. Before you
scream it is our job, consider this. We are elected by the people to REPRESENT the desires
of those people.In the absence of those desires we have to rely on ourselves.Not an easy thing to do if you care about your community(which we do). That being said, i believe the problem is that we often spend more time pointing out the errors of other people than we do helping prevent the errors from happening in the first place. Junne Temple is not the problem. Dale Perry is not the problem.
We ,as a community, need to let whomever sits at the table know what we expect of them. Now you guys can bash me all you want but remember this, I openly said i felt i was not a good councilman. I feel that i am unable to provide what the city needs right now. I did not want a second term but i felt pushed into running(mistake for me to give in,i know) and was afraid no one else would. I did not try to win(although i am sure i would have lost no matter how much i wanted it)because i am certain that Tim will do a good job. So i feel i did what i should have. I know what was in my heart and if anyone here bothered to get to
know me, you would too.
In closing,If you want your communities to thrive, PLEASE get involved as much as you are
able. We,the people,have the power. Let's use it responsibly.
Making it easier to communicate with representatives would help. I e-mailed my county representative with questions and concerns and copied the commission chairman on a particular issue. I never heard from my representative, but Mr. Dove responded. We went back and forth a bit and I had most of my concerns addressed and my viewpoints expressed, but to the wrong person.
If representatives want constructive input, then they should maintain either a web site or a list of e-mail addresses of interested citizens who can be contacted enmasse to convey information and/or solicit opinions on issues. I suspect a great many in Madison County have been too slow to adapt to the computer world which has been around for 40 years now. It reminds me of the city of Hull wanting to publish a newsletter and being concerned about the cost of paper, printing and delivery. Anybody can create a website and post information and it costs nothing. Those who are not computer literate could sign up to receive a paper copy via snail-mail; hopefully that number would be very small and disappear in time.
http://www.gmanet.com/Training.aspx?CNID=24828
" The 1990 Georgia General Assembly passed legislation requiring city officials elected after July 1, 1991, to complete training on matters pertaining to the administration and operations of municipal governments."
"This course must be taken within the first 12 months of taking office."
"Topics include the role of the mayor and council; the legal, ethical and financial aspects of city government; and intergovernmental relations and working together within the city council. "
If not maybe that's the problem the city is having ?
Government is not static.It is a growing,ever changing system.I hope you will , at least , give me some credit for being open and honest here(but i do not need or expect it).I did not do anything dishonest or under the table during my term.Any mistakes you may feel that i made were also successes to others(and vice-versa).I also respect that all the posters here have a right to thier opinions.I bear no ill will to any of you(many people would).I will always be willing to answer questions about anything i did.I feel that i owe that to the people.I feel that ALL politicians owe that to the people but amongst them,i feel i stand virtually alone.I hope this helps you.
Excellent and in depth post. You make things very clear, in my opinion, and as is always the case, people can and will give their personal opinions. As the old addage says, "Opinions are like ********, everybody has one".
It is easy to opine on any subject even if one has no true knowledge of that subject. I am sorry to see Mr. Croya, Mr. Faust and Mrs. Merk go. I also have to wonder if it has occured to anybody else, that the reason all this became public information was because, there were finally some good people who wanted their city to be strong. People were continually urged to go to the Council meetings and give their input. It always becomes painful when major changes need to be made. So when things were beginning to get going in the right direction, unreliable gossip became the knowledge of the day.
What a crying shame it is that these three people couldn't seem to make others understand that change can be painful, but is often needed to make something grow.
I salute you Mr. Croya, Mr. Faust and Mrs. Merk for trying to make our city grow stronger and apologize for many peoples ignorance in what it really takes to try and please ALL citizens.
Early voting began today at City Hall.
I voted, have you?
I'll be anxious to see how many turn out.
And, I hope it's the biggest turnout ever.