Article Buoys County Employees

* As a retired county employee who worked for Orange County for 25 years, I was gratified by your report on county employees’ pay rates (“O.C. Workers’ Pay Within ‘Market Rate,’ ” May 18). For years I have heard critics urging savings by reducing compensation for “overpaid” workers and reduction of the work force.

Critic Bruce Whitaker claims that you can do anything you want with a survey such as this, implying that you reach a conclusion and then gather the data. That is a two-edged sword which can be turned upon the critics. I doubt that many of the vocal activists have had actual experience in working in county offices.

As in private employment, there are workers who are not pulling their weight. The majority of county employees whom I met during my tenure were individuals who were attentive to their jobs, took pride in their work, and earned every penny of their pay. They remained loyal to their employer, many retiring with 20 or more years of service. When the county ran into financial problems due to ineptitude at top levels (mainly elected officials), it was the line workers who paid the greater price in lost jobs, anxiety, increased workloads, pay freezes, and loss of part of their deferred compensation accounts.

County workers should be appreciative of your article even though there will still be those who will claim that the workers are freeloaders. The best advice is to ignore the noise.

RAY BRACY

Tustin

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* Your recent article detailing the exodus of county employees and resultant brain drain fails to state the real problem now (“O.C. Hopes End of Bankruptcy Stems Exodus,” May 13).

What we are left with after all of the good ones leave for greener pastures is a bureaucracy run by 30-year bureaucrats who failed to secure a promotion during their tenure and now are in charge by default.

The managers left running the show will refuse to allow the hiring of new and creative personnel for fear that their newly found thrones will be toppled. It is a sorry state of affairs, with little hope in sight as long as the ones making the hiring decisions are the ones who should have left a long time ago themselves.

HENRY DAVIS

Huntington Beach