Editor, the News-Herald:

The not-so-big city of Suffolk has slowly but surely become the city of &uot;high rollers&uot; and &uot;big spenders.&uot; Example: We have a city council that must travel to far distant, exclusive places with luxury accommodations (with wine stewards) to have a simple city council retreat.

Now we (taxpayers) have a school board (seven members) only recently returned from an &uot;expense-free&uot; California trip. There has never been, nor will there ever be any education, school-related situation, condition or business that will require the physical presence of the entire seven-member school board to be present on the West Coast (California) at the same time.

To that add this: Just a few short weeks after its return from their &uot;free&uot; ride to California, this very same school board meets and votes to double its salary.

It has become crystal-clear that most, not all, of Suffolk’s elected officials have lost their way. They very conveniently forget that they were elected to do &uot;public service.&uot;

Whenever an elected or appointed official in this city feels that he or she finds that the demands of their time, that their workload has become so great that he or she deserves or &uot;needs&uot; a double salary increase, then that same person should get out of the business of &uot;public service&uot; and get a job.

T.C. Williams

Suffolk