The situation involving the firefighter who married a co-worker’s niece needs some “tweaking.” This is just another illustration why I believe that every law, from local town/city level all the way to the federal level needs a “sunset clause,” or at least a re-visiting from time to time. There is no “one-size-fits-all” law or policy. There are exceptions to every rule except one. That one rule with no exceptions is “There are no exceptions!”
All the “zero tolerance” policies in effect are prime examples for the need of re-visiting laws periodically, just to ensure that they are working as intended.
In this particular case, I do not see a conflict unless one or the other of these two fire fighters is promoted and transferred so that there is a nepotism situation. Until then, the city council should leave these two men alone while revising the wording of the current policy. It has always amused me how lawyers and law-makers can go to great lengths to phrase something to make it sound all-inclusive when simply using plain English would suffice.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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