Mr. T could never work for the City of Mansfield. Neither could celeb Victoria Beckham or “American Idol” hopeful Crystal Bowersox. Host Ryan Seacrist could, though, but not judge Randy Jackson.
The city’s new dress code for munici-pal workers prohibits extreme styles such as too much jewelry, wild hair and sloppy clothing.
The new dress code is virtually unenforceable, a waste of time and a waste of money.
We’ve already spent too much energy just preparing the legislation that would require dress and grooming conformity city wide.
The code prohibits:
z Obscene tattoos.
z Wearing hats indoors.
z Flip-flops.
z More than two earrings per lobe.
z Excessive jewelry. Jewelry is limited to one ring on each hand for males or two rings on each hand for females, one watch on either wrist and medical alert or medical treatment bracelet.
According to the new rules, hair simply must be controlled.
For example:
z Employees are permitted to change the color of their hair only within the “natural hair color spectrum.”
z Employees hair will present a neat, groomed appearance “not exceeding 11/4 inches in bulk, regardless of length.”
z Hair will not fall within 1 inch of the eyebrows.
z Women may wear conservative hair clasps or barrettes. Women wearing city-issued head gear may not allow their hair to be visible on the forehead.
z Men’s hair may not cover the outside surface of the ear. Sideburns must be neatly trimmed with the flare not more than 1 inch wide. Mustaches must be neatly trimmed, not extending more than half an inch beyond the side of the mouth, or below the bottom of the upper lip. Goatees and beards must be trimmed to not longer than 1 inch.
We are not making this up.
But our argument is not with the dress code, per se. Rather, we are appalled at the timing of such a move.
After reading about the code, one of our online commenters expressed a clear opinion that many share.
“Are you serious? Is this all our city government has to worry about? We are in a crisis; this city is in danger of turning into a lawless stink hole with more empty store fronts than full ones. Before long there won’t be anything to worry about other than tripping over a tumble weed blowing down Park Ave.
“Let’s spend our time a little more constructively. There are plenty of other problems going on in this town to worry about what somebody is wearing or what they look like. They said they have been looking into this for about a year. I hope they were not getting paid for it. Just think of all of the money they could have saved.”
Or this one from Mansfield Finance Director Kelly Blankenship, who said she has more important issues to worry about.
“I am not about to start dictating and micromanaging my employees’ grooming habits. My employees haven’t had one cent of a raise since I took office,” she said. “We have lost eight staff members. Morale is low. Our chief concern is finding ways to increase revenues and cut costs.”
Already we have union reps looking at legal action over contracts the new rules may violate. If an employee passed muster when they were hired, they ought to pass inspection now.
Our opinion is instead of measuring the length of hair on a man’s face, the city should take a ruler out and measure the length of grass and noxious weeds on any number of lots in Mansfield? Talk about code violations.
A handful of people may see a scruffy beard and wonder what kind of standards we have, but when thousands of people drive by the run-down, overgrown vacant or deserted properties in our city, they get a clear message.
Let’s stop worrying about tattoos and mullets and begin working on standards that really make a difference.
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