Didn't We Just Have an Election?

No one ever said Democracy was easy.

In North Carolina, we have elections every year. This year the filing period opens at noon Monday, February 8, and closes at noon Friday, February 26.

Offices up for election include: United States Senate and House of Representatives; State Senate and House; District Attorney for our district; Pamlico County Commissioners District 3 and District 4 and two at-large seats; County Sheriff; Clerk of Superior Court; Board of Education District 4 and two at-large seats. In addition, we will vote for one seat on the NC Supreme Court, four seats on the Court of Appeals and two Superior Court Judges.

The above offices may have both a primary election May 4 and a General Election November second.

Just to make things easier to understand, there are two seats on the Pamlico County Soil and Water Conservation Supervisory Board. The filing period for those seats is June 14 to July 8.

The Board of Education seats are elected at a nonpartisan election held during the May 4 primary.

Oh, yes. There will be one-stop voting and instant registration for the Primary election, the second (runoff) primary if held, and the general election.

Everyone will have plenty of opportunities to vote.

Mark February 26 on your calendar. That would be a good day to start finding out about the candidates.

Town Board Special Meeting - Interim Audit

The Town of Oriental has called a special meeting for February 10 to discuss "interim professional accounting/auditing assistance, and to address additional personnel matters."

This appears to be for the purpose of addressing a proposal made by Commissioner Venturi at last Tuesday's town board meeting that the town contract with the auditing firm of Pittard, Perry and Crone to perform a mid-term audit. The cost: $2400. The reason: "the books haven't been balanced since October."

This is a superficially reasonable proposal that completely misses the point of an audit.

The reason that municipal audits are governed by the NC Local Government Commission is because the LGC is the agency that issues bonds on behalf of towns. Audits are for three purposes:
(a) to determine the financial health of the municipality (we are healthy);
(b) to verify that enterprise funds like the town's water system are financially separated from other funds, including the general fund (our audit raised a problem about that, but the Town Board had already identified the problem and was working to correct it);
(c) to determine that financial controls as required by state law are in place. Our auditor identified a number of problems in that area (e.g. lack of a purchase order system) that have existed for years.

What the audit doesn't do is "balance the books."

If there is, as alleged, a problem with the books, we need to identify the problem we're trying to solve. Then decide what is the proper instrument to solve it.

If the problem is that the books don't balance (whatever that means) or that the bank statements can't be reconciled, or that the town manager (as he admitted Tuesday) has made some incorrect Bay River entries, we don't need an auditor to correct that. We need a bookkeeper. We used to have a part-time bookkeeper. What happened?

Even if there is no present problem with the books, we should retain a bookkeeper.

It never occurred to me when we hired Mr. Cahoon that we were looking for a qualified bookkeeper. We shouldn't be paying him as much as we do to keep the books. He needs to manage. He needs to watch budget line items. He needs to make recommendations about budget amendments or other changes in priority in a timely fashion and bring problems to the Town Board's attention. He needs to supervise the town's affairs.

An auditor is not a bookkeeper. No one on town staff, so far as I know is a qualified bookkeeper.

The town should hire a part time bookkeeper.

Use it or Lose it

Some people out there think since I failed to be reelected last November, I should sit down and shut up.

Fat Chance!

I value free speech and open discourse too much to do that.

If you simply observe public events quietly and passively without exercising the right to speak freely, there may come a time when your speech organs have atrophied.

The challenge to those who wish to speak up is to speak clearly while avoiding personal invective, pejorative labels, and ad-hominem arguments. That's my goal. I hope I write dispassionately, but please do not mistake dispassionate discussion for a lack of passion about the issues.

What I seek to do is identify whatever the real problem may be and to offer logical, well thought out solutions.

I may not always succeed, but I'd rather try and fail than not to try.

February Town Board Meeting

Last night's (Feb 2) meeting of Oriental's Town Board was another discouraging excursion into recriminations. Most of the acrimony was on the sidelines, but for those who have been following town affairs, it was evident.

In January, one of the commissioners voted against adopting the minutes. Last night, all of the commissioners rejected the minutes. There was a lot of back and forth about audits and bookkeeping. One of the commissioners suggested scheduling a mid term audit, though exactly what the problem is to which that would be a solution was not apparent. In any event, she got no support for the idea.

Not brought up explicitly, but implicit in the agenda meeting and in other discussions is an alleged requirement for emergency access to the town manager's inner sanctum. Again, it is unclear what the problem is to which this is the solution. Nor does the discussion address the very real problem of protecting the integrity of sensitive personal and financial information which it is the town's duty to protect and of which the town manager is the custodian.

We need to get beyond the blame game and associated personal acrimony and into the business of identifying problems and developing solutions.

I have some ideas, which I will share over the next few days.

In the meantime, I have to get ready for a meeting.

South Avenue and Commissioner Styron

I just saw today's edition of the Pamlico News and noticed on page 5 the statement that "Defendants named in the suit are Lacy B. Henry and spouse, Judy B. Henry and Sherrill Styron and spouse Phyllis H. Styron."

The Styrons are no longer defendants.

Sherrill Styron was named in the original suit because he and his wife then owned a small piece of land which included two hundredths of an acre within the South Avenue right of way. The late Garland Fulcher acquired the two hundredths of an acre by quitclaim deed from Ann Wadley Wing about 1995 and combined it with an adjacent tract fronting on the harbor. He transferred ownership to Sherrill Styron before the town filed its suit. Sherrill Styron sold the parcel afterwards to Chris Fulcher, disclosing in the deed that there may be encumbrances on the property.

Neither Sherrill Styron nor Chris Fulcher responded to the suit, and as a result the town won with respect to that parcel. That two hundredths of an acre is no longer at issue. Both Sherrill Styron and Chris Fulcher acted properly, and the town no longer has any dispute with either of them concerning South Avenue.

South Avenue: The Fence

The fence at the end of South Avenue has been there, as best I can tell from correspondence, since 1992. It is entirely within the boundaries of the town's rights of way for South Avenue and Avenue A.

The fence needs to come down as soon as possible after the Superior Court judge signs the final order carrying out the decision of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Before removing the fence, there is a significant task that needs to be done - clean up the mess along the waterline and in the underbrush behind the fence. There may be residual machinery and other junk remaining from when the marine railway last operated. Under the terms of the last lease to Mr. Henry, anything remaining on the right of way at expiration of the lease belongs to the town.

Rather than wait until the town is able to obtain a clean-up grant, it seems to me a good idea to have a clean-up party. I would be happy to collect names of Oriental residents willing to volunteer to help in the clean-up. Drop a line to me, David Cox at cox.d.r@att.net. I'll collect the names and pass them on to town hall.

You can read more about this case at TownDock.Net

Petition Denied!

In the case of The Town of Oriental v Lacy M. Henry over South Avenue, the North Carolina Supreme Court today announced it has denied Mr. Henry's petition for a discretionary review of last year's unanimous decision by the Court of Appeals in the town's favor. That leaves only the signing of an order by the Superior Court judge to complete the town's suit against Mr. Henry.

No More Dithering on the Duck Pond

It looked for awhile like the town of Oriental might once again dither on the restoration of Raccoon Creek, affectionately known as the Duck Pond. Early Monday morning, though, Mayor Bill Sage is reported to have signed the Authorization Document to seek funds from the state for project planning.

This process has been dragging out for years. Neighbors have pleaded with the town to close Main Street at the Duck Pond, perhaps replacing it with a footbridge or bicycle bridge, high enough to paddle a small boat under. The street is flooded and impassible often enough that the neighbors want it closed.

Two years ago a Duck Pond Committee was formed. They worked with an engineering firm to develop a plan, which was presented to the public. When completed, the Duck Pond restoration would result in an attractive park-like setting in the heart of the old village, attracting residents and visitors alike.

To complete the project, the town needs grant money. The first grant submission ran into problems, and it was withdrawn. But it is important to keep the project alive. In particular, we need to remind the North Carolina Clean Water Trust Fund that we are serious about pursuing the project.

Last Thursday at the Oriental Town Board agenda meeting, Commissioner Bohmert briefed the board on a grant opportunity requiring the original proposal to be split into more manageable chunks. The first chunk would be a planning grant, which would require NO matching funds from the town. The engineering firm is preparing the grant application, and needed a signed authorization document no later than Monday, February 1.

The ensuing discussion was disappointing. Mayor Sage refused to sign the authorization on the grounds he does not understand the "functions and obligations" the town must "proceed with diligence to perform" if the grant is made.

From where I was sitting, the functions and obligations seemed pretty obvious. We would be requesting a grant to perform planning. The obligation pretty clearly is to spend the money and manage the effort to insure a plan is delivered.

The mayor has since relented and signed the document. It is on its way.

If this document had not been signed, in the normal course of events, it could be another year before a grant opportunity occurs. And the town would have no plan.

That is why it sometimes takes so long for the town to do things.


P.S. Main street was impassible this weekend.