Town Board Meeting Sept 7 2010

Last night's meeting of the Oriental Town Board was reasonably uneventful. Highlights:

1. The first item on the agenda, approval of minutes, only took eighteen minutes this time. There seem to be remaining issues in the area of drafting minutes that report what was done, rather than what was said. Another problem seems to be to rid the minutes of editorial asides and characterizations of the commissioners' thoughts. Commissioner Roe is leading the effort to improve the minutes. Good for her.

2. The continued public hearing on rezoning of Mr. Friedman's property on Midyette Street was continued again at Mr. Friedman's request. Mr. Friedman was not present.

3. The Board went into closed session to discuss a personnel matter. The Town Attorney, Scott Davis, had to leave early and apparently his presence was required during the closed session.
So the closed session was held early in the evening rather than at the end.

4. The Board received an update on the work of the surveyor hired by the town to determine the location of South Water Street. His report also raised the issue of the width of the right-of-way. Following a lengthy discussion, the Board established the width of the South Water Street right of way as 36 feet. The board briefly considered the issue of what is allowed to be placed in the right of way by adjacent landowners and concluded the existing ordinances are adequate.

5. During the public comment period, Pat Herlands suggested the Board should consider having a second business meeting each month, as the County Commissioners do. She pointed out that the Board increasingly takes action each month during the agenda meeting, and supported recognizing that fact by scheduling a second meeting.

6. During the period set aside for non-agenda items, Commissioner Roe moved to amend the minutes of the June 1 meeting to accurately reflect the motion that was made concerning employee insurance. She went on to introduce an amendment to the Town's personnel ordinance to reflect decisions made about employee insurance during the budget process.

Editorial comment: Not mentioned during this discussion, but mentioned at two recent Board meetings, is that the Town's personnel ordinance, adopted by the 2005 - 2007 Board, asserts that we have a mayor-council form of government. We now know for certain that the Town has a council-manager form of government. Personnel policies may be significantly different between the two systems. Someone needs to review our existing manual to identify necessary amendments, if any.

South Avenue - The Rest of the Fence

Learned this evening at the Town Board meeting that the rest of the fence across the end of South Avenue and Avenue A will come down tomorrow.

South Avenue Fence - Not Down Yet

For some reason, the town's hired contractor left fifty feet of Mr. Henry's fence standing. It intrudes about twenty feet into the 30-foot wide right of way for Avenue A. The fence encompasses approximately a thousand square feet that does not belong to Mr. Henry and constitutes a major obstruction to Avenue A.

Last year's decision by the NC Court of Appeals makes it crystal clear that Mr. Henry has no plausible claim to any portion of any street shown on the Oriental Bulkhead Improvement Company plat, including both Avenue A and South Avenue.

Joe Himbry - A Life Well Lived: 1941-2010

We celebrated a life well lived today. Joseph Otto Himbry, Jr. was an example to us all. He devoted his life to serving the people of this county in ways large and small. He was a talented, persistent and effective visionary.

Friends and classmates came from as far away as Ohio and Pennsylvania to say farewell and lay him to rest.

He will be sorely missed.

Fear and Intolerance

Nicholas Kristoff in today's New York Times reminds us of our history of intolerance based on fear and demagoguery.

For those concerned about the current wave of intolerance, he points out that we have been there before. In fact, I would add a few examples of fear and intolerance to Mr. Kristoff's list. Still, most of us eventually return to our central tradition of tolerance.

Lessons from Sandlot Baseball

Here are some lessons learned from sandlot baseball:

1. When team captains choose up sides, you don't have to play;

2. If you do play, give it your best effort;

3. Always keep your eye on the ball;

4. When you step up to the plate, don't just rest the bat on your shoulder;

5. If you get on base, don't just stand there;

6. The object of the game is to score - not just avoid being thrown out;

7. You leave the safety of one base to reach the next;

8. You don't win - the team does.

South Avenue: The Fence is Coming Down

After eight years of litigation, loss at summary judgment, victory on appeal sustained by the NC Supreme Court, and six months after Judge Crow signed the final order granting ownership to the Town of Oriental, the fence across the South Avenue right-of-way blocking public access to the water is coming down.

This morning, a contractor hired by the Town began cleaning out the debris left behind when Neuse Ways Company ceased operation of its marine railway. By tomorrow, it may be possible for the public to walk right down to the water, as they were able to do in past decades.

This is a time to celebrate.

The Filibuster

The U.S. Senate always called itself "the world's greatest deliberative body," even in the 19th century, when seats were fairly blatantly purchased. (Until 1913, senators were elected by state legislatures.)

Even after 1913, the Senate has been arguably the least representative legislative body in the Western world. Because each state has two senators, a senator from California, for example, represents thirty times as many people as a senator from Wyoming.

This problem isn't going to be fixed. It is built into our Constitution.

But rules of procedure in the senate aren't determined by the Constitution. They have evolved in recent years to a situation where any senator can prevent the senate from considering any particular bill simply by filing a piece of paper.

Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, has made a reasonable proposal in the New York Times that might unclog the senate. A central feature of his proposal would be to bring back the "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" style of filibuster. When filibusters were done that way, they were remarkably rare.

I think it is a good idea and would greatly improve the public image of the senate. It might also help get things done.