Thursday, August 15, 2013

Vegetative Waste: A Case Study

Early last week, at Oriental's Town Board meeting, Commissioner Warren Johnson presented a "show and tell" demonstration of the vegetative waste bags the Town had procured, at a cost of about $4,000.

The "show part" was to demonstrate the enormous size of the reusable bags. Johnson called on the acting Town Manager, Wyatt Cutler, to assist him in spreading one of the bags out. The bag looked to have a capacity of about 100 cubic feet. It presented a rare dramatic photo opportunity, and newspaperman Jeff Aydelette of County Compass took full advantage. Jeff's photo graced one of County Compasses' inside pages. Pamlico News also reported the story.

The "tell" part was when Commissioner Johnson described the process and the cost to the Town. He related in amazement his discovery that Town Public Works employees were delivering bags to residents on request (tying up the employee for the time it takes for delivery) and then returning to pick up the bags full of waste, including branches as large as three inches in diameter.

Since a full bag could weigh hundreds of pounds, it might require a front loader to retrieve the bag. Once retrieved, the Town would have to pay for disposal of the waste.

Members of the public had a big laugh at the description, and the Board quickly voted to suspend the program while the Acting Town Manager examined options.

While both local newspapers reported what happened during the meeting, neither reported the rest of the story - or what might be called the "back story."

The idea of vegetative waste bags was first broached by Town Manager Bob Maxbauer at the Town Board's first retreat at River Dunes in January, 2012. Only three members of the public attended that session. As presented, the bags would be obtained at very little cost, and the vegetative debris would be deposited in a Town compost heap.

The "very little cost" turned out to be around $4,000 and the compost heap was never created.

Occasionally during meetings of the current Board, Town Manager Maxbauer made seemingly hostile remarks directed at Commissioner Johnson. Perhaps he apologized afterwards. I have no way of knowing.

I don't know if there is any connection between these events and Commissioner Johnson's pointed criticism of the vegetative waste project.

Investigative journalists might want to check it out.


Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Seventy Years Ago: WWII In The Pacific - Bombing Kiska August 12, 1943

ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): From Adak B-24's and B-25's fly 26 bombing, strafing, and radar and photo reconnaissance sorties over Kiska. From Amchitka P-40's, P-38's, B-24's, B-25's, and A-24s fly 70 bombing sorties over the island and are joined by B-24's, P-40's, and F-5A's flying 6 reconnaissance and photo sorties. Targets included the runway, harbor and shipping installations, army barracks, and the Rose Hill area. Lost is B-24D 42-40309.

My friend Ray Rundle, a Navy Communications Technician expert in communications intelligence then stationed on Adak, told the Army there were no more Japanese troops on the island. The Army didn't believe him. Army pilots insisted that Japanese troops remained and had fired anti aircraft weapons against Army bombing missions.

In fact, the Japanese troops had evacuated the island under cover of fog on July 28, two weeks earlier.

When the US Army invasion force stormed ashore on August fifteenth, the invaders found three dogs. US Navy Chief of Naval Operations Earnest King reported to Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox that all they found were some dogs and freshly brewed coffee. When Knox questioned the report, King responded that Japanese dogs were very clever and knew how to make coffee.

Descendants of the Japanese dogs still lived on Adak when I was stationed there twenty years later. And Ray Rundle, who had been commissioned and promoted to the rank of Navy Lieutenant, had also returned to Adak.

Monday, August 12, 2013

Tony's Back

There is always a bit of an empty spot in public discourse when Tony Tharp's blog disappears, as it did a week or so ago.

I don't read him because I agree with him, though I often do. I read him because he makes me think.

That's a good thing.

Today he says he has made his last comment on Oriental politics for awhile.

I hope that isn't true.

Nevertheless, there are bigger and perhaps more interesting fish to fry in North Carolina politics.

What is happening in this state is worthy of Tony's analytic talents.

What do you suppose he means by "worth plowing through?"

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Town Of Oriental Board Meeting August 6, 2013

NCGS Section 160A-81.1:

"The council shall provide at least one period for public comment per month at a regular meeting of the council. The council may adopt reasonable rules governing the conduct of the public comment period, including, but not limited to, rules (i) fixing the maximum time allotted to each speaker, (ii) providing for the designation of spokesmen for groups of persons supporting or opposing the same positions, (iii) providing for the selection of delegates from groups of persons supporting or opposing the same positions when the number of persons wishing to attend the hearing exceeds the capacity of the hall, and (iv) providing for the maintenance of order and decorum in the conduct of the hearing. The council is not required to provide a public comment period under this section if no regular meeting is held during the month. (2005‑170, s. 3.)
Sections:  Previous  160A-75  160A-76  160A-77  160A-78  160A-79  160A-80  160A-81  160A-81.1  160A-82  160A-86  160A-87  160A-101  160A-102  160A-103  160A-104"

At the beginning of last night's Town Board meeting, Mayor Bill Sage announced that he wants to try scheduling public comment at the monthly agenda meeting, held the Thursday prior to the regular (monthly) meeting. He explained this would afford more time for such comments.

A reading of NCGS 160A-81.1, which establishes the statutory requirement for public comments, reveals some interesting things:

1. The public comment period must be during a regular meeting of the council. It isn't clear that the agenda workshop, at which no business is conducted, meets the statutory requirement. Of course, nothing prevents the council from providing more than the minimum requirements for public comment;

2. It is the council, not the mayor, who may adopt "reasonable rules" for the conduct of the public comment period. I don't remember the council ever doing this.

Board members may assume that setting the rules is part of the mayor's duties as presiding officer, but that seems not to be the case. Another of those pesky technicalities.

Probably easily fixed.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

July 3 2012: Minutes And Transcript Compared

A week or so ago, I posted a transcript of the Town's audio recording of the Board's deliberation on July 3 of 2012 concerning street closings: here.

The accepted standard for complete minutes of public meetings is that the minutes should record what was DONE, (that is, motions and resolutions made, seconded, votes recorded, etc.) rather than what was SAID. By that standard, the Town's minutes for July 3 are not acceptable. Compare the audio recording above with the published minutes on the Town's web site here.

The minutes change the order of events and misrepresent the wording of the motions voted on and adopted.

I must say, the only commissioner in recent years who has compared the minutes with the audio and insisted on accuracy was Jennifer Roe. These particular minutes, on a matter of great importance and significance to the Town, are NOT accurate.

As we start thinking about forthcoming municipal elections, we should remember to keep the handling of public records in mind.

Monday, August 5, 2013

What Experience Should A President Have?

Jonathan Bernstein posts an interesting entry on his "A Plain Blog On Politics" concerning the experience we should look for in a presidential candidate here.

The post was occasioned by a comment by economist Brad DeLong, who opined that we should elect former governors in preference to Senators and Congressmen.

I admit I have often had similar thoughts. And then I would think about our experience in the twentieth century with former governors in the presidency. By no means has our experience been uniformly good.

I thought the discussion following Bernstein's blog post was quite good. I particularly liked "Kylopod's" entry, summarizing the resumes of our early presidents. A mix of experience very rare today. Only recent exception might be George H. W. Bush.

Matt Jarvis calls attention to one 2008 contender for the Democratic Party nomination who had similar depth of experience as our early presidents and who did every job well: Bill Richardson. He would have made a superb president.


Seventy Years Ago: John F. Kennedy And PT-109 In The Solomons

World War II PT-boats were fast, but little faster than Japanese Destroyers. Their armament was quite limited, and their torpedoes were no match for the Japanese Long Lance. But they were small, highly maneuverable and hard to shoot at.

It was the night of August 1, 1943 when PT-109 and Japanese destroyers were maneuvering at high speed at "darken ship" (no lights showing).  By 0200 PT-109 had slowed to idling speed, using only its centerline engine in order to minimize its wake so as not to be spotted from the air.

Suddenly the crew became aware of Japanese destroyer Amagiri bearing down on them at high speed. They had only about ten seconds to light off the outboard engines (PT-109 was powered with three twelve-cylinder Packard gasoline engines). It wasn't enough.

Amagiri sliced PT-109 in two, causing it to burst into flames from its high octane AVGAS. The skipper, John Kennedy, managed to get the eleven surviving crew members to a small nearby island. Two crewmen perished in the collision.

Kennedy went for help. On August 5th, Kennedy found native Solomon Islanders, who were able to help. The full story is here.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

It's All About The Water - And Rights Of Way

Last year, when I was offering the Town's elected officials every suggestion I could muster on how to avoid legal missteps on South Avenue, I advised them to seek an opinion from the Attorney General.

I wasn't flying blind. I had a copy of an advisory opinion issued by the NC Justice Department in 1995 addressed to Oriental's Town Attorney. The opinion thoroughly explored right of way law across the nation as it concerned streets leading to navigable waters. I even called Town official's attention to the letter, which I knew was in Town files. That's where I got my copy.

When the mayor replied that the Town didn't want its hands tied, I wondered if they had actually consulted the document.

As it turns out, the Attorney General's advisory opinion is posted on the NC Department of Justice web site here. It totally refutes many of the claims made by the Town's attorneys at the court hearing of March 4, 2013.

Another opinion, that of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the case of the Town of Oriental v. Henry, also in the Town's files, counters many points made on March 4 by Town's attorney. Here is that opinion, on the Court of Appeals web site.

A careful reading of these two opinions will reward anyone interested in legal issues associated with rights of way, especially those leading to navigable waters.