Oriental's Exciting Election And Casey Stengel's Lament

Early voting turnout for Tuesday's municipal election in Oriental has been below that of recent years. Only four voters showed up Saturday, the last day of early voting.

I voted last week. I found this year's election exciting for two reasons:

1. We have a woman candidate for mayor, who is unopposed and who will change the atmosphere at Town Board meetings for the better;

2.  We have two new candidates for Town Commissioner who have never served nor run for commissioner in the past, who bring a new perspective. They will also improve the board.

I did not vote for any incumbent. I cast three write in votes for citizens who have served in the past and can be counted on in the future.  I wish more candidates had filed.

Liz and I attended last Thursday's agenda meeting at Town Hall. Maybe it's because of the World Series, but the meeting called to mind Casey Stengel's lament about the brand new New York Mets: "Can't anybody here play this game?"

A few specifics:

1. Mayor Johnson informed the Board that, based on the documents on file at the Pamlico County Register of Deeds, it is impossible for anyone to walk to or from Town Dock 2 without going through the private property of Chris Fulcher or of the Toucan. None of the commissioners seemed interested, even though this means the Town Attorney did not do his job two years ago;

2. The Town's official binder of minutes of closed sessions of the Board is still missing. None of the commissioners seem interested;

3. The commissioners made a joke of the fact that one of the commissioners had never made a motion in nearly two years as a commissioner. Certainly there is no requirement for commissioners to make motions or even to second someone else's motion, but still....

4. There was much discussion of Midyette Street (traffic calming measures, speed limits, patrol schedules, tickets, etc.) with no awareness of what the Town had done in the past to amend ordinances and to experiment with solutions. After two years in office, this suggests a previous lack of interest in such issues.

5. The Board seems a bit unclear that the Town Attorney works for the Board and not the other way 'round. I suggested to the Board eight years ago that the Board needs to understand the attorney,s legal theory and approach to litigation in order to provide guidance to the Attorney - since it is the Town, not the attorney, who is a party to the case. Still dissatisfied after I was elected to the Board, I initiated the following discussion on July 31, 2008:

"Commissioner Cox then voiced his opinion that Scott Davis has not fulfilled his professional

responsibilities to this town and that he has made egregious errors in a number of ways and

should be replaced. Commissioner Inger concurred with some of Mr. Cox’s comments and added

that she is disappointed that we are not a priority to him. She also suggested that the Board

should be more specific and ask to see documentation when he says things off the top of his

head. She asked that Mr. Davis be informed of the Board’s concerns. Mayor Sage suggested that

Mr. Cutler check to see what other law firms are available."

So far as I know, in the intervening years, the Town Board has never evaluated the Town Attorney's performance, as the county board does every year. This should be done.

Vote Tuesday! 

Think twice about voting for any incumbent! 

Send a message!