OrangeCountyPolitics.org

On Thursday, Nov 2nd, the county commissioners may vote on a $25M plan that was just made public less than a week before. This has obviously been in the works for months if not longer, but the details have been kept private. I have a lot of questions at this point and am always concerned when decisions of this magnitude are done out of the public eye and then decided upon before the public has even begun to ask questions and digest the info.

The county has some pent up needs for staff facilities. Many of these facilities are in poor condition. I get that. Most of my questions are ones about this particular plan.

The most notable aspect of this proposal is that it was not put out for bid, so we don’t know if it is a good deal. It has been worked out with one particular builder, George Horton, on land that he apparently owns. The second most notable aspect is that this is likely a pretty pricey area.

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… individuals (from) out of the county gave Nelson $7,868 between Feb. 10 and April 15. The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund of Washington, D.C., also contributed $4,000 to Nelson’s campaign, the largest donation in the filing.

Source: Herald Sun

I am all for a little help from out-of-county relatives or a little startup money from a friendly out-of-state PAC (like a few hundred bucks) getting a campaign rolling. BUT $12,000 total from out of the county with $4,000 of that from an out of state PAC?? Am I reading this right?

So Nelson is getting almost as much from out of the county and state as the highest BOCC fund raiser last time:

The amount Nelson has raised is more than the top fundraiser, Margaret Brown, took in during the 2004 primary season. Brown, then an incumbent, raised $12,692 (same article)

Discuss this here: squeezethepulp.com/viewtopic.php?t=234

We owe a great thanks to our state legislators for stealing from our school districts. These are the kinds of stunts that we can expect with the lottery, I am sure. See below for the hoops that the county is having to jump through to stop this.

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My comments on the recently published county Q&A on the district tax: squeezethepulp.com/viewtopic.php?t=52

My name is Mark Peters and I speak to you tonight on behalf of 50 families.

This is a very simple situation. It comes down to whether the county residents want to pay more school tax or not.

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Last night, the Orange County Commissioners considered the proposed implementation of reducing school capital spending by 16% for the next 10 years. But worse than that, it looks like school impact fees are likely going to be misdirected.

If I correctly understand what I heard at the meeting last night (still awaiting clarification from county staff), the favored options will divert “School Construction Impact Fees” from the schools and use it to enrich the general debt service. This is being done in a non-obvious manner with a spreadsheet that took me 2 BOCC presentations and a BOCC discussion to begin to understand. (more below)

[On a related note, the BOCC should have scheduled the 3rd high school discussion earlier on the May 3rd agenda. I find it irresponsible on the part of the BOCC agenda committee to ignore the fact that the CHCCS board of education has a scheduled meeting on Thursday and the 3rd high school item was moved to a Thursday BOCC meeting because the BOCC ran out of time. (One always wonders if stuff like this is intentional.)]

(updated 8pm 5/4: county staff said they would get me the spreadsheet on Thursday morning - I got it Friday after the decision)

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I find it refreshing that the very same commissioners who repeatedly abuse *elected* school board members in public meetings and try to overstep legal authority by micro-managing local school boards are fretting over a little pressure by a state representative to get the commissioners to finally step up to an issue that they have buried in the past.

One the one hand, the commisioners should have time to craft a proposal. And if they can do it in time, then perhaps Faison can amend his bill to respect whatever the commissioners come up with it. But does anyone really think that the particular commissioners speaking out so strongly against Faison are actually going to come up with a proposal without pressure from someone like Faison? History says no.

Faison calls for a referendum, which is appropriate for consideration for something not originating from the commissioners.

I would like to see 9 commissioners with 2 or 3 at large. I’m okay with one large ch/c district, but perhaps a CH and a Carrboro district would be better.

Imagine where Moses stands if the two rural Orange district commissioners say that their districts don’t want school merger. It’s over.

Would Moses win in his current district?

Both of the letters are below…

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Bill Faison introduced today NC House Bill 460 bill to give “disenfranchised annexees” the right to vote for officers of the annexing city prior to any annexation taking place. I noticed this when I was looking up the placeholder bills to provide for Orange BOCC district representation.

I can see the motivation for this bill given the timing of the recent Carrboro annexation where the annexees are deprived of participating in the election that is being held shortly before they are annexed. This was cited as the reason for the bill in a H-S article.

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The following are notes that I took during the Orange County Commissioner Planning Retreat on January 22nd, 2005.

Commissioners agreed that funding equity is a priority, though waiting for Grumet Study. Carey made statements here and in the 12/13/2004 Collaboration meeting that he is still on a path to merger. I am not sure where the 60/40 policy stands since it was made “in principle” last year, contingent on getting school feedback. Seems to me it would need another vote to become a real policy, but it is being treated as a done deal.

It will be interesting to see how the Educational Excellence Study is posited with respect to merger, particularly since Dr. Grumet specifically stated that merger was not an aspect under study.

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OrangePolitics.org has been a great place to discuss all matters of politics in Orange County.

I thought that any political topic was fair game and was shocked when several matters regarding the Orange County Commissioners was refused (censored?) by the editor, even though these matters are being discussed in the media.

I asked why, but am getting no response. I can only speculate that perhaps because the commissioner who misstepped on several counts has a relationship with the editor.

Anyone else get the cold shoulder from OP? Send me your rejection email and I will consider posting your topic here.

So Roses to OrangePolitics for most topics, but Raspberries for not discussing topics that most reasonable people would consider fair game to OP. Let’s hope we can nuke this new site and move these posts to OrangePolitics.org!!

Let’s keep it clean on the comments, please.

The business of public bodies should be conducted in a public manner.

On 10/25, several commissioners on the Orange Board of County Commissioners attempted to pass a resolution to impose capital spending targets on the same night as it was proposed without it being on the agenda and without disclosing the text of the resolution in advance. Conducting business in this manner is a breach of the public trust and is shady and wrong. The resolution has SERIOUS implications on capital projects in Orange County, so many questions need to be asked and answered.

Elected officials should go out of their way to get public input.

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On 10/25, the Orange County Commissioners almost passed a stealth proposal to reduce the level of spending on public schools. It is hard to make a complete opinion on the matter since the proposal is not yet available to the public.

There are currently no capital spending targets. In the past 15 years, an average of 77 % capital funding has gone to schools and 23% to county government. This proposed target would cap school capital funding to 60%. Elementary School #10 has already been approved by voters. Many Questions need to be asked and answered.
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Public business should be conducted in a factful and courteous mannner. The focus of meetings should be toward conducting the business of citizens.

During the 10/25 Orange Board of County Commissioner Meeting, an accusation was made by Barry Jacobs that Alice Gordon would give preferential treatment to one school system despite her solid public record of support for both school systems. It is unacceptable and against the charge stated on every BOCC agenda (see below) for a public official to berate another public official. An apology is in order.

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