CHS Hospital Rezoning on Davidson Board Agenda - Recuse then Refuse

Tuesday night, Davidson's new Board has its first real monthly meeting.  The December meeting saw the new Board sworn into office. 

Now it's time to get down to business, and one of the first items Commissioners will tackle involves the new CHS behavioral health hospital on highway 73.  Like it or not, this facility is controversial for some of the residents who live out that way, and Davidson's Board needs to handle this rezoning decision carefully.  See here and here for some past coverage involving the site.  This site and the process around how it came into existence also was big piece of the discussion at the Summers Walk candidate forum during the past election cycle. 

Davidson's Board likely will face two decisions on Tuesday involving this rezoning request.  Each decisions provides an opportunity to support transparency in government.

The first decision involves the likely request from Commissioner Bran Jenest to recuse himself from voting on the actual rezoning.  His firm ColeJenest&Stone is doing work on the project.  Based on email communication with Commissioner Jenest, he indicated that he "absolutely" intends to recuse himself.  However, that does not mean he will be allowed to recuse himself.  The rest of the Board will likely have to agree.

Based on research done by the staff at the UNC School of Government, there are multiple State statutes involving when elected officials can recuse themselves.  In most cases the standard is that a “direct, substantial, and readily identifiable” financial impact must be present for the elected official to be recused from voting on something.  In the past Davison's other Board members have allowed Commissioner Jenest to vote in similar situations.  See the vote on MSC's sign as an example.  This is based on the idea that there is not "direct" benefit to Commissioner Jenest from this type of specific vote.  However, it also seems reasonable that one could argue that as a name partner in the firm doing the work there certainly is benefit.  Additionally, without knowing the exact details of  the contract between Commissioner Jenest's firm and CHS, there is really no way of knowing if there is benefit.  Understanding that Commissioner Jenest knows the rules as well or better than the other Commissioners since he's been through this on other issues, if he offers to recuse himself from voting on the rezoning, then the other Commissioners should take him at his word that his situation meets the standards and allow him to recuse himself.

That brings us to the second opportunity for the Board to support openness and transparency in government.  Regardless of whether or not Commissioner Jenest votes in the actual rezoning, the Board should deny this rezoning request.  There are multiple reasons why this request should not be approved.

First, it's not much of a secret that CHS was attracted to this parcel in large part because they were told they had "by right" privileges to build what they wanted without rezoning.  They apparently accepted that.  CHS did not want to experience any of the pushback they received when the facility was originally planned for Huntersville.  Now that the facility is built, CHS coming back to ask for a rezoning of the entire property to Conditional zoning from its current Flex zoning seems like a bit of a bait and switch.  They knew the zoning going into the project.  They knew the town's sign ordinance.  They should live within the current requirements.

Second, Davidson makes a big point that all parts of town should be treated the same when it comes to planning and design.  They should stick to that principle here.  Also, the precedent of the MSC sign decision should not really apply to this zoning request.  The MSC site is in the main commercial area of Davidson and it was argued at the time that MSC's sign request really impacted I77, not Davidson proper.  On the other hand, CHS is on a main road driven by many Davidsonian's every day and the nearby development is almost entirely residential.  Not allowing a lighted sign on this road best fits with the surrounding development.  It also prevents changing the entire zoning designation for a simple sign change.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, denying this petition would go a good way towards repairing what is a perceived lack of response to concerns from some folks on the east side of town regarding this site and project.

How the Davidson Town Board handles these issues Tuesday will in some ways set the tone for the Board.  It will be interesting to see how it goes.

UPDATE: Based subsequent discussions, this zoning change will actually only impact the sign not the rest of the requirements under the existing zoning.

With Filing Still a Month Off, North Meck NCGA Candidates Make Announcements

This past week saw announcements from local candidates regarding this year's NCGA elections.  With just a few weeks left before filing begins, things are sure to get interesting as the State and Federal election cycles ramp up.

On Tuesday, State Senator Jeff Tarte (Rep) sent out an email blast announcing a long list of endorsements - including endorsements from three Davidson Commissioners - Brian Jenest, Beth Cashion, and Stacey Anderson.  See here for the announcement and complete list. 

Not all that surprising is the absence from the list of Mayor Woods, Commissioners Graham, and Commissioner Fuller.  If they were to endorse anyone in the upcoming general election cycle for the NCGA, I'd put my money on Democrat and Davidson local, Natasha Marcus, in the NC House 98 race to replace Thom Tillis.  All three were pictured here at the campaign kick-off event in Davidson for Ms. Marcus with Mayor Woods doing the candidate introduction.  Interestingly, Mayor Woods was listed as a "supporter" of Republican John Bradford in this announcement regarding his recent Cornelius campaign, but he's missing from the list of elected officials endorsing Bradford for the NC-98 race.

Speaking of the NC-98 race and John Bradford, Bradford's campaign announced an important appointment this week.  Joshua Dobi will chair Bradford's election campaign committee.  That name may sound familiar to readers of this blog.  When Bradford announced his intention to run for this seat, we pointed out that local businessman Joshua Dobi had strongly urged voters to support Bradford in his recent run for Cornelius Town Board.

On Bradford's campaign site, ElectBradford.com, the campaign says of Dobi's selection to chair the campaign committee...

"Choosing a CEO in a successful Lake Norman area business is a calculated decision"

Seems like there are a lot of "calculated decisions" going on.  Then again, this is politics.

Transparency Opportunities for New Davidson Board

Now that the holidays have come and gone, the new Davidson Board is about to get down to work in earnest over the next few weeks.  With that, there are plenty of opportunities (big and small) to improve transparency in how our government works.  To be clear, these things are easy.  Not doing them is a choice.

Here are some small ones...

1. Provide Video of Board Meetings and Work Sessions - The town has a YouTube station, the equipment, and expertise to video these.  The Public Information Officer, Christina Shaul, attends almost all of these meetings anyway.  There is really zero incremental cost to doing this, but it provides much better documentation of events than simple meeting minutes.  (Note: In the absence of the town doing this, aShortChronicle plans to video these meetings going forward when possible.)
2. Publish Meeting Agendas Earlier - Per the town's own rules, Mayor Woods and Town Manager Leamon Brice control what goes on the meeting agendas.  To allow citizens ample time to review these agendas prior to the Tuesday meetings, a commitment to publishing these agendas by close of business Friday would be a big improvement.  This would allow citizens ample time to review and plan on whether or not they needed to attend the meeting.
3. Drop "Team Building" Meetings - In late 2012, Davidson Commissioners started meeting in Commissioners' homes for "team building".  These meetings are not currently on the 2014 meeting schedule, and it should stay that way.  Meeting in private homes, while not illegal, does not support a spirit of openness and causes confusion as to the true purpose of these meetings. 
4. Agenda/Meeting Organization - Put items on the agenda with more public interest as early in the agenda as possible.  Some of Davidson's Town Board meetings turn into marathons with important items like budget discussions not even beginning until hours into the evening.  That in itself is not necessarily an issue, but since there is very little time management of the meetings people can not reasonably plan on attending closer to when a topic of interest is to be discussed.  If the unnecessary "team building" meetings are dropped and replaced with a second work session, this meeting could handle some of the overflow discussion to shorten individual meetings.
5. Support Local Businesses and Openness at the same time - The Town recently launched a new public relations push called "Turn around. Shop in town."  It would be nice if the town practiced what it preached with spending for Town retreats.  Later this month the Town Board will have it's annual retreat to discuss town management and plan for the coming year.  Rather than have this year's retreat locally, the Town Board will be heading off to Mid-Pines golf resort for a 3-day meeting - far away from any prying eyes here in Davidson.  This was planned before the last election, but going forward these should be done in town to the benefit of local hotels and other businesses.

Those are the easy ones.  They could all be done with a stroke of the pen so to speak.  They are zero-cost efforts that would be tangible proof of a real desire to be as open and transparent as possible.

There are others changes involving ethics, conflicts of interest, and inclusion which will require much more effort and political courage.  However, those are topics for another day.

Goodbye 2013!

Here at aShortChronicle we just want to say "thank you" for a great year!

2013 seemed like a marathon battle for good government.  In many ways it took a toll on the local activist community.  In other ways it made it stronger.  Personally, running for office was a great life experience even though it did not quite work out.

2014 promises to be a fast paced year with the possibility of multiple bruising primaries in the spring and North Carolina being the center of national attention with the US Senate race next fall.  It will be fun to watch.

This past 12 months we've covered and participated in some great stories with your help, and we look forward to ruffling a few feathers in 2014.  Our local pols will give us plenty of opportunity, I am sure.

Before then however, have a safe and fun New Year's Eve!!!

A house divided...

cannot stand is the saying.

While I don't think that saying really applies to the Republican Party here in North Mecklenburg, things are going to get very messy over the next few months.

Tuesday saw the announcement of a new group forming in the area called Lake Norman Conservatives.  The group's first event is ambitious - a candidate forum for the US Senate race.  Three of the five announced candidates are apparently confirmed, but that list does not include Speaker Thom Tillis of Cornelius.  I'd be surprised if he does.

This new group has its genesis in the controversy over toll roads - a controversy that has its roots in the actions of our elected officials - primarily Republicans. (See here, here, and here for just a few examples.)  Those actions were bound to ultimately end in this result - a division within the ranks of the conservative movement in the area.  Regardless of what happens from here on out, people need to remember where the blame really lies for that.

There are good, committed people on both sides of this dividing line, and I hate to see them lining up against each other.

Wednesday saw the entry of recently re-elected Cornelius Commissioner John Bradford into the NC House 98 race to represent North Mecklenburg in the NC Legislature.  This is the second time in two election cycles where a Cornelius elected official announced plans to run for a higher office immediately after a municipal election cycle - the other time being when then newly re-elected Mayor Tarte jumped into the primary for NC Senate 41.  Tarte was successful and maybe Bradford will be too.  However, if I was a Cornelius voter I'd be pretty annoyed with my Town Board repeatedly being seen as a stepping stone to higher office.

During the last campaign when Bradford was the target of the "Fire Bradford" signs posted by the Widen I77 activist group, the campaign pushed back by releasing a long list of endorsements.  One of those endorsers had this to say...

Local businessman Joshua Dobi, expressed concern if Bradford were not to be re-elected. “Considering the amount of turnover we have had on the Commission this year I would be very worried if John Bradford were not to be re-elected to the Cornelius Town Commission. His service is vital to the health of our town government. 

Apparently, Bradford does not share that same "worry".

Expect to see comments coming out of the Bradford camp like "this just came up", or "people started asking me to run" etc, etc.  Do not believe them.  The rumor that Bradford was thinking of running has been circulating for a while now.  The first bit of evidence received here was less than ten days after the last election.  Also, comments by the other announced Republican in the race, Lynette Rinker, make it sound like she might have had the inside scoop a while ago.  In hindsight, her references in her campaign announcement to being "a full-time legislator and working for you will be my only job” may be an attempt differentiate herself from Bradford who owns a real estate management business.

This race will be interesting to watch, but frankly, as a conservative, neither announced candidate excites me all that much.  The biggest local issue this year has been the widening of I77 with tolls and both of these candidates come down on the wrong side of that issue.  They are in the same camp as the person who they are trying to replace - Speaker Thom Tillis.  It's hard to see many of the local activists I know supporting either of them enthusiastically.  What would make it more interesting is if a third candidate jumps into the race.

I can think of a few people who I'd like to see, but unfortunately, there is no chatter, swirl, rumor or innuendo to report on the possibility of that.

New idea to avoid tolls on NC's highways...too little too late?

Recent days have seen some interesting comments regarding transportation funding from NC Senator Jeff Tarte.  Here's one from his Facebook page.  The comments revolve around funding sources allowing the state to avoid tolls on our roads. 

I've got to say, there is a good bit I like about this idea of dedicating new revenue to these seemingly intractable problems.  It's out of the box thinking which is always a good thing from our elected officials.  I particularly like the notion of dedicating revenues from physical, State resource like oil, gas, and wind(?) to physical, State resources like infrastructure.  It reminds me of something the Town of Davidson did recently where it dedicated money from selling some right of way for a gas pipeline towards future improvements for town greenways.

However, there is a part of me that always asks "why"?  Why bring this up now?  Why start floating ideas for alternate funding sources to avoid tolls when the date for signing the I77 HOT lanes contract looms right around the corner to implement tolls?  Could it be that the finances are not working out as "critics" of the HOT lanes plan have been saying all along?  Could it be that toll operators need more money to make their schemes work?  Senator Tarte sent out an email just days before the last election assuring people this was not the case and that NCDOT's General Trogdon had told him the numbers "do work".  (Of course that was just days before the good General went to work for a pro-toll company, so take that for what it's worth.)

For a long, long, time now we've all been told that tolls were the only way we would ever get the widening of I77 done in the next few decades.  Is Senator Tarte's idea really a solution that allows us to avoid tolling a widened I77 in the next few years?  At this point the only way for us to know would seem to be the demise of the HOT lanes plan before signing a 50 year contract next spring. 

Senator Tarte has not been what you'd call a strong opponent of the HOT lanes plan for tolls on I77.  He has not been out there fighting its implementation.  If this idea is workable, it would have been a great one to throw out there and fight for as the HOT lanes plan was being steamrolled forward.  So in some ways, this idea may be too little, too late.  But in the off chance it sees the light of day at the Legislature, let's take it at face value and look at what challenges it might encounter.

Specifically, is there enough money to make a difference and who else in state government wants to sink their teeth into it?

Recent numbers from industry lobbyists indicate as much as $4 billion could come to North Carolina from offshore drilling alone.  That sounds like a lot, but spread over a long period of time and with an uncertain starting point it's likely not enough money to make a huge dent the road funding problem. To make the numbers truly work for roads, let alone education, the legislature would likely need to significantly increase the severance tax paid by drillers.  Currently, ours is the lowest in the country and to create a truly significant income stream, it likely needs to increase.  From the DENR's 2012 study on the impacts of expanded energy exploration:

"North Carolina’s Oil and Gas Conservation Act currently sets the state’sbseverance tax for natural gas at 5/100 of a cent – $.0005 per 1,000 cubic feet of gas. The revenues can only be used to pay the costs of administering the law. North Carolina has one of the lowest severance taxes in the nation. With the exception of those states that do not assess any severance tax, North Carolina’s tax rate was the lowest of all states for which severance taxes were identified as part of this study."

Those same industry lobbyists that are promoting energy exploration will likely fight any increases to these taxes and fees.    Putting forward a bill recommending the significant increase of this tax to compare with that of a state like Texas would be a real indication that the North Carolina is serious about creating an income stream to meet the scope of these problems.

Once that money is raised, for Senator Tarte's idea to work it looks like it would have to get in line behind ideas from other powerful state interests.  From that same Department of Environment and Natural Resources study, the DENR made these two funding recommendations:

1. Provide funding for any continued work on the development of a North Carolina regulatory program for the natural gas industry.

 

2. Address the distribution of revenues from oil and gas excise taxes and fees to support the oil and gas regulatory program, fund environmental initiatives, and support local governments impacted by the industry.

These recommendations were codified in S76 - Domestic Energy Jobs Act. which passed earlier this summer as the HOT lanes debate went into high-gear locally.  This bill dedicates energy industry revenues to such things as preserving "cultural heritage and quality of life".  Good things to be sure, but probably not things in line with spending money on roads or even education - meaning implementing Senator Tarte's idea would require additional legislation.

And the DENR is not the only one that has it's eye on this pot of money.  Our State's Commerce Secretary also want's a piece of it to create a "slush fund" similar to Texas's for economic development incentives to recruit businesses.  

I commend Senator Tarte for throwing out ideas.  It takes significant ideas to make significant changes.  However, for this idea to work it will require a huge effort to corral the needed revenue and then fight off the sharks that will certainly be circling.

Davidson swears-in new elected officials. - VIDEO

There are a lot of great things about living in a small town like Davidson and being able to participate in your local government in an up close and personal way is one of them.  As the first of what will be a regular feature here at aShortChronicle, here is video of tonight's swearing-in ceremony for Davidson's newest batch of elected officials.  Call it our little contribution, free of charge, to openness and transparency in local government.  We won't be able to get every public meeting on tape, but we'll try to get the important ones!

Link to Video of Swearing In Ceremony




NOTE:  You may need to turn the sound all the way up.

This video contains:

1. The farewell to Commissioner Connie Wessner who was not re-elected this term.
2. The swearing-in ceremonies for Mayor and Commissioners.  With a nice small-town touch, these were all done by the family members of each official.
3. The election of Beth Cashion as Mayor Pro Tem and the assignment of commissioners to various nominating committees..