News-Record.com

Greensboro welcomed presidential candidate Barack Obama and his running mateJoe Biden last month, but not everyone was happy about the way the city informed people about it.

Councilwoman Mary Rakestraw said she got complaints that the Coliseum staff has promoted the candidate, via an email list that went out to the media and residents.

The email in question was a press release with some basic information for people who wanted to attend the event. The Coliseum sent it out because Deputy Director Scott Johnson is the city's manager of special events, like the rally.

The potentially questionable portion of the email was the title: "Change We Need Rally with Barack Obama and Joe Biden to the held in Greensboro on Saturday."

Rakestraw called on City Attorney Terry Wood for a verdict, to confirm that city employees will not promote candidates.

"The caption of it was kind of a promotion to Sen. Obama," Wood said.

For the record, the email announcement was prepared by Obama's campaign staff and forwarded by the city to inform people about the major disruption to downtown. It was not "politically driven and in no way is intended to sway a vote" or have political implications, Johnson assured Wood in an email.

"The city is not supposed to be advertising or promoting any particular candidate," Wood said.

Mayor Yvonne Johnson said she hoped if Republican candidate John McCain comes to town, Greensboro city staff will give him similar treatment.

Here's an update on the city manager, for folks who are following the movement to oust Mitchell Johnson from his job:

Last night Mayor Yvonne Johnson asked council to respect her planned process to evaluate the City Council's only employee. Mitchell Johnson is busy writing a list of his accomplishments in the last year -- that's due to the mayor Oct. 16. Council members were also asked to fill out an evaluation form, which they will also turn in to the mayor.

At some point in the near future (possibly the next regular council meeting) the City Council will meet behind closed doors to really hash things out. So keep watching.

Thursday was the Board of Commissioners' night to commemorate High Point's sesquicentennial, and they did it by holding a meeting in the High Point City Council chambers.

There's no live TV for High Point meetings, but the commissioners show their meetings live.

Not Thursday. The earliest TV sighting of the commissioners' came Friday morning, because the county had to bring lights and cameras to the meeting. Danged technology.

Wired up and ready to go, the board got on with recognizing High Point's 150th birthday in 2009.

Mayor Becky Smothers, known for wry humor and a quick wit, accepted the proclamation and told the county to remember the city 'come budget season as she shook hands with the 11 commissioners. Or at least the ones she didn't see already.

"I've already shaken your hand," she told several board members and she went down the line. Then she got to the end, to get the resolution.

"Y’all frame it and everything," she said.

Fancy.

While High Point keeps it simple - there's no TV cameras in the city hall of the state's 8th largest city - they also don't offer Wifi. Which really makes it hard for Scoop to update its Facebook page and Twitter the commissioners' away game.

Just as the Greensboro's aggressive rental unit inspection ordinance is about to kick into full effect, the city is contemplating scaling it back.

And now local housing advocates are lining up with their own plans to revamp the inspections program.

Greensboro's 2003 ordinance -- which was protested by the real estate industry -- requires all rental property to be inspected and certified by the end of this year. The certificates are good for five years. Landlords who rent properties without a certificate after Jan. 1 can be fined.

City Inspections and Engineering Director Butch Simmons, who advocated for the program and its proactive inspections years ago, wants to amend the ordinance.

He recommends Thursday that the certificates be perpetual, unless there is a verified violation on a property. That change to the law would diminish the number of properties inspected by city staff, which Simmons said would allow them to focus on bad properties.

"It boils down to what is the best use of your staff," Simmons told the Rental Unit Certificate of Occupancy (RUCO) board, an advisory group.

The board backed Simmons' recommendation, but other groups aren't sure it is the right move.
The Greensboro Neighborhood Congress, a non-profit consortium of community groups, voted in mid-September to support re-inspecting 10 percent of units previously inspected.

Next week the Greensboro Human Relations Commission will discuss a proposal by its housing committee that would allow the automatic renewal of certificates, but require yearly inspections for properties with violations and fines for non-compliant landlords. (Read proposal here.)

Donna Newton, spokeswoman for the Neighborhood Congress, said if Simmons' recommendations stick, the congress and other groups might go to the City Council with their own suggestions.

Representatives from all the committees will meet again later this month to try to work out disagreements. Stay tuned.

Guilford County is studying the prevalence of cancer in the Information Services department, and held a meeting last week with employees to give an update on the ongoing study.

There does not appear to be a higher rate of cancer in the department than in any other community group at this point, according to the Guilford County Department of Public Health.

Several cases of cancer have been reported in the IS department, the area of county government charged with handling the computer, software and technology needs for running the county. There does not appear to be any links between the cases, according to Mark Smith, an epidemiologist in the health department who is studying the situation.

A normal cancer rate is about 7 cases per 100 people. The rate in the IS department, based on information Smith has received, is about the same. And there are several different types of cancer among the reported cases, which would further stretch any links among them.

But the study is incomplete, he said in a meeting with the department last week, because not all the surveys have been turned in.

County Manager David McNeill said he's not yet ready to make a call on whether the IS department is facing any higher incidences of cancer or not.

"I’m going to wait until the findings are complete," he said, "and then the findings will be presented to the employees in the area."

What: Guilford County commissioners meeting.
When: 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
Where: 211 S. Hamilton St., High Point.
On TV: Cable channel 13 in Greensboro and other areas of Guilford County outside High Point; cable channel 8 in High Point. It will not be televised live, however. It may be streamed live online.
What’s going on? This is the High Point edition of the Guilford County commissioners meeting. The meeting features a fairly thin agenda, as well. The board will hear a presentation on a park specifically for handicapped children. Commissioner Steve Arnold also said he plans to address early voting locations.
Want to be heard? Speakers can address the board on non-agenda items regarding county business for three minutes at the start of the meeting. A signup sheet will be available near the lectern.
Full agenda and live video.
What’s next? Probably not much that’s controversial. It’s election season, and three commissioners are seeking re-election. Incumbents won’t be looking to rock the boat with controversial issues just several weeks ahead of the election.

The 2008 Greensboro bond supporters have rolled out their advertising campaign.

So has the city (although technically speaking, they can't "promote" the bonds.)

But Scoop has heard only crickets from voters.

What are folks thinking? Is $50 million worth it for a new auditorium? Is a road bond the only way to pave roads and build greenways? How about $20 million for Parks and Recreation, which will partially pay for a $12 million pool complex?

How about the economics of it? If all the bonds pass, it would take an extra 2.5 cents on the property tax rate to fund all those projects. Will the current financial uncertainty play a role in the way you vote on election day?

Maybe you've noticed Guilford Sheriff BJ Barnes' iconic goatee.

It's gone.

Why?

Thursday at a Jail Advisory Committee meeting, Barnes faced a few county administrators and commissioners who wore that expression that says "there's something different about you."

"It's getting loose up here," Barnes said, as he pointed to top of his head. Then Barnes rubbed is now-bare chin. "And it's getting white down here."

"I thought you looked younger," said Vice Chairwoman Kay Cashion.

"To be honest with you Kay, that was the idea," Barnes said of his sleek new look.

We heard that Oil of Olay really shaves off the years, too. That's what Gramma Scoop always told us.

Scoop was propped up typing notes at this morning's 7:30 a.m. county commissioners forum when we heard something that perked us up like a cup of black coffee.

Eddie Souther, the District 4 Republican county commissioner candidate is loaded. He's got a permit to carry concealed weapons. And so does his wife. Big-time Second Amendment people, they are.

He brought it up while talking Thursday on how Guilford County could work better with other municipalities, and its citizens. Particularly with regard to the county's gun range.

"I’d like to open that up to public use," he said.

Later that day we bumped into his opponent, Board of Commissioners Chairman Kirk Perkins and at large Commissioner Paul Gibson, who was sitting next to Souther earlier at the forum.

"I was looking down to see if there was something there," Gibson said, joking, referring to maybe sighting an ankle holster.

"I'm just glad that I was at the other end of the table," Perkins said.

Now, politics around here can get fiery, but not gun-fiery. That's the stuff of rogue states, juntas and banana republics. And Guilford County politicians are a far more refined bunch than that, right? Right?

You could have fresh, clean air in your home or work, thanks - kind of - to Guilford County.

All you need is a one green American dollar to pick up an old HEPA filter that from a health clinic that didn't sell in Saturday's surplus auction.

Old cop cars went for about $2,000. Buses: $900 apiece.

Scoop sees a great chance here in the next auction (March 28) to save up some change and get that sweet old Crown Vic that we've been eyeballing.

And the county's take from Saturday: $59,406.50.

If you still want that filter, call down to the county's purchasing department at 641-3226.