Keep watching the commissioners, too
Greensboro City Council's 5-4 vote last night to fire manager Mitchell Johnson grabs today's top headline, of course, but let's not lose sight of the Guilford County commissioners.
Back in December, the coalition led by Skip Alston and Steve Arnold forced the resignations of David McNeill, Ben Brown and Sharron Kurtz, the county manager, deputy manager and attorney. Now they can't seem to keep an interim attorney. Interim manager Brenda Jones-Fox, undoubtedly prodded by Alston-Arnold, initiated layoffs and job reductions last week -- a move that some commissioners weren't told about ahead of time.
One of the laid-off employees was Rob Bencini, the economic development coordinator. While cutbacks are necessary given the economy, eliminating some jobs implies changes in county policy. What's the county's new strategy for economic development now that there's no longer an economic development coordinator?
Commissioner Billy Yow suggests letting the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance do it. OK. Has that been discussed at a public meeting? Unfortunately, no. The Alston-Arnold tandem, who apparently make decisions on behalf of six commissioners, don't seem inclined to hold public discussions about these matters, or even to consult with the five commissioners in the minority. Are major decisions being made for reasons that make sense? Who can tell?
The budget process will require public hearings as it proceeds. People who are concerned about taxes but also maintaining a proper level of county services and adequately funding schools should watch closely and take the opportunity to express their opinions.
There's a lot more going on right now than Greensboro politics.
Comments (2)
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Boy, it sure appears that none of this is being thought through. To be sure, my friends at the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance are highly competent people. But their charge is to focus on attracting and retaining businesses and jobs. For GEDA to take over the county's economic-development responsibilities, it'd have to have more resources than it does now. And that means money. So unless the county thinks that economic-development planning and so on just isn't worth doing (and good luck to us all if that's what it thinks!), then it's going to have to pay for it, one way or the other.
Posted on March 4, 2009 9:39 AM
Definitely. Cut first and deal with the consequences later isn't a plan.
Posted on March 4, 2009 11:04 AM