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As Councilwoman Sandy Carmany noted first on her blog yesterday, developer Don Linder is again asking for city aid for his redevelopment of the Carolina Circle Mall.

We'll have a story on Linder's request on Satuday, but in the mean time, you can read his letter here.

You might have thought that the drama surrounding Guilford County tax director Jenks Crayton was over.

You'd be wrong.

Crayton and the tax department resurfaced last week as a single line item tucked into the 2005-06 county budget. The county commissioners added back a tax appraiser position that county manager Willie Best had proposed cutting in his recommended spending plan.

If that sounds like run-of-the-mill bureaucratic maneuvering, it's not. Here's the skinny:

Filing for city and town council seats around Guilford County is underway and runs through Aug. 5. For a list of office seekers (and what they're running for), click here.

With election season underway, I'm looking to hear from High Point voters on what they see as the important issues facing the city. You can post here or send me an e-mail.

As Eric noted, last Friday brought us officially into the election season. In Greensboro, there weren't any real surprises.

Dianne Bellamy-Small filed again in her district, while Tom Phillips shifted over, as expected, to replace Robbie Perkins in his district. Three newcomer candidates filed; Goldie Wells and Toni Henderson in District 2 and Janet Wallace in District 4.

Rounding out the list is perennial candidate Joseph Rahenkamp Sr. A quick search of our archives found he has unsuccessfully run for local office six times since 1997 - four times for city council, once for the Guilford County Board of Commissioners and once for Kay Hagan's N.C. Senate seat.

During the election, I'll try to post as many press releases, campaign reports and miscellany as I can. To start, here's press releases from Goldie Wells and Janet Wallace.

We'll have more election filings every day in the paper (except Sunday and Monday) through the month as candidates submit their paperwork. And if you've got election news, or rumor, let me know at mwilliams@news-record.com.

With Election 2005 nearly upon us, Scoop started thinking about Election 2004. In Guilford County, that means county commissioner Trudy Wade, commissioner hopeful John Parks and provisional ballots.

On June 1, we reported that the State Board of Elections decided to hold a hearing in Greensboro to see if up to 376 local voters cast provisional ballots in the wrong precinct in November, a practice deemed illegal months later by the state Supreme Court.

Those ballots had been challenged by Wade, the Republican incumbent, who trails Parks, her Democratic challenger, by 89 votes. Throwing out more ballots will almost certainly favor Wade, who has retained her seat during the eight-month legal standoff.

But more than a month later, a hearing date has not been set. Gary Bartlett, executive director for the state elections board, told me that it's been difficult for all five board members and the attorneys for the candidates to find time in their schedules to meet in Greensboro.

Board member Chuck Winfree, a Greensboro lawyer, said a few days around July 18 had looked promising, but a conflict developed with those dates. Now, he says he wouldn't bet on seeing a hearing until August.

"We're just waiting," he said earlier today.

City Council races are, in theory, non-partisan affairs. Council members don't run as Democrats or Republicans or Libertarians or whatever. And council members frequently site this lack of partisanship as a reason they're able to function more smoothly than certain other boards.

In fact, the county GOP chairman got some guff the last time there was a council election, when the local GOP moved to endorse candidates. (Although, to be fair, that had a lot to do with how the party went about picking its choices as much as the fact there was a choice.)

I'm off playing in a different sandbox now, but I still get heads up on city stuff from time to time. And this one, forwarded to me by a couple folks, re-raises the whole partisan involvement in non-partisan election question. It originated with the Guilford County Democratic Party mailing list:

-----Original Message-----
From: gcdpchair [mailto:gcdpchair@guilforddems.org]
Sent: Friday, July 08, 2005 3:50 PM
To: Democrats@guilforddems.org
Subject: Don Vaughan Fundraiser

The Don Vaughan for City Council Re-election Committee will be holding a fundraiser at the home of Jim and Susan Phillips, 2601 W. Market Street, on Wednesday, July 13, 2005 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Cocktails and refreshments will be served. Live music. All are invited. Contributions greatly appreciated. For more details, call the campaign office at (336) 273-1415, ext. 201 or stop by 612 W. Friendly Avenue in downtown Greensboro. A fun time will be had by all.

---

Okay, discuss amongst yourselves: Is partisan involvement in city council election desirable, ethical, all that well known? Does this sort of e-mail constitute partisan involvement or cross a line you think ought not to be? Does anyone believe that the parties really do keep their mitts off of council elections?

Since I was already causing trouble with my last post, I thought about being an equal opportunity nuisance and devote some virtual ink to the blog storm swirling around the local GOP party chairman. But here I come in from mowing the lawn, and the local blogaratti have been going at it hot and heavy. If you missed it so far:

As filing continues for City Council seats in High Point, here's a quick look at who's tossed their hat in the ring.

The incumbents: Mayor Becky Smothers, at-large council members Latimer Alexander and John Faircloth, Ward 3 council member John Linton and Ward 4 council member Bill Bencini have filed for reelection. Earlier this month, every council member except Ward 6 representative Owen Strickland indicated they would seek another term.

New faces: This heading is kind of a misnomer, since both of the non-incumbents who have filed so far have previously sought City Council seats.

Thurman Marley is seeking the Ward 2 seat now held by Ron Wilkins. Marley unsuccessfully challenged Wilkins for the seat in the 2003 elections.

Lisa Stahlmann has filed for the Ward 6 seat that Strickland is giving up. She was one of five residents considered last year by City Council to fill the unexpired term of Laura Wiley, who resigned following her election to the state House of Representatives.

Council members ended up choosing Strickland, but earlier this year appointed Stahlmann to a seat on the High Point Housing Authority Board of Commissioners.

Filing runs through Aug. 5.

If you haven't heard by now, President Bush will visit North Carolina Friday to rally support for the Central American free trade agreement.

According to our friends at the AP, the "White House confirmed Tuesday that Bush will tour the Helms plant of R.L. Stowe Mills, then make a speech on behalf of the Central America Free Trade Agreement at Gaston Community College in nearby Dallas."

A couple of recent filings for the Greensboro City Council election this fall:

District 1: Reginald Woodard, manager of the Woodard Funeral Home, filed to run against first-term incumbent Dianne Bellamy Small. You can read more about him on the funeral home's website (An aside: Funeral homes have websites now? I think I've seen everything.), but Woodard told me he filed to run so District 1 could have a representative more in touch with the community. According to his voter registration, he's 40 years old and a registered Democrat.

Woodard said he grew up and has spent most of his life in Greensboro. But he mentioned that his home on Wilpar Drive was recently annexed into the city, something that drew him into city politics.

Prediction: Given that Woodard is a mortician, at some point in this election, Councilman Don Vaughan will refer to the District 1 race as a "dead issue."

Note: He is a different Woodard than Bellamy-Small faced in the primary in 2003. That was Greg Woodard.

District 5: Todd Schmidt, a 28-year-old Democrat, filed to run against longtime District 5 rep Sandy Carmany. I haven't had a chance to talk with Schmidt at length, so I can't tell you much more about him. He lives at 1607 Morton Street.

At-large: Current District 4 rep Florence Gatten filed for the at-large race, as promised. Gatten issued a press release (you can read it here) detailing why she chose to make the switch.

Here's an excerpt:

When asked about this decision to leave the relative safety of a district seat, Gatten laughed and remarked "change was good for Greensboro; in the past many people have stayed too long in office and kept other citizens from having the opportunity to serve."

A note about "relative safety." Gatten won re-election in 2003 by eight votes over challenger Bob Skenes, one of the closest elections in council history.

To Guilford County taxpayers upset about the tax increase passed by the county commissioners last month:

You're not alone.

Forty-five North Carolina counties raised property taxes for the 2005-06 fiscal year, according to the N.C. Association of County Commissioners. Nineteen of those counties hiked tax rates by at least 10 percent.

The commissioners' association blames the increases on population growth and a state policy that requires counties to help pay for the Medicaid program.

But not all taxpayers will see their tax bills go up. Half of the state's 100 counties saw no tax rate change, and taxes in five counties actually went down.

Click here for a list of the counties and their 2005-06 tax rates.

I have some audio for you of Rev. William J. Barber II, who plans to run against Guilford County Commissioner Melvin "Skip" Alston to head the state's NAACP chapter. (Yes, we have that audio problem out now. This is a whole new version of a previous post.)

First things first, though. In the print column today Scoop quotes Alston as saying he hasn't been challenged for the presidency in his last two runs. The slot is up every two years.

Scoop reader Seymour Hardy Floyd wrote in to say that Alston is having a senior moment. In fact, we ran an AP story in 2001 saying that Alston had faced opposition. (The quote/paraphrase from Alston is accurate, but I should have done a better job of rifling through our archives to double check on him.) Floyd writes his take on Alston here.

On to the new stuff.

Alston, on Friday, said that he planned to run a "low key campaign" that would only begin to rally support in the days running up to the state NAACP convention on Oct. 6-8. (It will be in Greensboro).

That is not the tact that Barber is taking. (I took this picture of him this morning - sorrow about the shadows.)

I got a copy of this month's Greensboro Board of Adjustment agenda and was surprised to see a familiar name, Carolina Panthers wide receiver Ricky Proehl.

It seems that Proehl wanted to build a "detached accessory building" near his home at 3504 Bromley Woods Lane. Let me set the scene: A 5990 square foot, $1.1 million home set on 5.8 acres. But the permit for the accessory building was denied because it was to be located in front of the primary residence.

In plain English, the development regulations want to keep people from building garages and the such in front of their homes. At first glance, Proehl's garage didn't follow that rule. The City of Greensboro called him offsides.

Proehl, through his attorney, threw a red flag on the field to challenge that call.

But, upon further review, the city reversed the call and ruled that since Bromley Woods Lane is curved, the building line should follow that curve as well, therefore allowing the building. No timeout charged.

"It's a non-issue," said Zoning Administrator Bill Ruska.

The item will be pulled from the agenda, Ruska said.

(See previous post about the Board of Adjustment)

Through the miracle of transpacific cellular communication, I interviewed Guilford County commissioners Bruce Davis and Paul Gibson Tuesday for today's story on the commissioners' raises. Davis and Gibson were attending a conference in Hawaii that's been discussed at length in the local and national media. The conference was winding down, and the commissioners will return home soon.

Both men have come under fire for attending the conference on taxpayer money, but both pledged to work hard and bring back plenty of ideas for improving the county. Gibson, who wanted to learn better ways to form the county's annual budget, called the experience "invaluable." Davis, who along with other Democrats has defended the commissioners raises, said he'd met elected officials who earn more than twice as much as the Guilford board members.

"If you want the absolute best, you have to put up the money for it," he said, adding that he was about to duck into another workshop.

During my chat with Gibson, the conversation turned to Scott Yost, the Rhino Times writer who's covering the conference for the Greensboro weekly. Gibson said he's seen quite a bit of Yost, one of the few reporters who flew to Hawaii to monitor the comings and goings of his local officials. The traveling scribe has been attending the work sessions and chatting up the commissioners, and I'm sure we'll get a full report in this week's edition.

I bring up Mr. Yost because ever since we learned that Gibson and Davis were going to Hawaii, I've been asked if I was going to tag along. After all, I cover the commissioners, and it would be perfectly appropriate for me to report on their sun-splashed adventures. I got more questions when the Rhino ran Yost's preview column on its cover last week.

I'll leave it up to my boss to tell you why I didn't go. But hey, I've enjoyed sweating in Greensboro for the past week. I even got to spend 3 1/2 hours in a near-empty government building Monday night waiting for the county's health board to choose a new director. You can't find that kind of excitement in Honolulu.

Last night, the city council wished their longtime city manager, Ed Kitchen, farewell at his last meeting before he retires. We've written a bit about Ed when he first announced his retirement back in March and some in today's story.

A quick note about Ed's retirement. There are varying levels of "retirements" among municipal executives. Some managers get outright fired by their elected bodies. Some are urged to resign amicably. Some are driven nuts by a coalition of a few members of their elected bodies.

In Ed's case, it's safe to say that none of the council members are unhappy with his management or want to see him leave.

With Ed leaving, I thought it might be good to introduce Scoop readers to his interim, and perhaps permanent replacement: Mitchell Johnson.

You can read his full bio online here. Mitch grew up in Asheville and went to UNCG for his undergraduate degree in physics. He's worked with the city since 1983 and has been an assistant or deputy manager since 2000.

Mitch is 45 years old. He and his wife, Suzanne, have two daughters and a son.

Mitch told me last night that he will be applying to be the permanent city manager. If history is a guide, he has a good shot; Kitchen was the deputy manager when his predecessor Bill Carstarphen was fired by the council (by all accounts, that was a true firing). Kitchen took over as the interim manager and was later hired for good.

Click the link below to read the story we wrote in 2000 when Johnson was brought on as an assistant city manager.

Reginald Woodard, who filed last week to run against District 1 incumbent Dianne Bellamy-Small, has pulled out of the race.

I haven't been able to reach Woodard since I learned of his withdrawal, but I talked to him the day before he pulled out and he seemed confident in his campaign. The mortician and manager of the Woodard Funeral Home said he wanted the district to have a representative that was more in touch with constituents and dealt with "the real issues."

So with two weeks left in the filing period, there are 5 unopposed incumbents and nobody who has actually filed to run for mayor. Either there are a lot of lurkers waiting for the last minute or this is going to be a slow election season.

Here's the official roundup of people who have filed:

Mayor:

Republican Guilford County commissioners have chided Democrats Paul Gibson and Bruce Davis for attending a conference in Hawaii that's expected to cost taxpayers more than $5,000. One of the most vocal critics has been Billy Yow, who recently received a postcard greeting from Gibson (pasted below).

"Aloha," the card reads. "Wish you were here - Paul." (Allen Johnson got one, too.)

"I was humored by it," said Yow, who met me at a Hardee's parking lot to turn over the postcard (he picked the rendezvous spot).

He took Gibson's missive as a sign that he was getting through to his Democratic colleague.

"I'm glad to know that I plague his mind," he joked. "I must be having some effect on him."

Update: Gibson, now back in town, says he didn't send the postcard as a joke. He said he sent one to all the commissioners and genuinely wished they'd been there to learn what he learned.

"I didn't do it in a sarcastic and spiteful way," he said. He later added: "I'm just sorry that more of the commissioners didn't avail themselves to this."

Scoop headed out to the downtown ballpark Saturday to watch the Hoppers, have a few beers and catch up a former scoopster, who was taking a break from slaving away at CQ.

So as I wandered into the stadium, someone hands me - I kid you not - a Jim Melvin bobble head doll.

Now, sports fans who didn't tune into the battle over the stadium back in 2002-2003 could get caught right up to speed on who exactly Jim Melvin was by reading their box:

"The man responsible for making First Horizon Park a reality, Jim Melvin, is a life long resident of Greesnboro. He is our city's greatest ambassador and has spent most of his adult life working for the betterment of our community. He was the Mayor from 1971-83 and has a city hall named in his honor. His wisdom, foresight and thankless hours of volunteer service to Greensboro have made it a great place to live and work."

As Melvin stood here on my desk bobbling away this morning, something nagged at me about that description. It took me a half-hour to figure it out and about 15 minutes rooting around in the paper's archives to confirm it. But now, I'm sure:

Melvin left the mayor's office in 1981. John Forbis was Greensboro's mayor from 1981 to 1987.

Of course, that fact question aside, there's another interesting point that was raised by going through the archives. For those who don't remember, there was a very long public battle to get the stadium done where it is, complete with a referendum related to the issue and everything.

During a most of that time, stadium supporters went to great pains to have anybody but Melvin speak for the cause. The former mayor has always been a flashpoint for criticism for some folks. (One of his favorite opening lines when speaking to groups that I've heard him use at least three times goes something like: "Hello, I'm Jim Melvin, and contrary to what you've heard I don't have horns on my head.")

The public face of the campaign for the stadium was worn by others, such as former City Council member Dick Grubar who ran the political action committee for the pro-stadium group.

The bobble-head seems to be a pretty public "thank you" for a guy who was kept behind the scenes at the time.

So how fast before they start showing up on E-bay?

Also: Hoggard relays news of the Melvin-head doll.

U.S. Rep. Mel Watt, who represents North Carolina's 12th District, has scheduled a series of town hall meetings for Congress' August recess.

Click here for the schedule.

The 12th District meanders all over the central part of the state, starting in Charlotte and slicing into parts of both Winston-Salem and Greensboro. Is Watt your congressman? Use the handy-dandy locator at the top of the U.S. House page to check. (You'll need your Zip+4 postal code.)

UPDATE: Full story here.

Sneak preview of tomorrow's story:

GREENSBORO - After eight months on the political sidelines, former Guilford County commissioner Mike Barber will run for the Greensboro City Council this fall.

Barber said he plans to officially file Tuesday morning for the vacant District 4 seat.

"I genuinely enjoy serving the community as an elected official," Barber said.

Barber is the most prominent new candidate to file for the council election. With nine days left until the end of the filing period, five of the seven incumbents running again face no opposition for their seats.

Barber, a Democrat, also has the support of Republican Bob Skenes. You'll remember that Skenes lost by eight votes in 2003 to Florence Gatten. The endorsement may go a long way to shoring up Barber's credentials in the conservative-leaning Northwest.

Read more tomorrow.

I talked with former candidate Reginald Woodard today about his withdrawal from the District 1 race. He told me that his wife's health has been declining and he is opening another branch of his family's funeral home in High Point.

Both of those issues, he said, would keep him from giving all of his time to serving on the council.

"I would want to be committed to it if I do it," he said.

The time issue is always a big barrier for local candidates because they are all "part-time" jobs that often take up a lot of time. City Council member Florence Gatten, a professional campaign manager and PR consultant, often says that the city loses out on quality candidates because they can't afford to interrupt their professional careers.

The alternative is to make being a council member a full-time job as it is in larger cities in the Northeast. But then, does that exclude folks that want to serve but can't turn over their business or law practice to someone else for a few terms?

Last week, I jokingly inserted the words "(crickets chirping)" to describe the activity on the Mayor of Greensboro section of this fall's municipal ballot. Today's paper reminded readers that no one, not even Keith Holliday, had yet filed for the job.

Well, the incumbent put in his paperwork Tuesday to make it official.

Now we in the news business wait eagerly as the mysterious challenger unveils him/herself and makes this an interesting fall.

...Anyone?...Bueller?...

Last week, we told you that Guilford County's longtime assistant public health chief, Merle Green, was promoted to health director.

Today, the board of health set her annual salary at $125,000, close to what former director Ramesh Krishnaraj earned. We'll have it in tomorrow's paper, but Scoop readers get the news first:

Former Guilford County commissioner Mary Rakestraw still hasn't decided whether to run for City Council this fall. She'd better make up her mind soon; the filing period ends Aug. 5.

"Probably, by Monday, I will know if I'm going to run or not," Rakestraw said Wednesday afternoon.

Rakestraw lives in District 4, where another former commissioner, Mike Barber, and two other candidates have already filed to run. Fellow Scoopster Matt Williams wrote about the race earlier this week.

Rakestraw said she welcomed more contenders into a contest where Barber is currently the most prominent candidate. Former council member Dick Grubar and restaurant owner Rocco Scarfone might run too.

"I don't care who runs," said Rakestraw, who served two terms as a commissioner and is a regular at community events. "That doesn't bother me at all because I'm pretty well-known as well."

Love letters, they're not.

Guilford County attorney Jonathan Maxwell has busied himself recently responding to queries from Republican commissioners who continue to criticize the majority Democrats for ramming through the 2005-06 budget.

Last week, we wrote about one of Maxwell's missives, which said state law instructs county boards to set their salaries in the annual budget. That likely doomed any chances of Republicans overturning the 41 percent commissioners' pay raise Democrats approved as part of the spending plan.

But first, a few words about memos and inter-commissioner communication in general. Certain commissioners talk privately all the time, but when they want to make a public point they'll often send a memo.

Commissioners sometimes use memos to reiterate previous statements or take thinly veiled shots at fellow board members, knowing such correspondence is public record and can be scooped up by the media.

In other cases, a commissioner will ask staff for more information about something that happened at a previous meeting. The appropriate staff member dutifully responds with a memo. (Now that we've piqued your interest, you can find all recent memos in a three-ring binder at the commissioners' offices in the Old County Courthouse.)

That was the former councilman's answer when asked last night whether he planned to run for the District 4 city council seat.

The talk was that Grubar might return to the council depending on what other candidates file for the race. But with three already in the race and a fourth (and fifth) possible, Grubar said he'll sit back and enjoy the show.

UPDATE: David Hoggard also says he won't run for council this year.

Last night at Ed Kitchen's retirement party, Deputy City Manager Mitchell Johnson read off a list of Ten Most loathsome things to happen on a Friday afternoon. Johnson said bad news always comes in to the manager's office just as folks are ready to leave for the weekend.

Number 9 went something like this: "The police call to inform you that a reporter that covers the coliseum hasn't been seen since the new foundation for the auditorium was poured."

That could be a motto for the newspaper's ever-expanding blog roster.

Starting Monday night, it'll also apply to a portion of High Point's City Council meetings.

Responding to a new state law that requires all municipal governing boards to set at least one public comment period per month, the council has made 5:30 p.m. at its first Monday meeting each month as public comment time.

Previously, people wishing to address the council on something not on that night's agenda were fit in whenever a few free moments came up during a meeting.

In the seven months or so I've covered council, I can only recall one person who wanted to address the council members about something not on the agenda.

With a northeast Davidson County development opposed by residents on Monday's agenda (read more here), I suspect the public hearing for that development will draw a lot more speakers than the public comment period.