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My story from yesterday's Greensboro City Council briefing is here, while council member Sandy Carmany has two posts on the meeting over at her blog.
Her posts cover some of the budget information - including some charts demonstrating that the city's growth has outstripped the increase in city employees over the past several years - along with some non-budget topics covered in the meeting.
Taking a break of sorts from my normal duty covering City Council, I'm over at the coliseum today as part of the News & Record's coverage of this month's ACC and NCAA tournaments.
I've never worked as a sports reporter before, so it's definitely interesting to get a peek behind the curtain. One of the things that struck me is the sheer amount of information the reporters receive.
Along with the stacks of media guides located on a table outside the media workroom in the depths of the coliseum, workers in ACC T-shirts dropped off a ream of statistics from Thursday's first game - including a play-by-play tally of how points were scored and who scored them - and quotes from both coaches.
With all that information dropped in your lap, a reporter could probably file a workable game story without moving from their folding chair in the media workroom. (For the record, none of the reporters on hand for Thursday's Virginia-Boston College game did that.)
You'll find our story about racially restrictive covenants that linger in old property records in today's paper. A multimedia version of the story is also online.
State legislators contacted for the story said homeowners should have the opportunity to remove the old language. But that requires a change in law.
What do you think?
Should the General Assembly allow homeowners to strike racial language from deeds records? Or is removing restrictions that have been unenforceable for decades a waste of time?
At 5:30 p.m. at the Melvin Municipal Office Building, 300 W. Washington St.
Agenda highlights include proposed urban development investment guidelines to help council determine whether to provide infrastructure or other support to private development projects in downtown and other specified areas that request city assistance.
Council will also reconsider a rezoning case involving property along Fleming Road that includes the historic Bond-McAlister House, this new time with new conditions intended to better protect the house and trees on the property.
Here's the full agenda and council packet.
The classified section of today's paper features nearly nine pages of small-type listings that you haven't seen in awhile.
They're unpaid property-tax bills. Thousands of 'em. Click here for Guilford County's online list. The bills are for 2005 city and county property taxes and are listed alphabetically by taxpayer.
By law, the county must advertise overdue property taxes each year. But the public listings serve another purpose: persuading delinquent taxpayers to pay up.
The taxes were originally due Jan. 5, so these taxpayers are a couple months late. Expect more listings over the coming weeks.
Well, not exactly (though selling lottery tickets at meetings might boost attendance).
Here's what I'm referring to: after dividing into three three-person committees for a review of city programs and spending Tuesday night, City Clerk Juanita Cooper randomly selected which group of programs each council committee will review. The memo explaining it is here.
As luck would have it, council committee A received group 1, council committee B received group 2 and council committee C was chosen to review group 3. (One other note: the dollar figures listed in the memo are in millions of dollars.)
A couple of other notes from last night's meeting I couldn't squeeze into a tight space in today's paper:
* Council member Tom Phillips said he'd like to examine the city's recycling program, a notion supported by several other council members. Because it costs the city significantly more to collect and process recycling than it does regular trash, Phillips would like to explore some alternatives to the current program. Council will likely discuss the issue at a future briefing session.
* Mayor Keith Holliday is part of a committee working on plans for a public celebration honoring Olympic speedskating champion and Greensboro native Joey Cheek. Plans for a celebration should be firmed up in the next few days. Council did approve a resolution saluting Cheek at its meeting last night.
Courtesy of Hoggard's blog.
Estimates range from $6.4 million for a 1,500 seat-stadium to about $7.8 million for a 2,500-seat stadium (In the middle: $7.3 million for a 2,000-seat stadium).
Past discussions have centered on making this renovation part of a likely city bond referendum this fall. And the minutes from the Greensboro Parks and Recreation Commission's February meeting, the stadium renovation is included as a proposed 2006 recreation bond project.
The agenda for next week's Guilford County commissioners meeting is out. By the looks of it, this county reporter anticipates being up well past his bedtime.
Among the topics: economic incentives for a kayak manufacturer; funding part of a High Point workforce preparedness study; and more on a proposed Smith High School academy.
The board will also honor Olympic gold medalist Joey Cheek, though he's not expected to attend the meeting.
The action starts at 6:30 p.m. It ends when it ends, probably later rather than sooner.
It's springtime, when the weather warms and thoughts turn to March Madness, barbeques, baseball and ... bonds?
Ok, you may not be thinking about bonds. But Greensboro City Council wants your two cents on what items should be included in a likely bond referendum this fall.
There are three ways to share your thoughts: Come to the public hearing on the bond referendum at council's March 21 meeting, use the Internet; or call the city's contact center at 373-2489.
Guilford County is moving along with plans for a new jail in downtown Greensboro even though the commissioners haven't decided how to pay for it yet.
Here's the latest: A committee of staff and commissioners have narrowed a pool of about 30 potential jail architects to two. They are HOK, headquartered in St. Louis, and Moseley Architects of Richmond, Va.
The committee interviewed both firms earlier this month, along with three other groups that responded to the county's request for qualifications but didn't make the final cut.
Commissioners will choose an architect after HOK and Moseley tell them how much their design services will cost.
As noted over on David Hoggard's blog, Greensboro City Council member Goldie Wells has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
I spoke with Goldie this morning, and she sounded pretty upbeat given the circumstances.
"I haven't felt a bit different," she said. "I feel fine."
She's waiting to hear from her doctors on her course of treatment - she just learned Monday that she has cancer. She believes her faith will help her beat cancer.
"The Lord is still a healer, even in the 21st century," she said.
She's unsure at this point whether the treatment will cause her to miss future council meetings.
Dianne Bellamy-Small, Greensboro City Council's District 1 representative, will host a community meeting March 25 from 10 a.m. to noon inside Simkins Indoor Pavilion at Barber Park, 1500 Dan's Road.
Bellamy-Small will lay out her vision for District 1 and the city. Residents from around the city are invited to bring questions, ideas and concerns.
The forum is sponsored by the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress.
Over at City Council member Sandy Carmany's blog.
By all means, leave some thoughts here as well. (I'll have to ask Sandy her secret to getting responses to open-ended questions. Maybe it's that council vote she has.)
Guilford County commissioners handed down raises for several high-ranking employees Thursday night. Because of the late hour, I wasn't able to get updated salary information, but I've got it now.
You may remember that some of these folks received raises last year (those increases were later halved). The county deemed those raises "market adjustments," which are intended to keep salaries in line with what those in similar positions earn elsewhere.
The increases handed out Thursday (Willie Best's raise was granted at an earlier meeting) were more in line with the board's usual practice on raises. This year, the board made a committee composed of staff and commissioners part of its evaluation process.
Name and Title Percent increase Current salary New salary
BJ Barnes, Sheriff - 5 percent - $116,551 - $123,429 *
Jenks Crayton, Tax Director - 2 percent - $103,596 - $109,340**
Brenda Jones Fox - Finance Director - 5 percent - $120,510 - $130,316**
George Gilbert, Elections Director - 5 percent - $79,828 - $87,599**
Jeff Thigpen, Register of Deeds - 5 percent - $85,087 - $93,121**
Effie Varitimidis, Clerk to Board - 3 percent - $64,702 - $66,643
Willie Best, County Manager - 3 percent - $157,480 - $168,384**
* New Annual Salary includes clothing allowance.
** New Annual Salary includes auto allowance.
Source: Guilford County Human Resources
As I noted in this previous post, Greensboro City Council is undertaking a detailed review of all city programs and spending, dividing themselves into three committees to review the city's various departments.
When the council committees sit down to do their work, the information they'll have will include a line-item budget for the current year and each department's request for "additional resources" (otherwise known as money) for the 2006-07 budgtet.
The full 2006-07 proposed budget won't be part of their packet of information, City Manager Mitchell Johnson wrote in a memo, because among other issues "the data in it has yet to be checked and verified."
Johnson also added that "with the execption of the major issues you are already familiar with (clear additions to the budget), I expect the budget moving forward to be quite similar to the budget this year."
Johnson has said city staff is projecting a 4.25-cent tax increase driven by the opening of the trash transfer station, debt service on bonds voters approved in 2000 and rising health-insurance costs.
Johnson has also said he'll likely include $1.8 million in his budget to have city buses run every half-hour throughout the day and has said the city needs to add more police officers either this year or next.
As meeting dates are set for the council committees, I'll get them posted.
Update: The committee comprised of Tom Phillips, Yvonne Johnson and Sandra Anderson Groat will meet at 3:30 p.m. Friday at the Melvin Municipal Office Building, 300 W. Washington St.
April 13, to be exact. That's a little more than three weeks from now.
The Guilford County Board of Elections nailed down its early-voting sites for the 2006 primary earlier today. Click on the link below for dates and times.
The list of candidates is here. Registered Democrats and Republicans can only vote in their party's primary, while independents can vote in one party's primary or the other, but not both.
All registered voters can cast ballots in non-partisan primaries.
Primary Day is May 2.
You can tell Greensboro City Council what you want to see on a November bond referendum during a public hearing at tonight's Greensboro City Council meeting.
Not on the agenda but also possibly up for discussion: getting the SBI's Project Homestead report released and a discussion of an investigative report of former Police Chief David Wray obtained by this newspaper.
Council meets at the Melvin Municipal Office Building, 300 W. Washington St.
Greensboro City Council was expected to discuss ways Tuesday night to make public an SBI report on defunct nonprofit home builder Project Homestead.
Why didn't they? They simply ran out of time. Last night's meeting ran long - including a couple of hours spent on a public hearing on potential bond projects.
Council didn't finish their regular agenda until just after 11 p.m., and their policies state that if the regular meeting concludes after that time, a second round of speakers from the floor and comments from council - where Tom Phillips was planning to discuss getting the Homestead report - are cancelled.
Phillips said this morning that he's a strong supporter of that policy, so he wasn't going to try to violate it.
Phillips said he'll try to discuss the issue during the council's monthly briefing session next Tuesday, if there's time. Otherwise, he'll raise it at the next council meeting April 4.
The city of Greensboro's human relations department, together with local nonprofits, will offer free workshops for Spanish-speaking residents at the "Opening Doors of Opportunity" festival April 8 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Greensboro Cultural Center, 200 N. Davie St. (Rain location is inside the cultural center)
Workshops in Spanish will help residents learn about tasks such as purchasing a home, dealing with the health-care system and paying for college.
That morning, an English-language workshop on marketing to the Hispanic community will be held from 8:30 to 10 a.m. That workshop costs $25.
For more information or to help sponsor the event, call 373-2038.
More information can be found here.
One of three Greensboro City Council committees examining the city's programs and spending met for the first time Friday afternoon.
Sandra Anderson Groat, Yvonne Johnson and Tom Phillips met for about 25 minutes to set a meeting schedule (next meeting is April 5 at 3:30 p.m.) and outline their expectations of city staff.
They also mentioned some of the questions they planned to ask.
Phillips said he planned to ask department heads what programs they would cut, along with what program they're not doing that they think the city should offer.
Johnson plans to ask how departments would be affected by steep cuts in travel and conferences, while Phillips said he would ask departments about their use of consultants. Johnson also wants to ask about legal fees, especially any for outside attorneys.
Greensboro City Council member Dianne Bellamy-Small hosted a community forum Saturday morning at Barber Park, though she wasn't the one doing most of the talking or answering most of the questions.
Joined by a host of city staff - including City Manager Mitchell Johnson, both assistant city managers, the police and fire chiefs and several other staffers - Bellamy-Small let the staff answer many of the questions from the several dozen people in attendance.
One of the things she asked Johnson after his hiring last year was to make the city's management staff more visible in the community.
"We have the folks here to answer your questions," she said.
And as questions were asked on topics ranging from street lights to abandoned housing, city staffers came to the microphone to answer and then frequently went into the audience to get more information from their questioners.
Bellamy-Small also laid out some of what she wants to see in District 1, including grocery stores and other amenities like movie theaters. She's also working with Assistant City Manager Ben Brown to develop a five-year strategic plan to guide the district's development.
She also encouraged residents to organize themselves by neighborhood, to form neighborhood watches and make themselves heard by speaking at City Council meetings.
"We need to hear your voices," she said.
Over at Sandy Carmany's blog, she criticizes the News & Record for publishing stories based on a leaked report chronicling an investigation into former Police Chief David Wray's administration.
In the comments section, she refers to a conversation I had Friday with City Manager Mitchell Johnson. So let me add some notes from that discussion to the discussion.
Johnson expressed concern that this would hurt the city now and in the future if a similar investigation was needed because people would be less willing to come forward and speak up if they were afraid what they said would end up on the front page of the paper. Johnson has received one phone call from someone who is now declining to cooperate further in the investigation
Johnson said a good deal of information developed by both the city's legal staff and the consultants brought into investigate Wray "was (developed) because people were able to come forward and talk about issues confidentially."
The leak, he said, has also "thrown some doubt on the integrity of my office, the legal office, some members of the police department and the City Council."
Here's the meeting schedule for the Greensboro City Council budget committee composed of Florence Gatten, Keith Holliday and Goldie Wells.
As Scoop has previously noted, council has divided into three committees to undertake a comprehensive review of programs and spending by each city department.
Update (4:10 p.m.): The meeting schedule listed above has been updated.
Update (3/28): The council budget committee composed of Mike Barber, Dianne Bellamy-Small and Sandy Carmany will hold its first meeting April 5 at 11:30, with subsequent meetings normally happening on Tuesdays either between 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Here's their full schedule.
It was the 10:30 a.m. meeting that started 33 minutes late and lasted less than 10 minutes.
And it left county staff in giggles.
The scene was a conference room at the Old Guilford County Courthouse. County manager Willie Best and six other high-ranking county staffers had gathered for the commissioners' agenda-setting meeting, a twice-a-month affair when chairwoman Carolyn Coleman considers agenda items for the board's next business meeting.
But Coleman couldn't make today's get-together, so vice chairman Steve Arnold was supposed to preside. The chairwoman would weigh in via speakerphone.
Everybody was there on time, 10:30 a.m., except Arnold, who is famous in county circles for arriving late to meetings.
So staff waited, and waited some more. Some chatted with reporters. Others said little. There were several uncomfortable lulls in the conversation.
With this schedule for council members Sandra Anderson Groat, Tom Phillips and Yvonne Johnson, all three Greensboro City Council budget committees have now set their schedules.
The fun and games of examining budgets begins next week, and Scoop will do its best to hit at least a few sesssions.
Update (4/3): Here are the updated schedules for all three committees:
Barber, Bellamy-Small, Carmany
Anderson Groat, Johnson, Phillips