News-Record.com

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

City Manager Mitchell Johnson plans to hold some of the city's budget in reserve just in case revenue does not meet projections.

The move promoted Councilman Mike Barber to ask: exactly what are Greensboro’s revenue projections?

Finance Director Rick Lusk anticipates a slowdown in sales tax revenue and building inspection revenue this fiscal year.

The city predicated that the sales tax revenue would be $42.6 million this year. That's $1.4 more than last year. So far, collections around the state have matched -- not exceeded -- revenue from this same time last year. Greensboro will know more about the exact figures later this month, when they get the first sales tax receipts of the 2008-2009 fiscal year from the state.

As for the inspections, there have been fewer building inspections because there is less construction. The city anticipates a shortfall of $400,000 for inspection fees.

With the conservative moves the city has made so far this year, Johnson expects the city will have enough money to cover its expenses. But City Council members could push for more money-saving measures as the year rolls on.

Some city council members will hold a press conference Friday to discuss "city efforts in reducing cost expenditures to meet current economic conditions."

It was a press conference called at the urging of Councilman Mike Barber, who wants to make sure residents know they're paying attention to financial worries that have rocked the country.

"We just want the public to know that we are proactive about what's going on in the economy," Mayor Yvonne Johnson said.

Barber was concerned that the recent news that the city will hold back about $1.1 million in case of revenue shortfalls could damage the city bonds' chances at the polls. The city is asking voters to approve $205 million in bonds for transportation, the War Memorial Auditorium, parks and recreation and housing initiatives.

Barber wants to assure residents the projects are much-needed investments in the city. Barber also wants fellow council members to agree to hold off on issuing those bonds -- if they are approved -- until the end of 2009, the end of their current terms in office.

It's an idea that has not yet been debated by the full council, so it will be interesting to see who attends the press conference and whether they back this plan.

The press conference itself is a sticking point between Barber and Councilman Robbie Perkins, who was not happy that it was called in the first place. He said he didn't want it to appear as though the information presented at this press conference represented the opinions of the entire council. In his opinion, the city is doing well financially and he's worried a press conference would needlessly alarm the public.

"I can’t be associated with knee-jerk reactions and poor strategic planning," Perkins said.

Call it yet another difference of leadership style and perspective as this divided council comes the half-way mark of this term.

Councilwoman Goldie Wells wants to hear from you.

Wells is looking for citizens, business owners or university leaders to attend a District 2 forum at 7 p.m. Oct. 23 at the Revolution Mills Event Center, 1000 Revolution Mill Drive, Greensboro.

“I am their voice on council. I need to know what they are concerned about,” Wells said.

Mayor Yvonne Johnson is a busy lady. Her schedule is jam-packed with engagements.

Now you can get a coveted spot on her to-do list for just $1.

As part of the city-county employee campaign for the United Way of Greater Greensboro, Johnson will take ten raffle winners to lunch at Panera Bread on West Wendover.

Buy your $1 tickets in from Kiran Purswani at Greensboro's Management Information Systems office, on the second floor of the Melvin Municipal Office Building. The drawing will be held this Friday at 2 p.m.

Everything you need to know about this week's council meeting:

What: Greensboro City Council meeting

When: 5:30 p.m. today

Where: Melvin Municipal Office Building, 300 W. Washington St., Greensboro

Watch it: Time Warner Channel 13 or www.greensboro-nc.gov/citygovernment/council

How to speak: Sign up before the meeting. Speakers have up to three minutes for issues not
on the agenda. The speakers-from-the-floor section is limited to 30 minutes.

On the agenda: Council will consider rezoning requests that would allow for a shopping plaza at the intersection of South Elm-Eugene Street and West Vandalia Road, and apartments on Meadowwood Street north of West Wendover Avenue.

Although it is not on the agenda, council will likely discuss several ideas to keep city finances low to in case of a revenue shortfall.

Online: Read more about Greensboro politics at blog.news-record.com/staff/scoopblog

High on the 19th floor of the Lincoln Financial Building, you can plunk down $25 and plop down next to a commissioner or congressman.

It's the elected officials reception at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, hosted by the Greensboro Partnership.
From the release:

The Greensboro Partnership is hosting an Elected Officials Reception for community and business leaders to meet local, state, and federal elected representatives. The reception is an excellent opportunity to meet the individuals who represent you. The Elected Officials Reception was developed to provide a forum for the Greensboro/Guilford County community to familiarize themselves with local, state and federal elected leaders making decisions that affect quality of life, economic development, education, transportation, etc.

Wanna go? Call 387-8331.

About 30 residents joined Councilwoman Goldie Wells Thursday night at the Revolution Mills Events Center to set her agenda for the second half of her term.

With some help from the Center for Creative Leadership, neighbors and leaders met in groups and identified what they liked about their district and what they want for the future.

Some of the things they loved: parks, schools and transit options.

What they wanted: economic development and jobs.

What's standing in the way of those wishes: lack of investment, a negative perception of the area and inadequate enforcement of local laws.

Wells said economic development and crime are at the top of her concerns for her district. And she asked her constituents to help her change the negative perceptions of northeast Greensboro.

"If we don’t toot our own horn, no one’s going toot our horn," she said. "We've got to change the negative perception, and we will fix the crime."

If businesses like FedEx, Hondajet and others get incentives for doing their business somewhere, why shouldn't the common guy or gal?

In that vein of thinking, Walter Fancourt, owner of Liberty Oak restaurant, decided to open economic incentives to anyone.

He's got a series of deals labelled "Economic Incentives" that he began last week.

Times are slow for everyone, it seems. When money gets tight, fewer people eat out. So his plan is to drum up some business with a the ol' tried-and-true special.

"We're saving the economy one restaurant at a time," he said of his "incentives" plan.

Often the incentives that Greensboro City Council or the Guilford County Board of Commissioners will offer to a company for their business can be upward of several hundred thousand dollars.

So what's Fancourt think of those?

"I think it’s a good practice," he said. "I think that Greensboro needs to get things rolling, with the economy the way it is, but within reason. It can go too far. Some people want everything, but it’s got to be economically feasible."

Click here for today's Scoop column from the print edition, which hashes over a possible (if not likely) flip in the state senate, reading the pumpkin seeds and some candidates who don't want to be rescued.

Scoop spotted three bond promotion signs last Thursday, dotting the grass in front of the Coliseum.

The colorful pinwheel signs ask voters to approve the $50 million War Memorial Auditorium project, one of four bond projects on the ballot this fall. Seeing as the signs were located on city property, it seemed to be violation of the rules that prevent city employees from promoting bond issues or political candidates.

City attorney Terry Wood asked Coliseum staff to take the signs came down, although he said he didn't know who put them up.

Most city employees walk a very careful line when it comes to political issues. It's laid out in black and white in the state law:

No employee while on duty or in the workplace may: (1) Use his or her official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election or nomination for political office; (2) Coerce, solicit, or compel contributions for political or partisan purposes by another employee.

To clear up some questions asked by readers, the law does not apply to City Council members. As long as they do not use any city resources -- phones, computers, staff -- they can stump for whomever or whatever they want.

Read the full election law here.

Just as city council members and county commissioners were wrapping up their joint lunch session Tuesday afternoon, Commissioner Billy Yow took that opportunity to point out some displeasure about Mayor Yvonne Johnson's promotion of Sen. Barack Obama.

Johnson recorded a robo call for the Democratic presidential candidate, in which she identified herself as the mayor of Greensboro.

Yow, and apparently some constituents, were dismayed that the nonpartisan mayor would support a partisan candidate -- using her title no less.

"Some folks have really taken offense to this," said Yow, a Republican.

Johnson, a Democrat, said she checked with the city legal department before becoming a spokeswoman for Obama. So long as she didn't use any city resources to campaign, she's in the clear.

"It's legal to do so," she told Yow.