Post 3: David Lawrence 110 & Scott Wilson 77
Post 4: Steve Arnold 98 & Sarah Donegan 88
Thanks for everyone for voting.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Vote TODAY!!
Please head on over to Town Hall (opposite the post office) to vote today from 7 am - 7 pm.Glad to see all four candidates waving signs this morning. David & Stephen over on Elder Road and Scott & Sarah in front of Wade Thomas' house on 186.
There are big signs for Sarah & Scott saying they will protect your personal property rights and keep taxes low. I'm not sure who they are running against, because all the candidates in the race are for personal property rights and low taxes. I specifically asked David just this morning if he was for taking people's property and raising their taxes and he emphatically said that he was not. Stephen said in his post, "Utmost consideration and stewardship in the use of city revenues." Doesn't sound like he's for raising taxes. So...get out and vote today, confident that no matter WHO you vote for, your property rights will be protected and your taxes will remain low.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Public Hearings
There's been a flurry of activity via emails and blog comments. Here's a summary. Feel free to add a comment or two.
The Code.
One of the first things we were advised to do by our town attorney was to update the charter and then update the code. We finished the charter this spring, and the approval of the code is almost complete. After 10 work sessions on the code, I would think that citizens have had ample time to weigh in. We scheduled two public hearings at our September meeting. These were set for Oct. 19th and November 16th. Both to be held before regularly scheduled meetings. Mr. Cape had earlier in the week notified council of his unavailability, but we didn't get notice from Mayor Thomas about his unavailability until 2:23pm on the date of the hearing. So without Mr. Cape and Mr. Thomas, we would not have a quorum. As it was late, I felt that I should be there to let citizens know about the cancellation personally. A note on the door is just bad form. Fred & Violet decided to do the same thing. We met some citizens that had shown up and let them know about the cancellation. I hoped we could reschedule a public hearing, but that is not my job. Obviously, November 2nd was out because of set-up for elections, but Nov. 9th seemed to be a good date. I told Violet (mayor pro tem) that the 9th would work for me. On the 20th of October our clerk sent out an email with the rescheduled code hearing set for Nov. 9th. All seemed well.
On the 28th the mayor sent a note to the clerk asking where the Nov. 9th date came from and letting her know that he would be unable to attend. The clerk sent this to council on Sat. (31st) night. Today, Mr. Cape also let it be known that he will not be available on the 9th. They do not support Violet's authority to reschedule the public hearing. They believe she should have called the Mayor (I don't know if she made an attempt...I haven't been able to reach her today) and Mr. Cape to see if the date would work with them. In hindsight, it certainly would have made things easier. I guess I didn't think rescheduling a public hearing was such a huge deal. I guess I overestimated the commitment of the Mayor and Mr. Cape to creating a new code. Mr. Cape, can you summarize your thoughts about the code in a comment to the blog? I don't want to paraphrase our recent email conversation.
So...a public hearing on the code is still scheduled for November 16th at 6:30pm. I have heard nothing about a rescheduled October regular meeting.
The Code.
One of the first things we were advised to do by our town attorney was to update the charter and then update the code. We finished the charter this spring, and the approval of the code is almost complete. After 10 work sessions on the code, I would think that citizens have had ample time to weigh in. We scheduled two public hearings at our September meeting. These were set for Oct. 19th and November 16th. Both to be held before regularly scheduled meetings. Mr. Cape had earlier in the week notified council of his unavailability, but we didn't get notice from Mayor Thomas about his unavailability until 2:23pm on the date of the hearing. So without Mr. Cape and Mr. Thomas, we would not have a quorum. As it was late, I felt that I should be there to let citizens know about the cancellation personally. A note on the door is just bad form. Fred & Violet decided to do the same thing. We met some citizens that had shown up and let them know about the cancellation. I hoped we could reschedule a public hearing, but that is not my job. Obviously, November 2nd was out because of set-up for elections, but Nov. 9th seemed to be a good date. I told Violet (mayor pro tem) that the 9th would work for me. On the 20th of October our clerk sent out an email with the rescheduled code hearing set for Nov. 9th. All seemed well.
On the 28th the mayor sent a note to the clerk asking where the Nov. 9th date came from and letting her know that he would be unable to attend. The clerk sent this to council on Sat. (31st) night. Today, Mr. Cape also let it be known that he will not be available on the 9th. They do not support Violet's authority to reschedule the public hearing. They believe she should have called the Mayor (I don't know if she made an attempt...I haven't been able to reach her today) and Mr. Cape to see if the date would work with them. In hindsight, it certainly would have made things easier. I guess I didn't think rescheduling a public hearing was such a huge deal. I guess I overestimated the commitment of the Mayor and Mr. Cape to creating a new code. Mr. Cape, can you summarize your thoughts about the code in a comment to the blog? I don't want to paraphrase our recent email conversation.
So...a public hearing on the code is still scheduled for November 16th at 6:30pm. I have heard nothing about a rescheduled October regular meeting.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Eddie's got the ball
Just got an email from the mayor saying he would NOT be available for the rescheduled 1st public hearing on the new code...which is to take place on Nov. 9th at 7pm. I guess it's all up to Mr. Eddie Cape. If he can make it we'll have a quorum. If he can't...well...I guess we'll just have to try again.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Sidewalks
From Scott Wilson's post:
" The fact is that you have current council members and what could be new council members that are adjoining land owners where our sidewalks and the City Hall are proposed. In my opinion, there is a direct conflict of interest when concerning sidewalks and the City Hall. "
I was at the council meeting when we talked about sidewalks. We simply thought it was a good idea to connect the existing sidewalk on Elder Rd. to the park. That's all. As for City Hall...the park is the only piece of property the city owns. Where else would we put it? Conflict of interest is a serious allegation. I heard today that you also do this in an ad in the Oconee Enterprise. Do you stand by this accusation? Feel free to clarify via a comment if you wish.
For the record, do you support or oppose additional sidewalks in North High Shoals?
(Sarah, if you are reading this feel free to comment).
Monday, October 19, 2009
Angry
I'm going to go ahead and violate my rule about posting while mad.
I JUST NOW (2:23pm) on Monday, got an email saying that the Mayor will not be able to attend the public hearing and official October meeting tonight. I don't know what the excuse is this time, but with Eddie also unable to attend (he notified us last week), we will not have a quorum. So if you had plans to discuss the code tonight, you are out of luck. You can thank the two people that have not given this code or frankly this job the amount of time and effort that is required. We all have families, we all have other responsibilities that involve us but Fred, Violet and myself have somehow managed to attend the work sessions, and attend the meetings. For the 2-3 times per year that business calls me away from town, I plan ahead of time and we are usually able to reschedule the meeting. That is what you have to do when you are down one councilperson, and you want to get the town's business done.
I wasted my lunch hour today to bring some copies of the code over to town hall. Now, sure I can afford to miss a meal or two, but our clerk has also been very busy getting the minutes together and preparing for tonight's meeting. I'm sure Violet & Fred have been reading up on the code and preparing for tonight's meeting.
I wish I could say 'there, I feel better now'. But I can't, I'm still mad. It'll pass. Of course it'll pass....but I really feel let down.
Hopefully this meeting will be able to be rescheduled soon.
I JUST NOW (2:23pm) on Monday, got an email saying that the Mayor will not be able to attend the public hearing and official October meeting tonight. I don't know what the excuse is this time, but with Eddie also unable to attend (he notified us last week), we will not have a quorum. So if you had plans to discuss the code tonight, you are out of luck. You can thank the two people that have not given this code or frankly this job the amount of time and effort that is required. We all have families, we all have other responsibilities that involve us but Fred, Violet and myself have somehow managed to attend the work sessions, and attend the meetings. For the 2-3 times per year that business calls me away from town, I plan ahead of time and we are usually able to reschedule the meeting. That is what you have to do when you are down one councilperson, and you want to get the town's business done.
I wasted my lunch hour today to bring some copies of the code over to town hall. Now, sure I can afford to miss a meal or two, but our clerk has also been very busy getting the minutes together and preparing for tonight's meeting. I'm sure Violet & Fred have been reading up on the code and preparing for tonight's meeting.
I wish I could say 'there, I feel better now'. But I can't, I'm still mad. It'll pass. Of course it'll pass....but I really feel let down.
Hopefully this meeting will be able to be rescheduled soon.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Your Candidates
I've just posted videos of your four candidates at the Town Charter Hearing. There are also four posts from the candidates themselves. You may have to click the 'older posts' link near the bottom to see all of these. I think that the more information we have about the candidates will help us all make more informed decisions on who to support. Please come out and vote on November 3rd.
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