The City Council’s first-ever forum on an annual Henderson audit is today at 5:30 p.m. in the Municipal Building on Beckford Drive, and if you care about this city, if you care about how your money is handled, if you care about a future in which Henderson thrives instead of withering, you need to be in the council chambers ready to ask questions and listen.
Month: February 2005
Embassy, Aycock on council agenda
Public hearings and minor budget amendments highlight a Henderson City Council agenda that could prove anticlimactic tonight after the evening’s forum on the 2004 city audit.
Technicalities
We apologize for the outage Sunday night. The server decided to play hide and seek with the database, and it took a while to find it again. All is well, and preparations for a backup site are under way. Meanwhile, we encourage everyone to take advantage of our new forum, Talk Back, to share your thoughts on anything and everything in a place where the community can see them and respond. We want HomeinHenderson to be a home for community …
Opinion: We need foreclosures
The heart of Congressman G.K. Butterfield’s prescription for Henderson is something that often seems like a dirty word: foreclosure. But what is a terrible thing for an occupied house is a blessing for an abandoned structure.
They know a
Smart men know they look smartest when they have the guidance of smart women. G.K. Butterfield and Clem Seifert agree that the women around them are making them look good. Butterfield’s chief of staff in his House office is a woman, Corliss Clemonts-James. She and one of Butterfield’s district office directors, Dollie Burwell, joined him on his visit to Henderson on Thursday. Both of them are veterans of congressional staffs and valuable resources for the freshman Democrat. “You have smart …
The picture from the ‘Kremlin’
It probably doesn’t mean a thing because there were no assigned places at Thursday’s lunch for Congressman G.K. Butterfield at Uptown Rose, but the seating arrangements were at least interesting. Back in the days of the Soviet Union, Kremlin watchers would pay close attention to who was near the premier and who was far away in official photos. The thought was that physical closeness reflected real power. In that light, we couldn’t help but notice that Butterfield was flanked by …
Opinion: The area’s Oscar-worthy performance
The Oscars are tonight, and for most people in America, the big nominees are a mystery.
Butterfield: Henderson should follow Wilson’s lead
G.K. Butterfield rode around Henderson on Thursday when it looked its worst. The thick clouds provided a gray cast to a bleak midwinter landscape devoid of greenery. A light rain added to the chill of a temperature in the upper 30s. Few people were outside, and usually crowded porches were empty.
Congressman makes no promises on school site
Mayor Clem Seifert delivered on a promise Thursday morning: He asked, begged and pleaded for Congressman G.K. Butterfield to give Henderson $10,000 toward the demolition of the old South Henderson School.
Drunk with power
The following report first appeared at HomeinHenderson.com on Feb. 20, but two letters in Saturday’s Daily Dispatch, one against beer and one in favor, made it worth reminding readers about the issue at hand. For those people considering a run for municipal office in Henderson this fall, a wedge issue may have emerged at the most recent City Council meeting.
Black history provides perspective on kids’ future
By Joshua Jacobs Special correspondent All of the pupils of E.M. Rollins Elementary School gathered at 10 a.m. Friday for the school’s big assembly to celebrate Black History Month.
Butterfield: ‘I have an affection for Henderson’
Rep. G.K. Butterfield delivered the following remarks during lunch at the Uptown Rose restaurant in downtown Henderson on Thursday: Thank you very much for inviting us up to take the tour today and just fellowship with you and see firsthand what the issues are in Henderson and Vance County.
Council confronts county needs
The city-county relationship remains a work in progress, the Henderson City Council found Thursday afternoon.
One up, one down for city employees
Henderson’s city government is moving ahead with a proposal to recognize employees for excellence and not just longevity.
Vance man stuck after overpayments
It looks like legal action will be a Vance County resident’s only hope for a refund of more than $2,000 he says he overpaid the city of Henderson over nearly two decades, and the lawyer who leads the City Council’s finance committee said Thursday that the man wouldn’t have much of a court case.
Opinion: A splash of the strange
City Council member Harriette Butler raised a few eyebrows Thursday evening with a comment during a discussion of Samuel Smith’s erroneous water bills. As the consensus in the Municipal Building conference room turned solidly against going beyond the three-year statute of limitations to repay Smith for sanitation fees he should not have been charged, Butler joined the chorus warning of the potential for a flood of claims for refunds from water customers. “I’ve been out of my house for four …
Butterfield comes home to Henderson
Congressman G.K. Butterfield, a Wilson Democrat in his first term representing the 1st District, including northern Vance County and all of Henderson, took the driving cleanup tour of the city Thursday morning, then had lunch at Uptown Rose with Mayor Clem Seifert and other city representatives.
The heat is on for city management
City Manager Eric Williams could be in for a rough Monday evening if a radio audience Wednesday morning was representative of city residents’ reaction to Henderson disappearing fund balance.
Opinion: WIZS does us all a favor
WIZS-AM proprietor John Rose deserves the thanks of Hendersonians for dedicating an entire edition of “Town Talk” to the difficult topic of the city’s financial problems Wednesday.
The LGC speaks
The following is the text of the two-page letter sent from the state Local Government Commission to the Henderson city government in response to the fund balance problem documented by the audit for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2004. The letter was sent on the official stationery of State and Local Government Finance Division and the Local Government Commission of the Department of State Treasurer, a Council of State post held by Kittrell-area resident Richard Moore.