During the report of County Manager Jerry Ayscue at the regular meeting of the Vance County Board of Commissioners yesterday evening, votes on two separate motions determined that the County would table the implementation of county-wide zoning in favor of starting the water system project.
The first of two decisive motions was made by Commissioner Eddie Wright. He called on the Commission to proceed with the implementation of zoning by calling for two required public hearings.
Commissioners Deborah Brown, Terry Garrison, and Eddie Wright voted for the motion. Commissioners Dan Brummitt, Scott Hughes, Tim Pegram, and Danny Wright cast the deciding negative votes.
Immediately after the first motion was voted upon, Brummitt asked Brown if a motion was in order to table zoning.
Brown suggested that the Board wait for a recommendation from Ayscue.
Brummitt proceeded to make a motion to table zoning and proceed with the implementation of county-wide water.
Eddie Wright cast the sole dissenting vote in the second motion.
Before the motions were made and the votes were cast, Ayscue reported that Brown has asked that zoning be placed on the June Board meeting agenda. He reminded the Board that in a February 2007 retreat that members had agreed to delay the enacting of zoning until the water system project could be started.
Ayscue indicated that he awaited direction from the Board.
When Brown asked what the last official action of the Board was, Planning Director Ken Krulik distributed a chronology of events and actions relevant to the issue of zoning, which he summarized for members.
At that point, Eddie Wright made his motion.
Before entertaining the motion, Brown paraphrased a recent article in The Daily Dispatch in which she claims she asked Ayscue to put zoning on the agenda for several months. According to Brown, she reminded Ayscue several times in May to put zoning on the June agenda because she knew that May was a “hectic” month.
Brown stated that what the Board does in a retreat is not formal.
The chair of the Board of Commissioners said that members had gotten to a point where they were “stuck”. She said that if putting it [zoning] on the back burner was the case, zoning should have been on the agenda the next meeting [March] and it was not.
Brown cautioned the Board that it does not want to be seen as a Board that starts things and can’t finish them.
The chair then praised the County’s Planning Department, stating that it could “probably stand up against any planning department in the state.”
Regarding Ayscue, she said that he is highly rated among county managers in the state, although he “doesn’t delegate sometimes like he should.”
Digressing somewhat, Brown said that she was “sick and tired of Vance County always being the ‘poor county’, always getting the short end of the stick.”
She went on to add that Vance County people can’t get water from their own lake. She said that [we] passed by opportunities because “we’re afraid of rubbing people the wrong way”.
“I can sleep at night because I know I’m doing the right thing,” Brown said.
Upon returning to discussion of Wright’s motion, Brummitt commented that county-wide water is an asset that will help the county grow.
He noted that zoning is not listed by the Council of Governments as an asset towards growth.
Brummitt also stated that funds for the water system “continue to dwindle” on a federal level.
Hughes said that he was concerned about citizens getting water and zoning confused. He said that public hearings might help people differentiate between the two.
Danny Wright stated that county-wide water is a number-one priority. He said that in meetings, the anti-zoning people “had put doubt in peoples’ minds” so that [the County] can’t move forward with both at the same time.
After Danny Wright’s comments, the vote on the first motion was taken.