by Elissa Yount
Editor’s Note: We took a few days off to take the Little Editor to King’s Dominion and completely lost track of what day it is. We apologize to our readers who look forward to Elissa’s Wednesday musings and to Elissa herself for the delay.
It is time to get conflicts out of our local government.
Let’s start with the Board of Elections. James Kearney, the chairman of the Vance County Board of Elections had his wife as the Chief Election Judge at the Ward Precinct which votes at the Fire Station on Dabney Drive during the last municipal election. This is a conflict, and while it might not be illegal, it is nepotism and can be construed as being unethical. How could a candidate be assured that a complaint was being mediated fairly when the complaint might be brought about a wife to her husband?
I was at Fire Station 1 during the last municipal election. I remember a concern that Bobby Gupton brought to her attention when a voter said that Mr. Gupton’s name was not on his ballot. I was also there when Mrs. Kearney came out and chatted with Bernard Alston and Mike Inscoe during the election process. While there may not be anything illegal in this action, if one were to complain, the complaint would go to her husband. This conflict needs to be fixed.
Here is another conflict:
The chairman of the Economic Development Commission brings a plan for a sewer line that is going to ultimately greatly improve land that he owns. First of all, the government is supposed to have a Land Use Plan that lays out well into the future planned growth of infrastructure. Adhering to a Land Use Plan lets a government do what is best for the entire population and not certain land holders. Doing otherwise is unethical, and very questionable. In most thriving communities, the Land Use Plan is like the Holy Grail. In our city, it has been a dead document. Even after two years of committee work, we still do not know its status. Without a solid Land Use Plan, your community is open to willy-nilly planning and building and more encroachment on our residential neighborhoods of non-conforming growth. Without a viable Land Use Plan, the risk of influence, power, arrogance, and greed can conquer intelligent planning that is done for good of all.
While we are all tied up in conflicts, let’s get to another one. Mike Inscoe and Mike Rainey should not have dual roles as elected council people and as appointed committee members of the planning board and the zoning board of adjustment. At the top of each and every council agenda is a statement to the effect that if a member knows of a conflict, he or she should reveal it. If they have participated in meetings as appointed committee members and have then come to vote on issues that were brought to the committee, of course they have undue influence. This is ridiculous and is just another way for them to have more control over our government issues. This really does not pass the smell test, and I do not believe this has ever been allowed to happen in Henderson before the “New Direction” took over.
These fixes are easy. All it takes is honest, responsible, and ethical people making the correct choices to get conflicts out of the way of local government. Do we have such people?