While listening to the radio on January 8, 2010, the 75th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s birth, I realized that one of his songs hit the nail on the head about what is wrong in this community.
The lyrics go like this:
With suspicious minds,
And we can’t build our dreams
With suspicious minds.
There are a lot of suspicious minds in this community, and not without good cause. Before we can progress, we need to get rid of our suspicions. This is a worthy goal. Unfortunately, every day the list of suspicions grows.
Recently, the Director of Planning for the City of Henderson asked the Zoning Board of Adjustment to approve a request by local property developer and former Vance County Board of Commissioners member Tommy Hester for a sign variance.
Now, why should that be suspicious?
Well for one thing, Mr. Hester did not come to the hearing. The Director plead Mr. Hester’s case for him and asked that the decision be made in his absence. Why would the Planning Director do this? It has made some people in the community suspicious that Mr. Hester is calling the shots and that the Planning Director is intimidated by him. It has made others suspicious that Mr. Hester is assured that he will have his variance because he is politically connected. It has even made others suspicious that Mr. Hester has no regard for the public hearing process.
Why do I know about these suspicions? People have called and “vented” to me about this unseemly way to do business. They were glad that the Zoning Board of Adjustment showed respect for the process, but, overall, the city loses credibility in their zoning procedures when suspicions like these rear their head. If certain people are afforded special attention, the argument that all zoning is politically controlled becomes easier to fathom — and easier to believe.
Suspicions are out there about county water. After the Kerr Lake Regional Water Authority meeting on Monday, I asked a city official about the progress that was being made with the county on the purchase price of water and if discussions were presently taking place. I was told that the ball was in the county court, and that they had not responded to the last proposal by the city. Also, I was told that these discussions did not take place with a committee of the council.
At the last County Commissioner meeting, the county manager informed the public that talks were ongoing with the city. Does that lead you to be suspicious about the validity of these talks? If the county is not making a counter-proposal to the city, do they think that strings will be pulled and they will not have to negotiate on a price? Have they been promised a deal and, if so, by whom? Do the county and the city think that the citizens, who, after all, will be paying the bill for this water, do not have the intelligence to be privy to the discussions? Certainly the terms of the contract may need to be hashed out in closed sessions, but the end result of this hashing out should be made public.
There are all kinds other business practices and deals going on in local government that can make the taxpayer suspicious. Here are but a few others to consider:
After thinking about these ways of doing business, does it make you suspicious that the real decisions and discussions are going on, but the public is not privy to them? Remember, even though you are not privy to the decisions made about our business, you will have to pay for them. And remember also that even though you may be kept in the dark while decisions are being made, you have to live with these decisions.
Why aren’t these and other questions being explored by our elected officials in public meetings? Does it make you suspicious that the elected officials are not delving into the issues enough to truly know what is really going on? Does it make you suspicious that our elected officials are just “going along to get along” and are primarily interested in putting a congenial face before the public of how well they “co-operate”?
As long as decisions are seemingly illogical and unreliable, and as long as our money is being spent without good results, we need to be suspicious. When information is glossed over, summarized, and estimated, we need to be suspicious. Taking Elvis’ advice, we can’t build our community with suspicious minds. Our elected officials need to get to work, start digging, and give us complete factual answers to these and other queries. They should find out the facts and stop believing everything they happen to think.
Let’s clear the air. I challenge our City Council and our County Commissioners to allow the public to submit questions for them to answer at a set time on their agenda in the public venue. I mean real questions and real answers. No fluff. No hedging. Just facts. There is time on the agendas at public meetings for the elected officials to hear from citizens, but there is no time for the elected officials to respond. The public needs some answers.
Too much is at stake for our community to be riddled with suspicions. With facts we can determine if decisions are worthy, and then, together, go on and build our community, leaving suspicious behind.