The FUN Continues.....

The "fun" continues in IT especially when it comes to the Downtown Project. October 10th IT Council Meeting saw Shirley Howe and Dan Schallenkamp motion for additions to the agenda. First up was Mrs. Howe. She made a motion to recuse the Mayor from any possible vote dealing with the Downtown project and to include any potential vote on the Dan Schallenkamp matter brought by the Downtown Indian Trail LLC.
Next Mr. Schallenkamp asked to be put on the agenda so he could respond to the Downtown LLC's charge that he could not make an unbiased decision. Mr. Schallenkamp made a quick statement that he would not recuse himself from the proceedings associated with the Downtown Project.
It was determined after some conversation that the Mayor needed time to review the accusations from Ms. Howe and have the chance to retain legal council, and that the council would need to read the so called evidence against Mr. Schallenkamp that was in a two inch binder just handed out. After some discussion it was determined that November 1st, 2006 at 6pm would be the date that all items would be heard and decided on. I don't believe that included hearing the Downtown project and the 16 conditions the developer would liked changed. That will probably be done at the regularly scheduled November 14th council meeting? Stay tuned it should be very interesting to see what is decided.

NEW TOWN MANAGER NAMED

Its official, the new Town Manager of Indian Trail has been hired. Ed Humphries takes the reins from interim Town Manager Fern Schubert, who replaced John Munn in December 2005. Mr. Humphries is 60 years old and has been a mayor, banker, and of course a Town Manager. He will hit the ground running and help make Indian Trail a better place for all citizens. His salary will be 77,250 per year in a full time position. The vote from the council was unanomous and fully backed by the Mayor also. Lets wish him a lot of luck. Thanks should also go out to Fern for filling in during a very rough time for the town. I would caution this council as well as future councils, keep an eye on your town manager this time around. It doesn't pay to let them run roughshod over the town and its people. The town manager works for the council, not the other way around. We elected you the council to oversee our interests. Thanks for the time you put into this decision...I am sure going over all the applicants had to be time consuming.

IT FAMILY FUN DAY

After a weather delay the 2nd annual IT Family Fun day went off without a flaw. Several hundred people enjoyed the games, music, food, and demonstrations. The weather was perfect and everyone seemed to have fun. I know my children particularly enjoyed the air filled slide, they were on it most of the time. The town gave out quite a few prizes with a free drawing on what appeared to be hourly. $100 gift certificates were among the gifts from local merchants. Peggy the Town Clerk worked very hard as did the staff involved. Dan Schallenkamp and Mercedes Cass were the councilmembers in attendance. The question is ... Did you visit the free family fun day???? If so lets hear from you.......

APFO PASSED BY COUNTY

At their meeting October 2, 2006 the county commissioners passed the long awaited APFO. In an attempt to manage growth by timing developments to the school capacity or have the developer pay a 15,000 plus fee per house the commissioners voted 3-2 in favor of the APFO. The APFO committee and UC Planning Boards passed or agreed with a stricter version of the APFO than that of the commissioners. It is my opinion that the commissioners passed the "watered down" version because it represented the most defensible document. The APFO is not designed to stop developement only to slow it down and manage it so that school capacity can catch up. The fees involved are voluntary to the developers and my impression is the county would rather not collect dime one in fees if they could get the timing adjusted. Besides, the fees don't come close to paying the $ needs of the schools and is kind of like spitting into the ocean. Being on the UC Planning board...we passed the stricter version and sent it to the commissioners. The stricter version of the ordinance was not perfect and certainly the one the commissioners passed was not either. However, it is a starting point to manage growth that can be altered as we go forward. It is now up to the towns to adopt the APFO and certainly there will be those that will not adopt it and if enough town follow suit would render this ordinance useless. Some opponents of the APFO have stated it has holes in it, it was the watered down version, it was this, it was that......blah...blah...blah.
Reality is, those that opposed the APFO do so with no alternate plan...no recommendations other than to stall.
Is the APFO perfect....NO and no ordinance like this ever will be.
The APFO is a start to manage growth...not to eliminate it, or to collect fees. It can be changed as the powers see fit to change it. Much like other ordinances that evolve over time.