Planning Board Sends MOU Up

On Thursday April 26th the Indian Trail Planning Board voted to accept the MOU for the APFO as presented by the county with a positive recommendation and send it to the Council for a vote.
The vote was 4-2 in favor of acceptance. Now the ball is back in the hands of the council.
Both sides of the issue were discussed with very legitimate arguments on both sides. The concerns varied from the fee itself, easing of school overcrowding, higher costs to the home buyer. There is no cost to the town, and the MOU can be disoved on our part if any changes to the APFO don't agree with the direction the town wants to go in. The APFO currently has 2 lawsuits against it, both brought by developers in the county.

The MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) is an agreement that the town will work with the county in association with the APFO (Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance). The IT Town Attorney is OK with the MOU. It is not binding to the town and can be voided if the county makes changes to the APFO that the town does not agree with. If...because of using the APFO guidelines, the town happens to get sued by an over zealous developer, the county will handle the defense of the APFO.
The APFO is not designed to stop growth...in fact, it encourages growth in parts of the county that are lacking growth. It attempts to defer/delay more development in the higher density parts of the county where school overcrowding is overwhelming us. Currently, .64 cents of every tax dollar collected goes for school construction. The county is responsible for the school construction and that is why the APFO was designed with schools in mind. The county does not control roads, water, or sewer. That is not to say they are not important, the county doesn't control them. (What they do control of water and sewer is a mess)
The fees associated with the APFO are designed as a deterrant to building right away...the money only represents about 20% of the construction costs.
The APFO is being challenged currently by two lawsuits. The courts could throw the power of the APFO out or not? If that happens the MOU is a moot point. If not, the county will start the implementation and go from there. No one you will talk to will be 100% in favor of the APFO. No one knows if this will work. But it is a start and its better than nothing. We have seen throughout the county how nothing works. If it doesn't work...change it, throw it out or come up with something else. Right now no viable alternatives have been presented and yet our schools become more over crowded every day. Something has to be done to ease the school situation. There is talk of a .01 cent sales tax or a transfer fee from the sale of existing houses, but nothing set in stone yet...the APFO is not the magic bullet that can guarantee sucess, nothing will but it is seemingly worth a shot.

EARTH DAY CELEBRATIONS

This past weekend a lot of communities marked Earth Day with all sorts of events such as tree plantings, garbage pickup, parades, and even a dirty sock contest. Indian Trail planted 3 Sunset Maples at the Edna Love park, and hopefully each will live to be hundreds of years old. Saturday the volunteers in Indian Trail went around and picked up trash from the side of the roads. If you notice the orange bags scattered on many roads that will tell you many people were hard at work on Saturday. Hopefully, those that participated can tell a few people what they found and the quantities. If nothing else, we can develop more participants the next time and maybe, just maybe people will throw less out of their cars onto the roadways.
To all the volunteers thank you so much for your concern and hard work.

NEW NAME FOR BYPASS???

Last night during the Chamber of Commerce Transportation committee prior to road construction, planning, funding, prioritizing or the lack there of, a vote was taken on the naming of the unbuilt "Bypass." Some of the names that were considered:

Coastal Carolina
Monroe Parkway
Monroe Union Parkway
South Piedmont Parkway
Union Parkway
Sen Jesse Helms (something...can't remember)
Plus others I can't remember.

The Monroe contingent favored the Monroe Parkway name, but in the end the majority of the group chose "Union Parkway". There are those that will say whats in a name? Apparently, the name of a road can be hotly contested. My opinion is that we haven't heard the last of the name game and that before it is all over other suggestions will be saddled to the yet unbuilt road.
My suggestion was to narrow the field of names put them in the paper and have the public choose the name. That idea was pooh poohed. My alternate suggestion is to name the road after whoever, whatever can get the road built in a timely fashion. Its been over a twenty year process and still no road. Lets name it for the people that can get the road built.

BACK TO THE WAY IT WAS BEFORE???

A recent post on another blog stated something to the affect that the current IT majority needs to go and we need to get back to where we were....or something like that (you get the jist, not really worth getting the exact quote.)

What exactly do some of these people want to go back to? Lower taxes?? That would be nice, but hardly achieveable considering all the things the town need to move forward.

In the recent past the town of Indian Trail has seen :

* unmanaged growth both new and incorporated
* no planning for the future
* no public comment (thanks to a state law, the town had no choice but to have public comment)
* had a town manager that worked 25 hours per week and made over $77,000 per year. (nice work if you can get it I suppose) Town council members had no idea of salary and benefits.
* inability to get information (re: budget and expenditures)
* no open government...you got what they wanted you to have
* Improper record keeping (actually broke the laws with this one) Lost files.
* Improper payments of Social Security and Medicare for at least 7 years and more like 10years.
(laws broken on this one also)
* unable to attain verification of so called approved expenses (goes to record keeping again)
* secret email accounts using public funds
* land swap that gave would give away town asset
* town hall project that up until recently no details of cost were ever brought forth
* downtown project (nice on the surface) but with flaws.
* No liquor by the drink
* no budget forcast or view to future
* land use plan and map (very good thing)
* Planning director fired after favorable comments about him.
* Assumed town was building Chestnut road extension at a cost of 25 million.


With the current council:

* no liquor by the drink (same as above) hopefully an issue to be decided by the citizens.
* budget forcast (plan for the future)
* town hall project with actual numbers 8.2 million at present time 30,000 sft.
* land use plan....updating the ordinances.
* land swap from above that hopefully will be made null and void and the town can keep asset
* open government....try getting information now...website, in person, you get the info.
* hired interim town manager (former Senator) to manage town until permanent manager was found. Would not have been my choice but after the firing the town needed a manager.
* new town manager...A full time manager that the council knows how much he actually makes.
* no secret accounts expense or email
* proper record keeping
* other very good employees...ie town clerk and town attorney.
* higher taxes but the tradeoff is that the money is actually being used for town services and infrastructure where it had been ignored in the past.
* Curfew ordinance in progress
* Alarm ordinance in progress
* Code of ethics and rules and procedures in place for council
* Defined town as a Manager/Council form of government after Mayor exclaims she was the CEO of the town.

The above are differences between the current board and previous boards..not to imply that it is better now than then, that is for the individual to decide on their own. I personally think its better now but thats my opinion.

I am sure there are issues on both sides I have missed...I will be more than happy to have them added. This is all verifiable and in black and white also.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU READ

Thanks to the internet there are helpful sites and sites that provide information. However there are those sites that don't do either and want to stir up emotion with half truths. Those are the sites that you have to filter the information they are providing. The information is in there, but its surrounded with a thick layer of compost that would make any gardner happy. The internet allows people to create new identities for themselves which enables inflamatory comments to be presented without any real repercussions. I too could have created an alias for myself and spouted so called information at will in hopes of winning people over to my side but I like others chose to do the right thing. I am not hiding behind anything or anyone...the words are my own and I stand behind what I say. I encourage others to do the same thing. If you don't agree with me and want to present another opinion fine, but this is my blog and if you step over the line I am not going to give you the forum to spout. Sorry. I will even post comments from people that insist on remaining annonymous, though I believe it cheapens their comments and is cowardly at best...but if the argument is good...we can go with it.

I have viewed another blog that is attempting to exact change here in Indian Trail by use of deceit and have truths. Its their blog and they have the right to do what they want....doesn't mean everything on it is truthful...its not. A recent post was directed at Ms. Howe complaining about her age and how she went about exacting change. Several things bug me about that post.
1. What does her age have to do with anything? If I had to wager a guess, 3 members of the IT council could be 60 + in age...but yet they only talk about the one.
2. The other comment was that she had a problem, got mad, took action, ran for office and won.
So in essence, they are complaining that Ms. Howe acted as an American citizen and effectively turned a problem into a solution. Exercising her rights as an american to run for public office and winning a seat on the council. I fail to see why this is a negative.
3. They would like to point out the problem Ms. Howe is working on is in her neighborhood...a flooding issue where her neighbors have been flooded repeatedly. (As a note: Ms. Howe has had her yard flood but not her house, nor does she benefit financially if the flooding is fixed. The attempt of fixing the flooding in her neighborhood is not a guarantee of solving the problem and Ms. Howe and her neighbors will still have to carry flood insurance.)
4. There are other areas of flooding that Ms. Howe is working on also, as co chair of the stormwater committee, it is their intention to help the failing infrastructure of the town. Ms. Howes neighborhood was the only one reported as having residences flooding. The future stormwater fee will help to prevent other residences from flooding.
5. The creeks: This seems to be an issue for some, due to the fact Ms. Howe has spent numerous hours trying to get other towns involved so the creeks in the area can be cleaned out. No easy task considering other towns are being involved. Even if she is lucky enough to get other communities to sign on, there is no guarantee it will get done due to cost and so it will be for naught.

You have to make up your own minds...don't believe everything you read...on this blog or others. The only way to know for sure is to get involved. Join committees, apply to boards...meet the councilmembers. ....ALL OF THEM. Not everything in the past that was done was wrong...Not everything this board has done or will do will be right.... I make no excuses or hide my support for the current majority on the IT board...I have supported them all. They are not perfect...nor will they ever be....but the right things they are doing for the town more than outweigh the wrong. Thats just my opinion.

Transportation Committee Meeting

The Indian Trail transportation committee will be meeting on Thursday April 19th at I believe 7pm at SPCC. The guest speaker will be Barry Moose from DOT. Hopefully he will explain how and why roads are assigned the way the are...How the money is designated. How to go about possibly speeding up the process. Should be interesting.

TOWN COUNCIL 4/10/07

The town council on Tuesday heard from the Town Manager that the non payment of monies due to the government for Social Security and Medicare for the past 7 years was $27,499.26. That covers the past 7 years (statute of limitations prevented it from going back 10 years.) The town manager stated in his opinion, the auditing firm should have spotted this discrepancy. I believe that such an oversight could be prosecuted as a legal matter....but at least an attempt to recover this money will go forward. According to the article in the EJ today...only one employee and one elected official were affected. Though members of the council wanted to take this into closed session the majority wanted it spoken about in public. It seems members of the previous council would like their actions, especially negative, to remain in closed session. If something comes up that reflects bad upon these councilmembers they want to forget about the past and concentrate on the future. I can't blame them because if you concentrate on the future you bring no light to past mistakes, errors, or indiscretions.
The Down Town project: It was reported by the Planning Director that the project had just submitted another traffic study but that it was still being looked at...and that the DEVELOPERS were not ready to precede with going forward yet but that they were aiming for the May meeting. The town was posed with the question about a rumor that the town may be facing legal actions by the developers...the town was unaware of any legal actions. Apparently, the person posing the question has more information possibly than that of the town.
Liquor by the drink: The question was brought up again and what I guess has to be considered a request to put the issue on the November ballot was made. No action was taken by the council on this subject. **It is my understanding that the ordinances for the town are being rewritten and until that happens, it seems very unlikely the council will discuss the subject at all, but I guess anything is possible** I assume the request is the 1st step to getting a town wide petition to force the issue on the ballot. Though I would like to see this issue up for a vote, I feel it would be better for the town if the ordinances were finished so as to allow the town to manage the businesses that would want LBTD better. The proper ordinances can enable to the town to do it right the first time and actually make the subject more profitable.

In the coming months there will be several public hearings for items coming in front of the council. Keep an eye out for those dates.....being discussed will be the curfew, alarm ordinances. Along with the budget retreat it will be vital for citizen input into the process.

Any questions contact your councilmembers.

INDIAN TRAIL PLANNING RETREAT

March 30th and 31st saw interesting coversation and exchange of ideas during the Indian Trail Planning retreat. Topics involved everything from the stormwater fee to the curfew ordinance and everything in between. The bottom line coming out of the session was not whether the town council was going to raise your taxes....but by how much????? The days are gone that this so called sleepy little town can exist on an .08 or .10 cents tax rate. The perfect example of how growth DOES NOT PAY FOR ITSELF can be seen in Indian Trail. Current population is around 24,000 and with approximately 4,600 more homes in the pipeline we can expect another 12,000 people bringing our total to somewhere around 36,000. Major issues are being dealt with in the coming months and an election looms on the horizon for 4 members of the council.

Major Issues:

1. Town Center: Including the new town hall and all that goes with it. $8.2 million.
2. Liquor by the drink: Currently the ordinances are being rewritten so as to protect the town..but this issue will not go away and may influence the next election. Has the potential to bring in quality *non fast food* restaurants....but at the same time will not provide the silver bullet to the town for excess revenue. If done the right way it can help, but there will be added cost to the town to provide extra deputies or added police prescence. I don't believe it will be the boon to the economy some expect. (Unk cost to the town)
3. Police protection: We currently have 8 officers contracted by the town from the sheriffs office. At approximately $64,000 per officer $512,000 budgeted. At some point, the town will reach a point where they have to consider starting their own police department. A year ago or so, there were stats out from police agencies stating the optimum ratio of police to citizens was 500 to 1. Stallings I believe runs in the neighborhood of 750 to 1 or 1000 to 1. Indian Trail at that rate would be a minimum of 24 officers needed now with 12 more to follow. 24 officers would be approximately 1.5 million dollars needed in the budget. 2.3 million for 36 officers.
The town has to enter into a contract with not only the sheriff but the County commissioners due to the fact the county picks up about 10% of the cost for contracted officers...so Iam told.
With the budget crunch at the county level...I can only imagine that the price to contract officers are going to go up.
4. Roads: All are overcrowded. That point can't be argued. Planning for roads in this area are non existant. Due to lack of funding at the state level, towns are now expected to front the money for the road projects with a promise of payback in the future. Towns in order to receive funding for projects have to provide 20% or lose the project. Towns typically operate on a shoe string budget and have a limited amount of money. Roads that are adequate now...need to be put on DOT list for expansion now...in 30 years they will be overcrowded. Dot could help situations if they would just upgrade intersections as populations increase.. For instance, Potter and Chestnut. Increasingly busy, DOT could have put in necessary turn lanes to avoid backups. Then the future businesses that are going to be built could be charged for the upgrades. Instead, all will be done afterwards or during the project itself. Meanwhile, you could sit at that light for 3 or 4 cycles due to someone making a left. Same can be said for Potter and Pleasant plains, or McKee and Pleasant Plains...just to name a couple.


Bottom line, the town could easily go into their budget retreat with an increase from .10 cents to .25 and still not have enough tax money to do what they need to do. Will that happen? Probably not right away but its coming. The lack of past planning and balancing the budget with cash reserves have caught up to this town that never wanted to prepare for the future. Election year politics and all will affect the tax process also....it is conceiveable that the tax rate could go to .15 cents and no one will blink an eye. We as citizens need to expect this increase...not a lot we can do about it. Judging from the turn out during the planning retreat...citizens either are too busy or don't care about the process, and that is not good. The decisions in the next few weeks will cost each person in Indian Trail money. Some will be money people don't have to spend in the first place.