Residents in Chowan push for more-open government

By Connie Sage

Correspondent

EDENTON

Frustrated by Chowan County's fiscal crisis, more than 50 residents met last week to push for more transparency from local officials and greater citizen participation in county affairs.

It's "no longer business as usual, and we'll not accept taxation without representation" said Gail Singh, owner of Nothin' Fancy Cafe and Market, where the group met Thursday night.

"That means we want to be heard."

Chowan County Magistrate Jimmy Badger walked the group through a list of eight concerns ranging from the possibility of a combined town and county government, to term limits for county attorneys

and auditors.

The meeting was held under the auspices of the Edenton Discussion Group, a monthly gathering co-hosted by Badger and retired CIA agent Bob Chapman.

A steering committee made up of the local Republican, Democratic and Independent party chairs was formed to determine the feasibility of a citizens' oversight committee for the county budget.

When retired Navy Cmdr. John Sams asked how many at the meeting were Chowan County natives, only a few in the crowd of mostly business owners and retirees raised their hands.

"Unless we have local folks, it will never work," Sams said of any effort to set up an oversight committee.

"You can say all you want, you can knock on the door, but no one will open it," he said of Chowan County officials.

Badger said taxpayers need to "show up on cold nights" at commission meetings to ask questions.

"You can always recall" elected officials, he said, if answers aren't forthcoming. "It's a powerful weapon."

County Manager Peter Rascoe said Friday that he welcomes everybody to attend and participate in meetings of the Board of Commissioners.

Rascoe took over the job June 16 from retiring Chowan County chief executive Cliff Copeland.

Rascoe said he learned the following day that the county had little cash on hand and that $723,000 remained in a $20 million reserve account set up a decade earlier.

The county, which was unable to pay all its bills in July and August, was told by the state to come up with a balanced budget.

The county cut services and personnel and increased the tax rate by 9 cents.

More than 800 local residents attended two board of commissioners meetings in August, booing and hissing as commissioners rushed through the tax rate hike.

Those attending last week's gathering vowed to elect as many new county commissioners as possible in November..

Two candidates, Democrat John Mitchener and Republican Alex Stallings, spoke.

"The money's gone. We're all upset," Stallings said. "We scream at the people who are supposed to take care of us, and they don't hear us."

Edenton resident Steve Lane said monthly board meetings should be televised. Commissioners need to occasionally meet in the county so they're not seen as "those guys in town," he said.

"The divisiveness needs to be stopped and addressed before going forward," Lane said.

The group also demanded to know how much money top county officials make.

Rascoe said in a recent interview that before Copeland retired, a consultant had been hired to look at the county's salary structure. However, the $18,000 study was canceled because of the county's fiscal crisis, he said.

"There were concerns from lower-paid employees as well as at the higher end that there may be inequities of job classification based on the need of the position and the actual performance," Rascoe said.

Human Resources Manager Carrie Byrum said there has not been a county salary study since 1973.

The county will gather as much data as it can internally and "hopefully we'll find funds to reinstate the study," which will include staffing needs, Rascoe said.

Some taxpayers have criticized what they say are unusually high department head salaries based on the size of Chowan County, which at 147 square miles is the smallest among the state's 100 counties.

Rascoe said that an employee's tenure in a job, as well as the "blended duties" of some department heads, has not been taken into consideration by taxpayers complaining of high salaries. There is no 401(k) match for county workers, he said.

Those attending last week's meeting wanted to know "where the $29 million reserve fund (is) and how it was spent."

According to minutes of the Nov. 2, 1998, commissioner meeting, the county was authorized to accept a lump sum of $20 million for a 30-year lease of Chowan Hospital by Pitt County Memorial Hospital.

Also, $10 million was to be paid by Pitt for capital improvements to the hospital, along with picking up the tab for the annual debt service on the Hospital Revenue Refunding and Improvement Bonds issued by the county in January 1997, according to the minutes.

The state's Local Government Commission gave its permission last week for the county to refinance two loans - one for the D.F. Walker Elementary School and the other for an adult day care center.

Both loans will be extended from 15 to 20 years, giving the county time to rebuild its nearly empty reserves.

By extending the loans, however, the county will incur an additional $1 million cost over the life of the combined loans, according to county officials.