Another wince-worthy Wake Co. public meeting

I'll keep the regionalist snark to a minimum on this, but the last week of public meetings in Wake County have to make one wonder whether some magical government gremlins must have been responsible for the ill-will and insanity surrounding Durham's school board antics in the mid-2000s -- and whether those gremlins got bored with relatively peaceful and collaborative governance here and decided to pop down to Raleigh to have some fun.

Sure, Durham's BOCC has been contentious at times this year, particularly over the flameworthy 751 Assemblage project, but generally speaking, the school board and City Council have been extremely civil places. And, heck, the Durham BOCC still found unanimous consent to re-elect its chair and vice chair.

Not so in Wake County, according to the funny/sad report in the N&O on last night's Wake County Commissioners meeting.

The bottom line really came down to, well, the bottom line: one WakeCo commissioner had to get their tush to the bathroom.

That W.C. moment gave the W.C. commissioners remaining an imbalance -- three Republicans, two Democrats. A split met by something that in football would be called the "hurry-up offense."

And, after 75 minutes of deliberation and fourteen 3-3 tie votes over the board's new chair, the bathroom break by Betty Lou Ward led to another vote, this one counted 4-2 for GOPer Tony Gurley to take back over as chair.

(Incidentally, that's Tony Gurley as in the Gurley Pharmacy downtown. If you find these kind of backroom machinations -- make that bathroom machinations -- unpalatable, that's worth mulling over. It certainly kills my buzz to pop into Tony's pharmacy for anything, that's for sure.)

Apparently last night's Wake Co. Commissioners meeting ran on until well in the morning, over twelve hours, unable to reach a consensus on a vice-chair; the meeting paused until this morning over health concerns (one W.C.'er was overdue for an insulin shot, BCR's learned.)

It's the second difficult meeting for Wake County voters in the past week, coming on the heels of a very newsworthy school board meeting last week.

Yes, the anti-diversity policy candidates picked up enough seats for a one-vote majority on the new board.

But no one expected them to come into office on Day One having met as a group outside of the board -- and, as new members who hadn't been sworn in yet, those meetings weren't in violation of the letter of open government laws... even if they damn sure felt like they went against its spirit.

As a result, the new majority had a range of resolutions and procedural matters to add to the agenda, items their fellow board members hadn't been allowed to even see or know about.

That included the sweeping in of New Jersey transplant Ron Margiotta as a new school board chair, months ahead of the next scheduled vote -- and proposals to sweep away school diversity policies and other fixtures of the Wake system.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Believe me, there's little ground for getting high and mighty over local government issues.

As the school board mess here a few years ago showed, it doesn't take much for an elected board to veer off into crazy-land.

(You knew things were getting bad on Durham's school board, for instance, when Durham's realtors pleaded for peace and calm, saying that the tumult was scaring away homebuyers.)

Given the nastiness that sometimes comes across the county lines from Wake'rs who don't understand why anyone would choose the Bull City over such suburban dreams as Apex and Cary, it's tempting to chortle at our neighbors' sudden misfortune.

But it's no laughing matter. And Wake's governance struggles ultimately aren't good for the region.

Folks, it shouldn't take 12 hours to elect your chair and vice-chair.

If it does, it means you have a serious problem in collaboration and trust. I mean, after about an hour of this, you need to take a recess and get some heads on straight, reach some compromise about where your leadership is going to come from.

Similarly, new Wake school board folks: you're going to spend a couple of years of your lives working with your fellow members on this board. You're going to find the need to build relationships, build trust, find ways to communicate even across your differences.

That doesn't happen if you're jumping out there with hidden agendas on the first day the new board convenes.

Look, this isn't Washington politics. BOCCs and school boards have real, everyday work to get done laying and supporting the infrastructure to help a community grow and thrive.

Local government is about getting things done, not scoring points. And not about partisanship, at least it it's going to be successful.

There are no permanent enemies, only permanent interests, it's sometimes said about politics. In local government, there's something else: permanent communities, with permanent needs to build schools, construct water treatment plants, and update zoning rules.

So, Wake County friends, listen up:

If you're displaying this little ability to work together, you're embarrassing yourselves.

You're embarrassing the region.

And if you're not careful, Money Magazine will get wind of this, and to heck with all those top-region ratings.

Or, hell, people might decide to move to Durham instead, where the government meetings are cordial (usually) and decisions get made (sometimes) and there's nice transparency in the process (OK, BOCC watchers, I know I'm overrreaching.)

Seriously, the residents of Wake -- of the region -- deserve better than what they've seen over the past week out of those two embarrassing meetings.

Wake County, we've got to work with you on Falls Lake, even if you're not going to like what we have to say.

Just give us a call when you finally elect a board chair so we know who to call, 'kay?

Comments

[Laura]

Preach it, brother.

[Todd P]

The crazy wing of the Republican Party is being well represented over there. When will voters ever learn?

[Rob Gillespie]

I don't care what party someone is in, all Wake voters should be upset about the conduct of these two meetings.

At the school board meeting, items were added to the agenda on the spot, and the minority school board members were expected to vote on items after seeing for the first time 5 minutes earlier. Surely, that has to violate some laws. At the very least, it is dishonest and unethical.

Same thing with the installation of the new county commission chair. Yes, the vote was legal, but it was definitely unethical. Also, it doesn't even take into account that Webb's replacement is supposed to be recommended by the Wake Democratic Party (of course, since he hasn't officially resigned, and Gurley is serving in an interim capacity, this rule doesn't technically apply). Why aren't Wake County citizens in an uproar over this?

[Michael Bacon]

I am seriously worried about the impacts of this on Durham. I mean, they don't even charge admission to these meetings -- I don't know how the DPAC is going to compete. I mean, there's drama, and then there's DRAMA!

Seriously, though, where this is probably going to hurt them the worst is on corporate relocations. Individuals may not keep up with local drama like this when considering relocation, but businesses sure as hell do, and they're generally not fond of government dysfunction.

[Erik M.]

The reference to "New Jersey transplant Ron Margiotta" makes me want to point out that Wake County Commissioner Paul Coble, who voted against the diabetic board member getting to eat a sandwich, proudly notes that he is a "third-generation resident of Raleigh."

The Brown/Norwalk/Ward/Webb side of the board, on the other hand, seems to be primarily a coalition of African-Americans and Northern transplants.

[Justin B. Clark]

@Rob,

I could be wrong but I'm assuming this was the annual vote for a new chair that boards hold on a yearly basis; or however long the term limits designate. Similar to how in Durham the BOCC re-elects their chair on an annual basis.

In other words, the replacement that is recommended by the WCDP is not being recommended to replace him as chair but to assume his seat on the board as a regular commissioner. Should Webb choose to resign I am confident the board will honor the recommendation of the party to replace him but he will NOT however be granted the chairs spot; although he is more than welcome to stand for election to the seat the next time the position is up for a vote.