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More local ABC boards lose money (Associated Press)

RALEIGH More than twice the number of government-run liquor store operations in North Carolina failed to turn a profit in the past fiscal year as in the year before.

Statistics presented Wednesday to Gov. Bev Perdue’s state government reform committee showed 24 local boards reported operating losses for the year ended June 30, compared to nine the previous year.

State Alcoholic Beverage Commission Chairman Jon Williams told the panel net profits from the more than 400 stores statewide fell 11.3 percent to almost $51 million. Higher sales and alcohol taxes that began late last year ate into those profits. Overall liquor sales grew 1.4 percent to $727 million.

The legislature approved new rules last summer requiring performance standards and streamlined budgeting for local boards.

Published Thu, Oct 21, 2010 02:00 AM
Modified Wed, Oct 20, 2010 10:02 PM

The North Carolina Mobility Fund: A Chance to Bring North Carolina Transportation Policy into the 21st Century (SELC)

Transportation policy has a profound impact on the economy and the environment in North Carolina. Unlike many of its neighbors, North Carolina lacks any comprehensive growth management law, and so more than any other statewide policy, transportation plans dictate how North Carolina grows. Until now, state policy has focused on highways, fueling an expensive cycle of sprawl development patterns. This pattern of growth has made North Carolinians more dependent on driving in their daily lives, and it has had significant noise, water quality, wildlife habitat, air quality, and other environment impacts across the state. Today, in most North Carolina metropolitan areas the transportation sector accounts for over half of smog emissions. And statewide, it has been estimated to contribute 29% of North Carolina’s gross greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. Such impacts are bound to grow without a significant policy change at the state level. The recent creation of the North Carolina Mobility Fund may mark the first step towards such a change.

North Carolina’s policy shift would take advantage of emerging federal transportation policies. President Obama recently announced a $50 billion transportation investment plan that will work towards the goal of providing alternatives to the automobile for travel, and other changes to reduce oil consumption, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and expand access to job opportunities and housing that’s affordable. A long-term framework includes plans for a national high-speed rail system, expansion of public transportation systems, and a national infrastructure bank to fund merit-based grants, building on reforms set in place during the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Like the recent federal programs, North Carolina’s new transportation legislation breaks with the past practice of formula-based spending focused on new highway construction. The 2010 Appropriations Act creates the “Mobility Fund,” a revenue source for projects “of statewide and regional significance that relieve congestion and enhance mobility across all modes of transportation.” N.C. Sess. Law 2010-31 § 28.7(b). It is endowed with $173 million from fiscal year 2011 to fiscal year 2014, and $58 million each fiscal year thereafter, and much of this is designated for an “initial project” that would widen Interstate 85 outside of Charlotte. But the potential of the Mobility Fund lies not so much in the projects that its initial funding allocation may finance, as in the policy reforms that it may set in place.

The Mobility Fund provides a critical follow-up to the Congestion Relief and Intermodal Transportation 21st Century Fund Bill, popularly referred to as the “Intermodal Bill.” N.C. Sess. Law 2009-527 codified at N.C.G.S. § 136-251(2). The Intermodal Bill established a statewide grant program for public transportation and rail projects, but the program was never funded. Now, to comply with the law, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (“NCDOT”) must create a project selection process to disburse the Mobility Fund, which gives “preferential consideration” for projects targeted by the Intermodal Bill. And because the Intermodal Bill links transportation funding eligibility to various land use and environmental criteria, it could spark a broader integration of transportation and land use policy.

Currently, North Carolina’s transportation policy is dominated by the Highway Trust Fund law, which mandates the construction of ten urban beltways and dozens of major highway expansions in less developed areas. No comprehensive study has ever been completed to justify these construction plans from a traffic engineering, economic development or environmental perspective. To the contrary, the most recent studies, such as the 21st Century Transportation Committee’s report to the 2009 General Assembly, point to the need for a more focused approach. For now, however, the Highway Trust Fund mandate remains in place, and its scattershot approach is magnified by the so-called “Equity Formula,” which allocates transportation funding on the basis of arbitrary administrative districts, and results in some rural areas receiving over twice the funding of major metro areas on a per capita basis.

In creating the Mobility Fund, the North Carolina General Assembly stated its support for “all modes of transportation,” N.C. Sess. Law 2010-31, § 28.7(a), and expressly exempted the Fund from the Equity Formula and programming requirements of the Highway Trust Fund. To the contrary, the law conditions NCDOT’s project selection criteria for the Mobility Fund to the requirements of the Intermodal Bill, a law premised on the finding that “congestion continues to worsen” under the Highway Trust Fund building program, that “most of North Carolina’s growth is in its urban regions,” and that the “increased use of rail for transport of freight will reduce highway congestion as well as allow economic expansion.” N.C.G.S. 136-251. The Intermodal Bill’s land use and environmental objectives could help to set in place a statewide project selection process that takes these factors into account, initiating a transformation of the state’s transportation policy.

Shortly after coming into office, Governor Perdue directed the Secretary of Transportation to develop a “professional approval process for highway projects,” in response to widespread perception that transportation planning decisions were politically motivated. Since then, NCDOT has developed a statewide project selection process, but it has many flaws and does little to alter the status quo. For example, the project ranking process shields high-cost new construction projects from comparisons with more modest roadway upgrades or maintenance projects, or from rail, transit, bicycle, and pedestrian projects. None of the criteria consider land use or environmental impacts, relying instead on engineering metrics, such as a roadway’s “Level of Service” rating, which tend to focus on short-term, often temporary, congestion relief. Discretionary rankings from local officials and NCDOT division staff control up to half of the overall rankings for some projects, yet surprisingly, only the ranking criteria for urban loop projects consider cost. The resulting transportation plans have been heavily focused on new highway construction, and exhibit few differences from past plans.

By contrast, the Mobility Fund project selection process, with its mandate to give “preferential consideration” to Intermodal Fund projects, can be expected to differ dramatically from NCDOT’s current practice. Under the Intermodal Fund Bill, a city, county or local transportation authority must demonstrate “an adequate and sustainable source of funding established for its share of project costs,” N.C.G.S. 136-252(b)(4), and its transit plan must meet various objectives. These include congestion relief, the traditional focus of North Carolina transportation policy, but also environmental factors, such as improving air quality and reducing energy consumption. They also include land use objectives, which may have the potential for the most dramatic change in state policy. Criteria based on these objectives would prompt local governments to establish affordable housing inventories, promote “mixed-use” zoning, make urban centers safe for bicycles and pedestrians, provide transit access to poorer communities, and take other planning steps in order to qualify for state funding. See N.C.G.S. 136-252(b)(2). Such an incentive structure would be in stark contrast to the current state of affairs, which primarily encourages local governments to identify locations for new highway capacity in order to receive state transportation funding.

The Intermodal Bill objectives should provide the foundation for the Department’s selection process for Mobility Fund applicants. They are broad enough to apply as criteria to all projects, and could even favor highway projects with the appropriate design and overall land use plan. Incorporating these directives into the Mobility Fund selection criteria would be consistent with the Mobility Fund law’s “preferential consideration” requirement. It would also advance other state policies, such as the Ambient Air Quality Improvement Act’s goal “to reduce the growth of vehicle miles traveled in the State by at least twenty-five percent (25%),” N.C. Sess. Law 1999-328, and NCDOT’s own mission to operate with “environmental sensitivity,” a consideration that currently does not factor into the Department’s project selection process.

The bulk of the state’s transportation budget continues to target highway construction as a means of moving people and goods across the state, without a clear policy defining statewide transportation priorities. The Mobility Fund, however, could succeed in diversifying the state’s transportation investment portfolio and bringing some coherence to statewide transportation and land use policies. On October 1, 2010, NCDOT will report to the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee (“JLTOC”) with its preliminary plan for allocating the Fund. For further information and updates on the Mobility Fund project selection process, as well as contact information for interested parties seeking to submit public comment, please see http://www.ncdot.gov/about/finance/mobilityfund/

Thomas Gremillion is an Associate Attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center’s North Carolina and South Carolina Office in Chapel Hill.

Article Date: Friday, October 15, 2010
Written By: Thomas M. Gremillion
Last Update: Friday, October 15, 2010

Marijuana alternative’s (Spice) popularity soars (Fayetteville Observer)

Marijuana alternative’s popularity soars (Fayetteville Observer)

A designer drug that replicates the high of marijuana is the new darling of a growing number of tobacco shops in Fayetteville.
The legal substance, known as spice, contains a lab-made chemical that affects the same receptors in the brain as the active ingredient in marijuana. The federal Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that spice is 10 to 15 times stronger than marijuana.

The product has been sold in the United States since about 2006, but its popularity has soared in the past year, even as military and civilian authorities work to outlaw it.

“It’s just as popular as beer,” said Jeff Sizemore, owner of R’s Gems & Rocks on Bragg Boulevard. “We go back into the 1970s, and we’ve never sold anything like this stuff does.”

Spice’s popularity may be one reason that so many tobacco shops have opened in Fayetteville recently. Figures from the city’s finance office show that 21 of Fayetteville’s 27 tobacco shops opened in 2009 or 2010. Two more shops have opened in Spring Lake in the same timeframe, one in the past couple of weeks. Most of the shops sell spice.

Spice doesn’t show up on most urinalyses, which adds to its attraction for soldiers and others who are regularly tested for illegal drugs.

Spc. Andrew Falusi, a Fort Bragg paratrooper, said he knows several soldiers who smoke spice. He said he tried it once with fellow soldiers, but he didn’t like the way it made him feel.

The growing use of spice has drawn the attention of military commanders. On Wednesday, Fort Bragg banned the use or possession of spice on the Army post, joining at least nine other Army installations in doing so.

Soldiers caught with it on or off post can be punished for the equivalent of failing to obey an order, said Col. Chad McRee, commander of the 16th Military Police Brigade and director of emergency services on Fort Bragg.

Soldiers also can be punished for shopping at any store that sells spice, McRee said. Fort Bragg officials consider spice to be drug paraphernalia, and any business that sells it is on the installation’s off-limits list.

“It’s very important that even though it seems harmless … it is absolutely dangerous and unlawful to be used if you’re a soldier,” McRee said. “What we know at this point is there are some very bad effects. What we don’t know is how bad these effects can become.”

Still, McRee acknowledged that there are loopholes that can make enforcement difficult. Because spice doesn’t show up on most drug tests, possession is the only method for enforcement.

At Fort Bragg, 29 soldiers have been caught with spice in the past month, McRee said.

“You can see that it’s plentiful,” he said.

Sales clerks at stores that carry spice – which is packaged as incense with names such as Funky Monkey, K2 and Afghan Kush – say it is the best-selling product they have ever seen. The packages sell for between $25 and $50 and typically contain 3 to 4 grams of leafy greens sprayed with the ingredient that mimics marijuana.

Fayetteville police are finding that some people prefer not to pay for it.

Police have responded to at least a dozen break-ins in the past couple of months where spice was stolen, department spokesman Dan Grubb said.

Sizemore, the smoke shop owner, said soldiers’ girlfriends or spouses often buy spice at his store. He said many people empty it into an unmarked container in the parking lot to better hide the product from military authorities.

The DEA has labeled spice a drug of concern.

Eric See, chairman of the Department of Justice Studies and Applied Forensic Science at Methodist University, said the drug is too new for any research to have been conducted on its long-term health effects.

Some side effects reported include nausea, vomiting, hallucinations, anxiety attacks and muscle spasms.

The American Association of Poison Control Centers reported that spice use has led to more than 1,300 calls to poison control centers around the country.

Warnings on packages of spice state that it’s not for human consumption, but the people who buy and sell it know its intended use. Many shops around Fayetteville that sell spice display pipes or bongs alongside the product.

The warnings don’t seem to have much sway on people, though.

Sizemore said that in the week following military paydays, he usually sells between 1,000 and 1,500 packages of spice. He said spice has single-handedly saved his business.

Sizemore said he smokes about 30 to 40grams of spice a week. He said he prefers spice over marijuana because it’s stronger and it’s legal.

“It slows you down a little bit, calms you out,” he said. “It’s a really good feel-good.”

Ben Anstead, owner of Anstead’s Tobacco Co. at Cross Creek Mall, said he doesn’t carry spice because he doesn’t want his store to be associated with such products. People ask about it daily, and the frequency has increased in the past six months, he said.

See said he expects spice to eventually become illegal, like other designer drugs that have come before it since the 1960s.
Ecstasy and methamphetamine were created in a lab and were at one time legal, See said.

“Ever since people have had chemistry kits, they have made drugs,” he said. “It’s a cat and mouse of who can get what and how far ahead of the laws they can stay.

“As soon as a law is passed on this particular designer drug, there’ll be something else to replace it.”

One of the main compounds used in spice – known as JWH-018 – was developed by researchers studying cannabinoids at Clemson University in the 1990s.

The compound’s name comes from the initials of John W. Huffman, an organic chemist at Clemson. Huffman has said in published interviews that his discovery was never meant for recreational use.

Details of the discovery were first published in a scientific journal in 1998. Afterward, manufacturers began developing products based on it.

At least 10 states, including Georgia and Tennessee, have already banned spice, and four more have legislation pending to ban it, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Spice also has been banned in Germany, France and several other countries in Europe and Asia.

District Court Judge Kim Tucker, who oversees many of Cumberland County’s drug and alcohol cases, has outlawed the use of spice by people on probation.

Larry Clubine, a drug- and alcohol-abuse counselor in Fayetteville, said that about six months ago, he noticed people on probation showing up stoned for required treatment sessions.

“They acted like someone who had been smoking really good weed,” he said.

Clubine confronted one of them and eventually learned that some people convicted of using marijuana had switched to spice.
“The drug screens were coming up clean, yet there was a realization that some people were still using some substance. We just couldn’t detect it,” Tucker said. “We didn’t have the technology to detect it, but now we do.”

At the end of last month, Cumberland County began using a new urinalysis made specifically to test for spice. At $30 to $50 per test, it costs much more than the standard test that screens for about 10 common drugs.

Tucker now randomly tests for spice.

People in the court’s drug program caught using spice are punished with community service or jail time.

State Sen. William Purcell, a Democrat from Laurinburg, said if re-elected he will consider introducing legislation next year to outlaw spice in North Carolina. Purcell said he has heard from other state legislators who are interested in banning spice.

State Rep. Rick Glazier, a Democrat from Fayetteville, said he would back Purcell.

Last year, Purcell sponsored a bill that outlawed salvia, an herbal product with hallucinogenic effects.

Purcell said the law will need to be carefully constructed so that it doesn’t leave a loophole for manufacturers to keep selling spice after making a small molecular change in the product to skirt the statute.

“I’d hate to have a drug out there that alters the mind and yet we don’t know what the permanent effects are,” Purcell said. “I think we need to have some control on it.”

See said spice will continue to be popular until the federal government makes it illegal. If North Carolina outlaws it, buyers will drive to a bordering state to buy it, he said.

“I think there are drugs out there that are a lot worse than this, but at the same time, we need to be vigilant,” See said. “We need to be worried about it because we don’t know the long-term consequences.”

Staff writer John Ramsey can be reached at [email protected] or 486-3574.
Published: 05:23 AM, Sun Oct 17, 2010
By John Ramsey
Staff writer

Transportation chief vows help (Winston Salem Journal)

Transportation chief vows help (Winston Salem Journal)
State wants to work to get the Northern Beltway going but money is an issue, Conti says

The N.C. Department of Transportation wants to work with local elected officials and business leaders to find ways to get construction started on the Northern Beltway, but the state still won’t have any money to pay for project until 2020.
That’s the message that Transportation Secretary Gene Conti delivered to about 70 people last night at a meeting about transportation issues in Forsyth County. The Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce sponsored the meeting of elected officials and business people. It was held in the law firm of Womble Carlyle Sandridge and Rice on West Fourth Street.
“We are going to work with you,” Conti told the audience. “We are committed to get these issues resolved.”
Before Conti spoke, Stan Polanis, the city’s director of transportation, discussed the delays in building the proposed Northern Beltway, an urban highway loop around most of Winston-Salem. The entire project would cost $1.3 billion, with the eastern leg costing $840 million.
The beltway has been stalled since 1999, when opponents filed a lawsuit claiming that the state had failed to do a proper environmental study of the highway’s western leg. State and local officials later made the eastern leg the higher priority. Opponents sued again in 2008 after the state completed a new environmental review.
A judge dismissed both lawsuits in May, but state officials said that there was no money for the beltway. The state’s proposed list of urban-loop projects ranked the beltway’s eastern leg last among a number of projects, although local officials are trying to get that reversed.
Seven landowners also have filed a lawsuit, asking a court to force the DOT to buy hundreds of properties along the beltway route.
Polanis said that local officials must work with the DOT to handle issues of the affected property owners, develop a way to keep the project’s environmental documents from expiring in March 2011, and maintain the area’s existing highways and roads to handle the traffic until the beltway is completed.
Conti said that those factors are important, and he mentioned ways that other cities in North Carolina have used to pay in part for highway loops around their cities.
Officials in Raleigh, Wilmington and Fayetteville will use tolls to pay for sections of their urban loops, Conti said. However, the DOT is still using state money to pay for the remainder of these projects’ costs.
Don Flow, the owner of Flow Automotives Cos., asked Conti if the state could charge tolls for drivers to use the Interstate-40 bypass in Forsyth County and use that money to help pay to build Interstate 74, which would include the beltway’s eastern leg.
State transportation officials would need permission from federal highway officials to enact such a plan, Conti said.
“We are interested in that if you are interested in us looking at that,” Conti said. “I don’t know if we can sell that or not, but we can try.”
[email protected]
By JOHN HINTON, JOHN HINTON | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: September 29, 2010

Where Are the ‘Recovery Summer’ Stimulus Projects? (The New Republic)

Washington Post reported on a recent White House analysis of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. That assessment found “strikingly few claims of fraud or abuse,” according to the article. Well, good!

We’ve complained before that ARRA’s welcome emphasis on transparency tilts too much toward curbing this kind of waste and too little on establishing a clear, sensible focus on measuring outcomes, irrespective of the multiplier effects of speedy spending Jon Cohn points out. (Though, ironically, the report does not yet appear to be available on Recovery.gov.) But thanks to the ongoing oversight by the House’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, we are provided with clear and rich information on those projects in the committee’s jurisdiction along with a locational identifier for each. This data is reported by the states individually but kudos to the staff and committee leadership for pulling this together and making it available.

So what does it tell us? Our analysis shows that, just looking at the transportation agencies, 43 percent of all the projects and 67 percent of the spending occurs within the 100 largest metro areas, the geographic building blocks of America’s economy and society. While this may seem low given that these places are home to two-thirds of our population and generate 75 percent of our gross domestic product, it’s actually an increase from earlier this year when those figures where 41 and 59 percent, respectively.

A deeper look into the individual modal administrations (e.g., highways, transit, rail) tell a very different story, though not an unexpected one. The spending on transit projects, for example, is highly concentrated (86 percent) in the major metros while highway dollars (51 percent) are less so. Again, not too surprising given what we know about where transit is located, and how we’ve allocated roadway dollars in the past. But aviation is interesting: more than half the funding goes outside of the major metros despite the fact that 99 percent of all U.S. air passengers arrive or depart from one of the 100 largest metropolitan areas.

Also notable are the transportation recovery funds allocated through competitive processes, rather than formula block grants. For example, the so-called TIGER funds we’ve written about before closely track the economic concentration of the 100 largest metropolitan areas. The railroad money (aka the High Speed Rail grants) also veers heavily towards the largest metros though that may necessarily change somewhat as work connecting these places gets started (e.g., new signals, track sidings).

At least for the transportation projects, these data are starting to show the spatial difference between legacy programs and delivery mechanisms and the new fangled emphasis on empirics when it comes to choosing projects. So this emphasis on metropolitan areas is not a parochial grab for money. It’s about strategically investing where the economy is so American emerges from the rubble of the recession stronger than ever. That’s one of ARRA’s key lessons.

Robert Puentes
Senior Fellow, Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program
view bio

Public employees’ files not all open yet (Charlotte Observer)

Public employees’ files not all open yet (Charlotte Observer)
City seeks ruling that could limit access to personnel records under new sunshine law.

Good-government advocates hoped a new law this month would crack open North Carolina’s secretive old law on releasing personnel records for public employees.

But the city of Charlotte is among five state or municipal entities seeking attorney general’s opinions that could limit or close off newly available information for taxpayer-supported state and local workers.

At issue is whether the law should be applied retroactively for suspensions, dismissals and other actions that happened prior to Oct. 1, when the law took effect.

Noelle Talley, spokeswoman for Attorney General Roy Cooper, said Cooper’s office is preparing a response, which she said should be completed soon.

The old law made North Carolina the only state in the nation that allowed the release of no more than an employee’s current salary, position and job status.

The new law makes that information public, along with information about suspensions, demotions and dismissals.

Gov. Bev Perdue signed the measures as part of a series of ethics reforms, including tougher penalties for campaign contribution violations and other steps. The records law joins several others passed since 2005 to increase accountability in government.

City seeks clarification

The city of Charlotte sought clarification after the Observer requested information about all disciplinary actions taken against Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department officers for the past five years.

The newspaper filed its request Friday, the day the law took effect. It also sought information on former officer Marcus Jackson, who is accused of sexually assaulting women he pulled over during traffic stops.

Six women have come forward alleging that Jackson sexually assaulted them. Jackson, 26, has been indicted in several of the cases. He has been fired from the department and is in Mecklenburg jail awaiting trial.

After Jackson was fired in December, the Observer and other news outlets discovered Jackson had a domestic violence complaint against him before he was hired. He also twice had faced suspension for other issues during his first year on patrol.

But the public may never know how well, or poorly, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department performed in evaluating Jackson’s character and in supervising the rookie officer, because city leaders have refused to make Jackson’s personnel file public.

The city of Charlotte announced Wednesday that it has settled three lawsuits from two alleged victims of former police officer Marcus Jackson for a total of $225,000.

City Attorney Mac McCarley said the city would delay fulfilling the Observer’s request for records on Jackson and other officers because the city did not want to face liability for improperly releasing information.

“Because the statute is silent regarding the retroactivity of the provisions … it is unclear whether the city legally can or must provide the information that you have requested,” McCarley wrote in an e-mail.

Legislators may revisit law

There is nothing in the new law that says it should be applied retroactively or prospectively.

But Gov. Bev Perdue and several lawmakers have said they supported the law to make public the salary and employment histories of state and local employees.

Senate Majority Leader Martin Nesbitt, an Asheville Democrat, played a key role in reaching a compromise on the personnel law changes that passed the House and Senate overwhelmingly in the waning hours of the session. He said the intent was to make the law retroactive.

“We intended it to apply for all the records,” he said. “I think the statute is fairly clear. If you don’t say it applies to actions taken after this date it applies to all files.”

But Rep. Rick Glazier, a Fayetteville Democrat who led the House on the negotiations, raised doubts about whether lawmakers intended the law to be retroactive.

“I think there’s an open question here,” he said.

Both lawmakers said it’s likely the legislature will revisit the law next session because it is generating a lot of concern from local governments.

The Office of State Personnel said the law should not be applied retroactively for dismissal letters filed before Oct. 1, when the new law took effect.

“We have reason to believe that such release might violate the legal rights of these employees whom the law previously required that their dismissal letters were confidential,” wrote State Personnel Director Linda Coleman.

She is a former state representative from Wake County who was a strong advocate for state employees.

The state personnel office has sought an attorney general’s opinion, along with Alamance County, the town of Clayton, and the Johnston County Board of Education.

Clayton Police Chief Glen Allen questioned whether the new law should allow the release of any additional information pertaining to suspensions, demotions or promotions if they occurred before Oct. 1.

He and Coleman also asked the attorney general if the new law requires state and local agencies to create dismissal letters explaining why an employee was fired if those agencies did not do so prior to Oct. 1. The new law requires agencies make public their “final decision” for dismissal “setting forth the specific acts or omissions that are the basis of the dismissal.”

Meanwhile, Alamance County Attorney Clyde Albright wrote that a 2007 U.S. Fourth Circuit opinion makes the personnel law changes a violation of employee rights.

In that case, a Newport News, Va., police officer was fired after the department accused him of tampering with his squad car’s odometer to inflate the mileage and get a new car.

The court found that the dismissal should not be released because the officer had not had a hearing to defend himself against charges he said were false.

Records open in many states

Attorney General Cooper has advocated for release of more personnel information than what the legislature passed.

He said in a (Raleigh) News & Observer series about the personnel law that state and local government should make public the reasons behind all suspensions, demotions and dismissals. He sought to make it law 13 years ago as Senate majority leader.

“I still think serious discipline of governmental employees should be public record,” Cooper said. “Taxpayers should be allowed to know if and why a public employee has been suspended, demoted or fired.”

Several states, including Florida, Georgia, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas, have long made disciplinary actions and most other personnel actions public.

Frayda Bluestein of the UNC School of Government said asking for a legal opinion is a “reasonable first step” for governmental bodies concerned about liability under the new law.

Bluestein also offered another way to frame the debate. Instead of thinking about retroactivity, she said another view is simply whether records are on hand or not when the law became effective, regardless of when they were created.

“One way to look at this is as of October 1, if you have a record that meets this definition, that’s a public record,” Bluestein said.

Amanda Martin, an attorney for the N.C. Press Association, which includes the Observer and The News & Observer as members, agreed with Bluestein’s interpretation. While the law doesn’t discuss retroactivity, Martin said it does reclassify salary and employment histories as public record. As a result, state and local governments should provide the records.

“I believe that the new law makes the full panoply of those records public,” she said.

By Dan Kane and Doug Miller
Staff Writers
Posted: Thursday, Oct. 07, 2010

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/10/07/1744206/public-employees-files-not-all.html#storylink=omni_popular#ixzz11g5zL6kG

Lawmakers get ideas on reducing recidivism (WRAL.com)

Within three years of getting out of prison, ex-convicts are 36 to 40 percent more likely to commit another crime, Attorney General Roy Cooper told lawmakers Wednesday.

Cooper addressed the Joint Select Committee on Ex-Offender Reintegration into Society, a group of House and Senate members that is developing a plan to help former inmates.

He shared some ideas of the StreetSafe Task Force, a group that he and state Correction Secretary Alvin Keller head that offers tools and tips to ex-convicts to make them productive citizens as they return to their communities.

The following are some of the task force’s 24 preliminary recommendations:

Strengthen and support nonprofit groups helping ex-offenders integrate back into their communities.
Increase contact between offenders and their families before an offender gets out of prison.
Assign inmates to both educational and work programs to increase participation.
Improve job training opportunities for inmates.
Build networks with private employers and provide incentives to hire ex-convicts.
Establish incentives to develop housing for former inmates.

“When you take this effort, when you coordinate it, when you try to re-integrate people back into society and you reduce the number of repeat offenders, you protect people from crime, you save money and you help people,” Cooper said.

A final list of suggestions from the task force will be sent to Gov. Beverly Perdue soon, he said.

The legislative committee is scheduled to meet again in two weeks to learn more about other states’ programs for reducing recidivism.

Reporter: Ken Smith
Photographer: Tom Normanly
Web Editor: Matthew Burns
Posted: 12:53 p.m. yesterday
Updated: 1:29 p.m. yesterday

Perdue plans government consolidation (WRAL.com)

Facing a projected $3 billion budget deficit next year, Gov. Beverly Perdue said Tuesday that plans are in the works to consolidate state agencies and sell government assets to save money.

Perdue has pushed for more government efficiency since taking office last year, appointing a special task force to search for ways to cut spending and improve operations. She said Tuesday that she would unveil some of her plans after the November election.

“It was a deliberate choice on my part. I’ve been very quiet about it. We’ve been talking, thinking, working,” she said.

The governor declined to go into specifics, saying she doesn’t want to politicize any proposals before the election. Still, she said the overall goal is to transform state government.

“We’re moving in the direction of consolidating some of the functions of state government and the elimination of others,” she said.

Some of the ideas will need legislative approval, and Perdue said she would hold town meetings across the state to explain her plan and the reasoning behind it.

“I’ve had a team talking to me every morning. We’ve had great conversations. We’ve laughed and we’ve cried about some of the things that could be done,” she said.

The potential job losses through consolidation of state agencies remains unclear. The focus will be on protecting core services – education, economic development and public safety – but everything will be evaluated, including the future of the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control system.

“I’ve had an outside evaluator who is almost done with the estimate of the value to sell or consolidate or change the system that exists,” Perdue said.

The initiative is separate from Perdue’s recent directive that state agencies propose how to cut up to 15 percent of their budgets in the coming year.

Reporter: Bruce Mildwurf
Photographer: Pete James
Web Editor: Matthew Burns

Posted: 5:22 p.m. yesterday
Updated: 6:48 p.m. yesterday

N.C. Metropolitan Mayors Coalition Begins Work on 2011 Advocacy Agenda

N.C. Metropolitan Mayors Coalition Begins Work on 2011 Advocacy Agenda
Mayors focus on crime, transportation, biotechnology and local revenues

September 24, 2010

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The N.C. Metropolitan Mayors Coalition met Thursday and Friday in Asheville to begin building their advocacy agenda for the 2011 General Assembly Session. The adopted agenda is focused on crime, transportation, biotechnology and local revenues. Specifically, the Mayors will work to:

o Defend against attempts to shift state responsibilities to local governments and protect local revenues
o Support the needs of the Justice System
o Support efforts to reduce gang violence
o Support efforts to advance North Carolina’s biotech industry and grow related jobs
o Preserve local government ability to engage and lead in communication public enterprises
o Support adding more revenues to the Mobility Fund and set asides for expanding Powell Bill with a new allocation
based on lane miles and a set aside for Interstate Maintenance
o Defend existing statutory roadway responsibilities between the State and local government
o Continue to improve the relationship between the N.C. Department of Transportation and local government

During the meeting the Metro Mayors had the opportunity to hear from special guests Lieutenant Governor Walter Dalton, N.C. State Treasurer Janet Cowell, and Jim Trogdon, Chief Operating Officer for N.C. DOT. Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo led a best practices session entitled, “Keys to successful working relationships between cities and N.C. Department of Transportation Division Offices.”

The North Carolina Metropolitan Mayors Coalition, a group of mayors committed to the growth of North Carolina’s cities, deals with national and state issues affecting local governments. Founded in 2001, the Coalition promotes the interchange of ideas and experiences among municipal officials for the continued development of urban areas.
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Mayors coalition sets agenda (Salisbury Post)

A coalition of mayors from the state’s largest cities has set a legislative agenda for 2011, and Salisbury Mayor Susan Kluttz says local residents will benefit.

The N.C. Metropolitan Mayors Coalition has a proven track record since 2001, said Kluttz, who is the longest-serving mayor in the group and vice chairperson.

“This is all good for Salisbury,” Kluttz said.

The mayors met for two days last month in Asheville and chose to lobby state lawmakers on the following:

• Stronger anti-gang legislation.

The legislation passed last year, which the coalition lobbied for, ended up becoming watered down, Kluttz said.

“It was not strong enough,” she said.

The coalition will ask law enforcement officials for suggestions on how to strengthen anti-gang laws, she said.

• No unfunded mandates.

“When the state runs into budget problems, they take monies intended for us and then we can’t make our budget and we have to raise taxes,” Kluttz said. “They balance the budget on our backs.”

When the economy failed after the terrorist attacks in 2001, the state diverted $2 million intended for Salisbury, and the city is still suffering, Kluttz said.

“That’s one reason our roads have never caught up,” she said.

Legislators could face a $3.3 billion budget deficit when they return to Raleigh in 2011, according to the Office of State Budget and Management.

• No personnel cuts to the justice system.

“We know that a clogged up court system affects our public safety,” said Kluttz, wife of Rowan County District Court Judge Bill Kluttz. “It has a large effect on police departments and the safety of our citizens.”

The coalition is looking for ways to help the court system deal with backlogs, Kluttz said.

• Support biotech industry

“The biotech center is right next door to us,” said Kluttz, referring to the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis.

That’s one reason the city launched its new fiber-optic communications utility, Fibrant, she said.

Salisbury must compete for companies and people attracted by biotech, Kluttz said.

“There’s no reason they can’t locate in Salisbury,” she said. “Salisbury needs to be right there saying we want jobs as well.”

• Preserve local government’s ability to offer broadband service.

Salisbury borrowed $29 million to develop Fibrant, which was threatened last summer by a bill that would have killed cities’ ability to launch their own fiber-optic systems.

• More money for the N.C. Mobility Fund.

The coalition was instrumental in supporting the creation of the mobility fund and removing the I-85 Yadkin River Bridge from the state’s equity formula, Salisbury Assistant City Manager Doug Paris said.

“This was a huge success for our district that saved us $87 million over 12 years,” he said. “Without it, road construction and maintenance in our district would have been crippled by the cost of the bridge.”

• Defend existing statutory roadway responsibilities between the state and local government.

• Continue to improve the relationship between the N.C. Department of Transportation and local government.

The coalition, which has one paid staffer, includes 26 mayors from cities with more than 30,000 residents. Annual dues are population-based, and Salisbury pays $6,490.

Paris said it’s worth every cent.

“We’ve benefitted as much as any city,” Kluttz said.

The mayors meet again in February to tweak the agenda before the legislature goes into session.

Published Monday, October 04, 2010 11:00 PM

Contact Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.
By Emily Ford