Citizens for Change | Government Activist Organization | Buncombe County North Carolina

Letters, Editorials, & Comments

The states can best govern our home concerns and the general government our foreign ones.
I wish, therefore . . . never to see all offices transferred to Washington, where further withdrawn
from the eyes of the people, they may more secretly be bought and sold at market.
— Thomas Jefferson

Citizens For Change provides editorials, letters, and comments that we feel are relevant and important to concerned citizens in our city, county, and state. Contact us if you have an issue or comment you feel should be made available to your community. We will consider all submissions, but cannot guarantee placement on our website.

It's time for district elections

Aug. 8, 2011
Written by PeggyBennett

OPINION

I am so sick and tired of hearing the commissioners whine that they didn’t know anything about district elections, that it was a complete surprise for them. Citizens for Change, a non-partisan, activist group, has been pushing district elections for years. We have held meetings in all the communities in the county, had a signed petition and gave out over 1,000 bumper stickers asking for district elections. We’ve written letters to the paper and appeared on TV and radio programs. It was such a big thing a few years ago the AC-T ran a poll in the newspaper asking if you were for or against district elections and 90 percent of the respondents voted for. At one time then-Commission Chairman Nathan Ramsey made a motion to have a referendum on district elections but it died for lack of a second. And again, it’s a surprise to the commissioners that there are people out there who believe district elections are the way to go?

A certain member of the commission is working hard to stir people up by telling them what a bad thing it is that they can’t vote for all the commissioners, only the two in their district. He fails to mention that we only get to vote for our legislative members by districts, yet that appears to work very well for us.

We have some areas in the county that haven’t had a commissioner in more than 50 years. Some years there are more commissioners that live in Asheville than the county and that’s not good. If we have elections by district a candidate would only have to campaign in their district but as it stands now it is a very, very expensive process. When Nathan Ramsey and David Gantt ran in the last election they both spent well over $100,000 each; that’s out of reach of most people.

We need a Board of Commissioners made up of a mixture of political parties and it would be good to have at least one black commissioner. When the board is made up of only Democrats (and I’m a Democrat that wants district elections) there is no one on the board to bring other views to the table. Our present commissioners feel too powerful and don’t listen to their constituents. That’s the number one complaint of the majority of people we have talked with over the years.

I’m grateful that Rep. Tim Moffitt has been listening while our commissioners pretend not to hear us. I believe he is trying to do the right thing and that’s all you can ask of a representative. Do the right thing.

Peggy Bennett is Program Director, Citizens for Change.

Reader not happy about how pay for commission was handled

Jun. 30, 2011
Fred Holmes
Leicester

So it seems regarding the pay issue, the commissioners won anyway with Wanda Greene, whom I call “The Fox,” helping to figure out how to beat the dissenters. How arrogant can they be? How many ways can they slap the county residents and voters in the face? Is chair David Gantt not making enough on his TV ads?

Bottom line: If I were younger and had more energy, I would organize a recall. Of course, unknowingly they probably have passed a law or ordinance preventing “recalls” — outlawing them.

Maybe “all hands” should join Citizens for Change and unite. There must be a way to clean house from the “Fox” and family through to the commissioners. Their actions are … what's it called? Self-serving — changing the rules to fit the circumstance.

Commission Pay Move Should Have Been Well-aired In Public

Jun. 26, 2011
Steve West
Asheville

A few weeks ago, the Buncombe County commissioners (all Democrats, by the way) got their fingers caught in the cookie jar when it became public that they had enriched themselves with overly-generous expense account allowances. They made a big show of backing off and cutting those expense accounts ... a little. New plan. Their total pay will remain the same. (Big surprise.) They’ll get additional travel money on top of that. And, (drum roll, please) they approved these self-serving increases to the tax money that will end up in their own pockets without discussion. I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night. I can't think of a way to give yourself more tax money without discussion in a public meeting unless it was discussed in secret before the meeting. That plan just didn't magically appear on the agenda. It had to have been discussed beforehand. Yes, they'll probably say it was a “personnel matter” (wink, wink) that could legally be discussed in closed meetings. Hogwash. They are NOT “personnel;” they are public servants. It’s a public matter that should always be discussed in an open meeting.

Spending Decisions Don't Match Economic Realities

Jun. 3, 2011
Fred Holmes, Leicester

Well OK — let's build a new home for our commissioners. At least they can spend in comfort. How can they justify spending $464,000 in this economy on “creature comforts.” Once again, “Fox Greene'' is guarding the henhouse.

Last week or so I remembered they were against two new commissioners. Now it's OK?

The more that surfaces on this group, how shaky and dishonest it sounds. We elected them; ugh, this is not California. We need to reel in wasteful spending. Help the homeless and MANNA; we see advertisements of about 350 people homeless everyday in Buncombe County — where's their priorities?

Can they look at themselves in the mirror? Can they sleep at night with their decisions? Good luck!

Leaders Should Listen to Public Before Acting
May 31, 2011

Ready, fire, aim appears to be the motto of the current leadership of Buncombe County. I say this because both the Buncombe County Board of Education and the county commissioners both listen to their constituents, (we taxpayers), only at the end of each meeting, after votes have been taken and issues decided.

That makes no sense. Input from citizens, officially called “public comments,” should come before votes are taken, not after. That way, the board and commission can take into account the opinions of those who provide the money the board and commission are spending.

While it is sadly true that public comments probably won't change many votes, it is also true that those comments should be heard in time to at least have a chance of affecting a vote.
— Jim Marks Candler, N.C.

Moffitt's district election bill a breath of fresh air

written by Nancy Waldrop, Candler
Asheville Citizen Times April 12, 2011

Rep. Tim Moffitt's proposal for election of commissioners is a breath of fresh air in a very stale environment. Predictably, arguments against this bill have surfaced. The most questionable and serious argument is that of “trust.”

A current commissioner suggested it is critical that trust is built. The commissioner feels the process used to introduce the bill does not build trust and appears as if other motives are in play.

Trust is definitely critical for citizens. Should the citizens trust the commissioners to tell the truth about this proposal in the same way commissioners told the truth about their travel and other benefits, passed by consent agenda? Or the way they report those expenses — by “averaging” or “getting it close?” Do the citizens trust the words of commissioners that fear the new process will unfairly tilt the Board to a more Republican membership when the current board is all Democrats? What motives are in play? The current commissioners are concerned about trust when they haven't earned it.

Rep. Moffitt's bill provides more accountability and broader points of view than are currently in place. More importantly, it allows each citizen a more vocal voice. What a breath of fresh air that will be. What a refreshing change of environment.

Commissioners it's OUR money, not yours.
by Peggy T. Bennett in Vol. 17 / Iss. 35 on 03/22/2011
Related topics: David Gantt, Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, County budget

Watch Peggy Bennett speak out about Buncombe County Commissioners Millage Cost

It appears our commissioners haven’t accepted the fact that they are employees of the taxpayers of Buncombe County.

Their travel allowance was just reduced from $650 every two weeks to $320 every two weeks, which is still unacceptable. Chairman Gantt wants the commissioners to be paid for the average miles they travel “as long as it’s not too far out of line.” He also stated, in an interview, “the new allowance might not cover the cost of going to the many events the commissioners feel pressured to attend."

Hello! A mileage log pays for all their trips, even the 200 to 250 meetings he said he attends each year. They should be paid for the exact number of miles they travel; no more, no less. That would be acceptable. They are exhibiting pure selfishness and greed.

In the last two years, the commissioners have received a total of $214,500, or $42,900 each in travel and technology allowances! For the next two years, even with the recent reduction in allowances, they will still receive $89,700, or $17,940 each. These are perks, not salaries, and this is still unacceptable.

There are many upcoming political conventions and meetings, which some or all of the commissioners will be attending, and gas and plane fares will be exorbitant. We must see frugality in the commissioners’ expenditures. And we must see fair and honest reporting of, and payment for, the actual expenses. My suggestion is to post online every meeting any or all of the commissioners attend. And they get paid by using a mileage log.
— Peggy T. Bennett, Leicester
John Locke Foundation Local Government Update Featured Article

Commissioners paid $42,900 for travel expenses

This letter to the Mountain Xpress by Peggy T. Bennett shines a spotlight on the travel expenses incurred by the Buncombe County Commissioners. According to Bennett, commissioners are not paid for the actual miles traveled, but with a flat per-week allowance.

"Their [county commissioners'] travel allowance was just reduced from $650 every two weeks to $320 every two weeks, which is still unacceptable. ...

In the last two years, the commissioners have received a total of $214,500, or $42,900 each in travel and technology allowances! For the next two years, even with the recent reduction in allowances, they will still receive $89,700, or $17,940 each. These are perks, not salaries, and this is still unacceptable."

Reimbursing county commissioners for expenses is appropriate, but they should be reimbursed for actual expenses, not receive flat allowances. It is not rocket science for commissioners to turn in exact mileage and receipts so that taxpayers can audit the expenses of county commissioners. For that matter, the county manager and other county employees should be governed by the same expense reimbursement rules. That's what the employees at the John Locke Foundation and many other organizations are required to do.

One question left unanswered: How long have commissioners collected $42,900 for two years of travel and other expenses? Sounds like a very convenient way to pad their salaries.

How about this radical idea? Once the system is changed to reimbursement for actual expenses, put commissioner expense reports online for all taxpayers to review. See the John Locke Foundation's transparency website, which provides transparency scores for all one hundred counties and 549 cities.

Only two counties received A's: Mecklenburg and Wake. Twenty-five counties earned D's on this evaluation. Only one city, Columbus, earned an A. Two cities earned F's, Longview and Walnut Creek. The vast majority of cities received D's for their lack of transparency.
— Michael Sanera, John Locke Foundation

Private Property Rights
Asheville Citizen-Times March 14, 2011
Regarding the article “Bill would undo trout protection,” (AC-T, March 5), I have studied the rules of the N.C. Department of Natural Resources. The area of private property affected is much more than 16 miles of stream since NCDENR includes all springs, intermittent ditches and waterways, creeks, lakes, ponds, etc. NCDENR rules call for a minimum 25-foot buffer, but Raleigh contacts I've talked to say 100 feet would be better while Wildlife in NC magazine indicates a 100-foot buffer on each side to guarantee angler access.

Predators of the average 5-inch native trout are introduced by NCDENR agencies — otters in the '90s, brown and rainbow trout annually. This is not protecting brookies.

Their rules don't grandfather or protect homeowners. They specifically show how you can donate your real property to cover NCDENR's exorbitant mitigation fees and fines as well as the loss of control of this buffer area.

Depending on the slope and where they measure from the bank, in my opinion, you will never know if you have lost 25, 100 or even 300 feet until someone turns you in to NCDENR for an infraction of a rule you had no idea you were under.
— Gary Hunsicker, Pisgah Forest


ABOUT US MEETINGS & MEMBERSHIP EDITORIALS LETTERS & COMMENTS GOVERNMENT DIRECTORY DOCUMENTS CANDIDATE INFORMATION CONTACT US HOME		Letters, Editorials, & Comments The states can best govern our home concerns and the general government our foreign ones. I wish, therefore . . . never to see all offices transferred to Washington, where further withdrawn from the eyes of the people, they may more secretly be bought and sold at market. — Thomas Jefferson Citizens For Change provides editorials, letters, and comments that we feel are relevant and important to concerned citizens in our city, county, and state. Contact us if you have an issue or comment you feel should be made available to your community. We will consider all submissions, but cannot guarantee placement on our website. It's time for district elections Aug. 8, 2011 Written by PeggyBennett OPINION I am so sick and tired of hearing the commissioners whine that they didn’t know anything about district elections, that it was a complete surprise for them. Citizens for Change, a non-partisan, activist group, has been pushing district elections for years. We have held meetings in all the communities in the county, had a signed petition and gave out over 1,000 bumper stickers asking for district elections. We’ve written letters to the paper and appeared on TV and radio programs. It was such a big thing a few years ago the AC-T ran a poll in the newspaper asking if you were for or against district elections and 90 percent of the respondents voted for. At one time then-Commission Chairman Nathan Ramsey made a motion to have a referendum on district elections but it died for lack of a second. And again, it’s a surprise to the commissioners that there are people out there who believe district elections are the way to go? A certain member of the commission is working hard to stir people up by telling them what a bad thing it is that they can’t vote for all the commissioners, only the two in their district. He fails to mention that we only get to vote for our legislative members by districts, yet that appears to work very well for us. We have some areas in the county that haven’t had a commissioner in more than 50 years. Some years there are more commissioners that live in Asheville than the county and that’s not good. If we have elections by district a candidate would only have to campaign in their district but as it stands now it is a very, very expensive process. When Nathan Ramsey and David Gantt ran in the last election they both spent well over $100,000 each; that’s out of reach of most people. We need a Board of Commissioners made up of a mixture of political parties and it would be good to have at least one black commissioner. When the board is made up of only Democrats (and I’m a Democrat that wants district elections) there is no one on the board to bring other views to the table. Our present commissioners feel too powerful and don’t listen to their constituents. That’s the number one complaint of the majority of people we have talked with over the years. I’m grateful that Rep. Tim Moffitt has been listening while our commissioners pretend not to hear us. I believe he is trying to do the right thing and that’s all you can ask of a representative. Do the right thing. Peggy Bennett is Program Director, Citizens for Change. Reader not happy about how pay for commission was handled Jun. 30, 2011 Fred Holmes Leicester So it seems regarding the pay issue, the commissioners won anyway with Wanda Greene, whom I call “The Fox,” helping to figure out how to beat the dissenters. How arrogant can they be? How many ways can they slap the county residents and voters in the face? Is chair David Gantt not making enough on his TV ads? Bottom line: If I were younger and had more energy, I would organize a recall. Of course, unknowingly they probably have passed a law or ordinance preventing “recalls” — outlawing them. Maybe “all hands” should join Citizens for Change and unite. There must be a way to clean house from the “Fox” and family through to the commissioners. Their actions are … what's it called? Self-serving — changing the rules to fit the circumstance. Commission Pay Move Should Have Been Well-aired In Public Jun. 26, 2011 Steve West Asheville A few weeks ago, the Buncombe County commissioners (all Democrats, by the way) got their fingers caught in the cookie jar when it became public that they had enriched themselves with overly-generous expense account allowances. They made a big show of backing off and cutting those expense accounts ... a little. New plan. Their total pay will remain the same. (Big surprise.) They’ll get additional travel money on top of that. And, (drum roll, please) they approved these self-serving increases to the tax money that will end up in their own pockets without discussion. I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night. I can't think of a way to give yourself more tax money without discussion in a public meeting unless it was discussed in secret before the meeting. That plan just didn't magically appear on the agenda. It had to have been discussed beforehand. Yes, they'll probably say it was a “personnel matter” (wink, wink) that could legally be discussed in closed meetings. Hogwash. They are NOT “personnel;” they are public servants. It’s a public matter that should always be discussed in an open meeting. Spending Decisions Don't Match Economic Realities Jun. 3, 2011 Fred Holmes, Leicester Well OK — let's build a new home for our commissioners. At least they can spend in comfort. How can they justify spending $464,000 in this economy on “creature comforts.” Once again, “Fox Greene'' is guarding the henhouse. Last week or so I remembered they were against two new commissioners. Now it's OK? The more that surfaces on this group, how shaky and dishonest it sounds. We elected them; ugh, this is not California. We need to reel in wasteful spending. Help the homeless and MANNA; we see advertisements of about 350 people homeless everyday in Buncombe County — where's their priorities? Can they look at themselves in the mirror? Can they sleep at night with their decisions? Good luck! Leaders Should Listen to Public Before Acting May 31, 2011 Ready, fire, aim appears to be the motto of the current leadership of Buncombe County. I say this because both the Buncombe County Board of Education and the county commissioners both listen to their constituents, (we taxpayers), only at the end of each meeting, after votes have been taken and issues decided. That makes no sense. Input from citizens, officially called “public comments,” should come before votes are taken, not after. That way, the board and commission can take into account the opinions of those who provide the money the board and commission are spending. While it is sadly true that public comments probably won't change many votes, it is also true that those comments should be heard in time to at least have a chance of affecting a vote. — Jim Marks Candler, N.C. Moffitt's district election bill a breath of fresh air written by Nancy Waldrop, Candler Asheville Citizen Times April 12, 2011 Rep. Tim Moffitt's proposal for election of commissioners is a breath of fresh air in a very stale environment. Predictably, arguments against this bill have surfaced. The most questionable and serious argument is that of “trust.” A current commissioner suggested it is critical that trust is built. The commissioner feels the process used to introduce the bill does not build trust and appears as if other motives are in play. Trust is definitely critical for citizens. Should the citizens trust the commissioners to tell the truth about this proposal in the same way commissioners told the truth about their travel and other benefits, passed by consent agenda? Or the way they report those expenses — by “averaging” or “getting it close?” Do the citizens trust the words of commissioners that fear the new process will unfairly tilt the Board to a more Republican membership when the current board is all Democrats? What motives are in play? The current commissioners are concerned about trust when they haven't earned it. Rep. Moffitt's bill provides more accountability and broader points of view than are currently in place. More importantly, it allows each citizen a more vocal voice. What a breath of fresh air that will be. What a refreshing change of environment. Commissioners it's OUR money, not yours. by Peggy T. Bennett in Vol. 17 / Iss. 35 on 03/22/2011 Related topics: David Gantt, Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, County budget Watch Peggy Bennett speak out about Buncombe County Commissioners Millage Cost It appears our commissioners haven’t accepted the fact that they are employees of the taxpayers of Buncombe County. Their travel allowance was just reduced from $650 every two weeks to $320 every two weeks, which is still unacceptable. Chairman Gantt wants the commissioners to be paid for the average miles they travel “as long as it’s not too far out of line.” He also stated, in an interview, “the new allowance might not cover the cost of going to the many events the commissioners feel pressured to attend." Hello! A mileage log pays for all their trips, even the 200 to 250 meetings he said he attends each year. They should be paid for the exact number of miles they travel; no more, no less. That would be acceptable. They are exhibiting pure selfishness and greed. In the last two years, the commissioners have received a total of $214,500, or $42,900 each in travel and technology allowances! For the next two years, even with the recent reduction in allowances, they will still receive $89,700, or $17,940 each. These are perks, not salaries, and this is still unacceptable. There are many upcoming political conventions and meetings, which some or all of the commissioners will be attending, and gas and plane fares will be exorbitant. We must see frugality in the commissioners’ expenditures. And we must see fair and honest reporting of, and payment for, the actual expenses. My suggestion is to post online every meeting any or all of the commissioners attend. And they get paid by using a mileage log. — Peggy T. Bennett, Leicester John Locke Foundation Local Government Update Featured Article Commissioners paid $42,900 for travel expenses This letter to the Mountain Xpress by Peggy T. Bennett shines a spotlight on the travel expenses incurred by the Buncombe County Commissioners. According to Bennett, commissioners are not paid for the actual miles traveled, but with a flat per-week allowance. "Their [county commissioners'] travel allowance was just reduced from $650 every two weeks to $320 every two weeks, which is still unacceptable. ... In the last two years, the commissioners have received a total of $214,500, or $42,900 each in travel and technology allowances! For the next two years, even with the recent reduction in allowances, they will still receive $89,700, or $17,940 each. These are perks, not salaries, and this is still unacceptable." Reimbursing county commissioners for expenses is appropriate, but they should be reimbursed for actual expenses, not receive flat allowances. It is not rocket science for commissioners to turn in exact mileage and receipts so that taxpayers can audit the expenses of county commissioners. For that matter, the county manager and other county employees should be governed by the same expense reimbursement rules. That's what the employees at the John Locke Foundation and many other organizations are required to do. One question left unanswered: How long have commissioners collected $42,900 for two years of travel and other expenses? Sounds like a very convenient way to pad their salaries. How about this radical idea? Once the system is changed to reimbursement for actual expenses, put commissioner expense reports online for all taxpayers to review. See the John Locke Foundation's transparency website, which provides transparency scores for all one hundred counties and 549 cities. Only two counties received A's: Mecklenburg and Wake. Twenty-five counties earned D's on this evaluation. Only one city, Columbus, earned an A. Two cities earned F's, Longview and Walnut Creek. The vast majority of cities received D's for their lack of transparency. — Michael Sanera, John Locke Foundation Private Property Rights Asheville Citizen-Times March 14, 2011 Regarding the article “Bill would undo trout protection,” (AC-T, March 5), I have studied the rules of the N.C. Department of Natural Resources. The area of private property affected is much more than 16 miles of stream since NCDENR includes all springs, intermittent ditches and waterways, creeks, lakes, ponds, etc. NCDENR rules call for a minimum 25-foot buffer, but Raleigh contacts I've talked to say 100 feet would be better while Wildlife in NC magazine indicates a 100-foot buffer on each side to guarantee angler access. Predators of the average 5-inch native trout are introduced by NCDENR agencies — otters in the '90s, brown and rainbow trout annually. This is not protecting brookies. Their rules don't grandfather or protect homeowners. They specifically show how you can donate your real property to cover NCDENR's exorbitant mitigation fees and fines as well as the loss of control of this buffer area. Depending on the slope and where they measure from the bank, in my opinion, you will never know if you have lost 25, 100 or even 300 feet until someone turns you in to NCDENR for an infraction of a rule you had no idea you were under. — Gary Hunsicker, Pisgah Forest