New police shift schedule

While some media reports on yesterday's unveiling of the new fixed-shift schedule for Greensboro police officers focused on the extra costs ($1.2 million in federal forfeiture funds to purchase vehicles, $323,000 in annual operating costs from the General Fund), I prefer that the details of the new shifts and the resulting benefits to Greensboro citizens would have received more emphasis.

The proposed schedule is five days on, four days off with a 10.25-hours shift. Patrol officers would work a permanent shift and all court appearances and in-service training would be scheduled on an officer's normal working day, not on his/her off-days as is sometimes the current case. Upon completion of law enforcement schooling and field training, new police officers will be assigned three-month stints on each of the four shifts before receiving their final permanent assignment. Shifts will run from 5:45AM-4PM, 11:45AM-10PM, 4:45PM-3:00AM and 8:45PM-7:00AM.

Hopefully you can decipher the following graphic (now updated)that shows an average of as many as 66.4 officers during certain times of the day during shift overlaps, double the current average of 33.4. There will be "overlap days" approximately 12-15 days a month where there will be two squads working the same shift, putting as many as 98-102 officers on the street at the same time.

On the top charts, yellow columns depict average current staffing levels (33.2), blue depicts staffing levels during shift overlaps (66.4), pink depicts staffing levels on overlap days (64-70, a 92-110% increase), and green depicts day and shift overlap staffing levels (98-102, a 147-153% increase).






With the significant increase of officers on the street at given times, calls can be answered more quickly and officers can be assigned to service special events or target specific trouble spots. This will result in a significantly higher level of police presence and service throughout the city. The change in schedule, coupled with the additional 32 officers authorized in this year's budget, will go a long way to fulfilling citizens' demands for increased police protection as well as providing our hardworking officers with a schedule that is less demanding on their personal lives and health.

I commend Interim Chief Bellamy and the committee of officers from all ranks within the GPD who researched and developed this new work schedule -- well done!

Heart of the Triad update

The steering committee of the Heart of the Triad project hopefully put itself out of business this morning with the approval of a resolution that area governments will be asked to adopt to move the proposal on to the next level. Two of the most significant recommendations include 1) including the town of Oak Ridge on the permanent steering committee due to its proximity to the northern border of the Heart of the Triad area, and 2) recommending the inclusion on the permanent steering committee of at least two residents/property owners in the Heart of the Triad, at least one from each county, to be selected by the county commissioners of those counties. (Although they were definitely approved, these specific provisions are not included in the final, cleaned-up version I received by email this afternoon-- I'll check on that first thing in the morning.)

It is hoped that the (now) seven jurisdictions will approve the resolution and appoint their members to the permanent steering committee no later than June 1.

The resolution reads as follows:

Local Governments Joint Resolution
Concerning Heart of the Triad

Whereas the Heart of the Triad project represents a unique opportunity for the communities of Greensboro, High Point, Kernersville, Winston-Salem, and Oak Ridge along with the counties of Forsyth and Guilford, to work together to create a mixed use development area that maximizes job creation and preserves the natural environment;

And whereas the Heart of the Triad project requires the cooperation and participation of all seven governmental entities to succeed;

Now therefore be it resolved that __________________ (insert appropriate jurisdiction) does hereby support:

* The managers and staffs to continue to undertake a cooperative approach, working with the four chambers of commerce and the Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation to advance the development of the Heart of the Triad project.

* The existing Heart of the Triad Steering Committee to continue to serve until the seven (7) governmental entities establish a permanent Steering Committee. It is further recommended that representation on the permanent Steering Committee include the following:

A. Two representatives from each of the 5 municipalities contiguous to the Heart of the Triad area (Winston-Salem, Greensboro, High Point, Kernersville, and Oak Ridge) with at least one representative being an elected official.

B. Three representatives from each of the 2 Counties (Forsyth and Guilford) with at least one representative being an elected official.

C. Two representatives from NCDOT Board of Transportation.

D. One representative from each of the 4 Chambers of Commerce of Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Kernersville, and High Point.

E. One representative from each of the 3 primary project funding partners; Duke Energy, B B & T, and Time Warner Cable.

F. One representative from each of the 3 regional authorities: Piedmont Triad International Airport, High Point Furniture Market, and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Utilities Commission.

* The requests of the four chambers of commerce and PART for funding from the North Carolina General Assembly to assist the Heart of the Triad Steering and Technical committees in continuing a cooperative approach.

* The respective governmental entities to coordinate and develop a detailed land use plan based upon agreed upon 2035 growth projections and the Heart of the Triad preferred concept plan. This detailed land use plan would be used to make appropriate changes to the jurisdictions’ adopted comprehensive plans following community input.

* PART in cooperation with the MPOs to revise the regional traffic model to reflect new proposed roads, transit, land uses, and growth plans for the Heart of the Triad.

* The Heart of the Triad Technical Committee, in cooperation with the participating jurisdictions, to develop and propose service and infrastructure plans for roadway, utilities, regional parks, and educational facilities that will serve the Heart of the Triad and to recommend a variety of possible funding sources.

* PART in cooperation with the MPOs to identify air quality actions to assure compliance with Clean Air Standards and compatibility with the natural and man-made environments.

* Development by the economic development groups, chambers of commerce, and the Piedmont Triad Partnership of a unified approach for marketing the Heart of the Triad that will promote the creation of jobs.

Here is the report on our meeting from the Winston-Salem News Journal.

UPDATE: The mayors of the five cities and chairpersons of the two counties met this morning to receive and review the above resoluton. At the request of Mayor Joines of Winston-Salem, two additional items were added to the resolution. They are as folllows:

* The plan will seek to complement and not conflict with economic development initiatives within said jurisdiction.

* If the plan involves shared financing of infrastructure or other economic development investments, it shall also develop a mechanism that allows for revenue sharing among participating governmental units commensurate with their level of investment.

A third point limiting any retail development to what is needed to service employees and residents in the Heart of the Triad and specifically excluding large regional retailers was rejected.

A series of "firsts"

One of the action items we councilmembers identified at our retreat back in January was the need to enhance our communications with and understanding of the various groups with whom the city council works and interacts, including the general public, other elected officials, our appointed boards and commissions, and other community organizations. In the last ten days, we have followed through on three of those with three separate meetings that, to the best of my memory, are "firsts" for the city council, at least since I have been on council since 1991.

1. As I reported in an earlier post, we met jointly with the Parks and Recreation Commission on February 19. We had a good discussion about our pride in the excellent, well-rounded recreational opportunities offered in Greensboro, our roles and priorities in implementing the various programs, the need for the Commission to become advocates for various programs and proposals, and the need to take a hard look at the Parks and Recreation budget since this department alone has an operating budget of $18+ million, 9-cents on the city's property tax rate. I viewed it as a very productive meeting.

2. Five councilmembers (Mayor Holliday, Sandra Anderson Groat, Dianne Bellamy-Small, Goldie Wells and me) attended a meeting on Monday, February 26 called at the request of US Representative Brad Miller to discuss the city's concerns and needs that we want him to address on the federal level. We supplied him with plenty of items for consideration -- from affordable housing to transportation needs to homelessness to education and on and on and on. In a nutshell, it all boiled down to "we need more funding from Washington to assist us with our local needs."

3. The city council hosted the the board of the Greensboro Partnership at a dinner meeting in the Blue Room at the Coliseum on Tuesday evening, February 27. We mingled and held many one-on-one conversations in an attempt to create better understanding of each of our roles in promoting economic development and jobs in Greensboro. City staff presented the proposed guidelines for the disbursement of the voter-approved $10 million economic development bond and reviewed the latest draft of the revised city-county water and sewer agreement. Various members of the Partnership explained the functions and roles of the branches of the Partnership -- Chamber of Commerce, Action Greensboro, governmental affairs, and the Economic Development Alliance. It was a helpful, informative session that seemed to enhance the understanding of all who attended.

Next on our plates will be the initiation of regular city council news conferences with the first one to be scheduled sometime in early March. Most of us have recently participated in staff-provided "media training" to prepare us for this latest venture. Stay tuned!

Catch up time

A lot of interesting issues and good information have developed during the last week or so, but I have been way too busy with a ton of meetings (and being dog-tired afterwards) to write about them. I finally have a bit of free time so I'm going to try to catch up on the various items in the next series of posts.

City Connections

The latest edition of City Connections is available -- the blogging meeting with the city manager is highlighted.

Weekly schedule

This is going to be one of those "on the go weeks" with numerous meetings, too many of them meal functions. It's going to pose a real test of my willpower with the mayor's 10-pound challenge , but maybe all this running will burn off the extra calories. (I wish!)

Monday, February 26 will start off with the 2007 Tournament Town Tip-off Luncheon at the coliseum to celebrate the arrival of basketball for the ACC Women's Tournament and the NCAA Women's Regionals. The city council will be meeting with Congressman Brad Miller at 3:30PM at his request to discuss how he can support and assist our efforts.

The month city council briefing session begins at 8:30AM on Tuesday, February 27. The agenda includes a presentation by Channel 13, the unveiling of the new police patrol schedule, discussion of the economic development guidelines to be used for the disbursement of the $10 million economic development bond funds, a presentation by Dan Lynch on industrial properties, discussion of the neighborhood conservation district, and if time permits, a review of neighborhood traffic services and strategies along with a review of the cross access ordinance. Whew!

As soon as that ends, I'll be dashing off to a lunch meeting with the Triad Apartment Association to be followed by the dinner meeting with the board of the Greensboro Partnership that evening to clarify roles in the city's economic development efforts.

The Heart of the Triad steering committee will meet at 8:30AM on Wednesday, February 28 to finalize the resolution to be presented to area governments for possible adoption. That meeting will be followed by the March meeting of the War Memorial Commission (coliseum) moved from its regular Thursday time to avoid conflicts with the basketball tournament -- another lunch meeting.

The informal committee that planned the activities and reception for the US ambassador to Moldova back in January will meet Thursday morning, March 1 to explore additional projects and programs we may pursue, including a potential trip to Moldova in June or July for interested individuals. Then it's back out to PART for a committee meeting to explore our long-range financial needs.

Friday looks clear at this point so maybe I can catch my breath. Who knows, the weather looks promising, and it's almost time to start thinking about gardening and yard work again.

Spring Garden Street Pedestrian Overlay District

The draft Spring Garden Street Pedestrian Overlay District is available on the city's website for citizen review. The city council will be asked to adopt this plan that the staff and Lindley Park residents, property owners, and businesses have developed.

It's a "Grandma weekend"

Little Kammy arrived at my house early this morning for a weekend at Grammy's while her mom and dad take a well-earned break at Myrtle Beach. Needless to say, I haven't accomplished very much today, but that's fine with me -- spending time with this little cutie is well worth it. She's HOPEFULLY down for the night now.

All her accompanying equipment has turned the entire house into an obstacle course with her "Jumparoo" in the kitchen, her swing in the living room and the portable crib in the guest bedroom.

Of course, she already has her Grandpa wrapped around her little fingers -- she's learned early!

Why now?

There have been some questions and much speculation about the reasons, timing, and motivation for the city council authorizing City Manager Mitchell Johnson to release limited information about the David Wray/Greensboro Police Department issue -- specifically the Brady tapes and transcripts -- at Tuesday night's council meeting. Hopefully I can provide an explanation and create better understanding of that action.

City councilmembers have been extremely frustrated for months at not being able to honor our repeatedly-stated commitment to publicly release all the information we could as soon as legally possible. However, the SBI had requested that no information be released until they completed their criminal investigation into the matter, and we honored that request lest an early release undermine their efforts. Honoring that commitment meant that the city was unable to include the Brady tapes/transcripts in its initial response to the Brady lawsuit because that evidence would have immediately become part of the public record for all to see, well before the SBI investigation was complete and thus potentially negatively impacting it.

When the federal judge unexpectedly rendered his early decision before any of this evidence could be submitted, the SBI recognized the city's need to be able to use this vital information in order to pursue its case. They therefore granted permission for a LIMITED release of information -- the recording/transcript between Detective Sanders and Deputy Chief Brady only. The submission of this tape/transcript to the judge would place it into the public record. All other files and evidence are still under the SBI's restriction at this time and out of the public realm.

The other information -- the tapes/transcripts of the two RMA interviews and the results of Brady's polygraph -- was never disclosed or made available to the SBI. That is because they were obtained under "Garrity" which forces an officer to testify truthfully when questioned by investigators (in this case, the city attorney's office and RMA) but precludes the use of any of that information for criminal prosecution of that officer. The city has full control of this information, and by submitting this evidence to the judge in the pursuit of the case, we knew this personnel information would also become public. Since the city is currently responding to this one narrow issue -- the Brady lawsuit -- it is premature to release further city attorney/RMA evidence until the city manager can proceed with his administrative actions, if any, after the SBI moves on any criminal charges, if any.

In summary, the only information released Tuesday night was evidence that would soon become part of the public record anyway. We decided to take this step, however small and limited, to honor our commitment to release what we could when we could.

Nothing else has been made public at this time because the SBI has not authorized release of any other evidence. We councilmembers have to tread carefully now and try to remember what is OK to discuss and what is still protected and off-limits. However, we remain firmly committed to release additional information and evidence when we are finally free to do so.

In the interim, thanks for your continued patience and understanding!

Score one for Morgan

Today's joint meeting of the Greensboro City Council and the Parks and Recreation Commission began with the usual round of self-introductions by those in attendance, including the staff and media seated around the perimeter of the room. After Assistant City Manager Bob Morgan introduced himself, John Hammer (editor of The Rhinoceros Times) introduced himself and quipped, "I work for Bob Morgan."

Without missing a beat, Morgan turned to Hammer and said, "YOU'RE FIRED!"

Much laughter and applause erupted in the room.

On a more serious note, I think members of both the council and commission benefited greatly from the hour-long give-and-take discussion that followed. This was the first joint meeting of the two bodies since I have been on the city council (since 1991). Both groups agreed that we need to have clear definitions of roles and expectations along with better communication of opinions, proposals and recommendations coming forth from the commission to the council.

Weekly schedule

This is going to be "one of those weeks" with a lot of meetings and staying on the go.

Monday, February 19 starts off with a trip to Chapel Hill on personal business. After I return, I have a meeting with the city manager followed by a joint session of the City Council and the Parks and Recreation Commission. We have a variety of topics to discuss, including where War Memorial Stadium fits into the Commission's priorities.

The agenda for the regular city council meeting on Tuesday, February 20 appears to be brief and easy with all the business items appearing on the "consent agenda." Appearances can be deceiving, however, and I think I'm accurate in saying this is one meeting you won't want to miss.

I'll be running all day long on Wednesday, February 21. The day begins with a 10AM meeting of the Piedmont Triad Rural Planning Organization (transportation) followed by a noon meeting of the Piedmont Triad Council of Governments followed by a 2PM meeting of the Greensboro TAC (Transportation Advisory Committee). The annual dinner of the Greensboro Merchants Association will finish up this busy day for me -- President George Bush-impersonator Steve Hodges should deliver plenty of good laughs.

I'm off to Raleigh on Thursday, February 22 to participate in a legislative action committee meeting of the North Carolina League of Municipalities. Hopefully I will be back in Greensboro in time for some training at 3PM and a 5PM reception at the Greensboro Historical Museum to meet the new director of the Triad NCCJ.

Thankfully I do not have any meetings scheduled for Friday at this point so perhaps I will be able to catch my breath.

My husband and I hope to enjoy Saturday evening, February 24 at the "Public Officials Night at the Symphony" reception and concert at War Memorial Auditorium -- a nice way to wrap up a hectic week!

West Lee Street/High Point Road corridor comments

Here are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats identified by the participants in the January 30 kick-off meeting for the West Lee Street High Point Road corridor study. You can access additional information and check progress on the study here.

Fit City

I attended this morning's ceremony where Greensboro received its official "Fit Community" street sign. Mayor Holliday and Lieutenant Governor Beverly Perdue were among the officials who spoke and applauded this achievement along with students from Jones Elementary School. The real highlight of the morning occurred after the official ceremony when someone persuaded the mayor and the Lieutenant Governor to join the students in jumping rope.

City Connections

The latest edition of City Connections was published today.

Weekly schedule

Sorry for the tardy posting of this week's schedule -- a series of personal commitments has kept me on the go and taken up most of my time for the past couple of days.

On Tuesday, February 13 I have a meeting with Denise Turner, Vice President of Governmental Affairs for the Greensboro Partnership. This is supposed to be a "getting to know you" session, but I feel like I already know her well from my interactions with her when she was on the staff of Rep. Brad Miller.

There will be a special called meeting of the Greensboro City Council that evening at 5:30PM to immediately adjourn to a closed session to discuss a personnel matter and receive advice from counsel on Brady vs. Greensboro.

If that meeting is not too lengthy, I hope to make it to the East Hunter Hills Community Watch meeting that begins at 7PM.

Weather permitting, I plan to participate in the 11AM ceremony on Wednesday, February 14 at Warnersville Recreation Center when Greensboro receives its "Fit Community" award from Lt. Governor Beverly Perdue.

On Thursday, February 15 I have an afternoon meeting with former city manager Ed Kitchen who now works at the Joseph M. Bryan Foundation.

That's it for official items on my calendar this week, but a number of personal and family commitments promise to keep me busy.

They're here!

Hooray, it's official -- HondaJet's world headquarters and aircraft manufacturing facility will be located at Piedmont Triad International Airport. Congratulations to all of us and welcome aboard, Honda!

A humorous moment for me today: After the official announcement ceremony ended, several of us were invited to enter the mock-up of the interior of the jet and try out the seating accommodations. A photographer followed us inside to snap pictures; when he was finished, he asked each of us our names. When it was my turn to respond, Piedmont Triad Partnership president Don Kirkman wise-cracked, " This is Nancy Pelosi and she's checking out which airplane she wants to use." Thanks a lot, Don!

More regional cooperation

Now that's what I call "regional cooperation" when four jurisdictions -- Greensboro, High Point, Guilford County, and the Winston-Salem Alliance join forces to offer economic development incentives to lure HondaJet's manufacturing facility and research and development operations!

There's a big announcement scheduled for 10AM Friday morning at HondaJet's corporate headquarters...

Air quality progress in Winston-Salem

I received the following press release from Winston-Salem today -- more good news in our regional efforts to improve air quality.


City Receives Grant for Electric Vehicles

With the assistance of a state grant, Winston-Salem will begin operating its first all-electric vehicles later this year.

The state’s Clean Fuel Advanced Technology Project has awarded the city $28,800 toward the cost of buying four all-electric vehicles to replace the four gasoline-fueled vehicles used by Parking Enforcement employees. The grant will cover 60 percent of the estimated cost of $48,000 for the four vehicles. The city will pay the rest of the cost, estimated at $19,200.

The electric vehicles will be used downtown to enforce parking regulations and monitor parking meters. The current, 3-wheel gas vehicles are 7 to 10 years old and are beginning to require excessive maintenance. The current vehicles average about 2,000 miles a year, but they spend a lot of time idling.

The grant will allow the city to replace all four vehicles at once, rather than stretching out the purchase over several years, said Sandy Barfoot, the city’s general services director. “This grant serves our citizens both by saving our tax dollars, and by eliminating all emissions coming from the vehicles used in our downtown parking patrol,” Barfoot said.

The city will solicit bids from any electric car maker, including Global Electric Motorcars, which makes the eS electric vehicle; and Columbia Parcar Corp, which makes the SMT-2 Summit electric vehicle. More information about their vehicles can be found at www.gemcar.com and www.parcar.com. The city hopes to take delivery of the vehicles in August.

The Clean Fuel Advanced Technology Project is sponsored by the N.C. Department of Transportation, Division of Air Quality, and State Energy Office, with support from the N.C. Solar Center, the Triangle J Council of Government and the Centralina Council of Governments

Response to a citizen inquiry

While I await receipt of the documents and other pertinent information about the additional payments authorized to Bryant Electric for their work, here is an email City Manager Mitchell Johnson sent in response to a citizen's inquiry earlier today that offers insight into the process that was followed in bringing that issue to the City Council for action.

From: Johnson, Mitchell
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 6:12 PM
To: (name removed for privacy)
Cc: Boswell, Pat
Subject: RE: [Website feedback - ] - Article in Rhinoceros Times dated 02/08/07

Mr. (name removed for privacy):

I will be glad to respond to your request. First, I will tell you that Mr. Hammer made no effort whatsoever to discuss this issue with me. He had multiple opportunities to discuss this over the last few weeks including Tuesday night at the Council Meeting. This is the second time he has done this (the first was the entire Willow Oaks series). I have never dealt with a journalist who would write a story and not at least try to contact the person who he is writing about.

Secondly, the information given only gives the side of the City staff person involved in the inspection who clearly had significant disagreements with the contractor.

Mr. Hammer also failed to mention that per the contract Bryant had with the City of Greensboro my role was as a third party judge (I know this sounds strange but we had several contracts which stipulated that any disagreement would be heard by the City Manager or his designee and that the City Manager would perform the role as judge and arbitrator of the disagreement). We have since struck this language from contracts.

Thus what I actually did was hear the contractors’ claim which was in excess of $1,000,000 and then I heard the City response. Based on the information provided I directed both parties to work together to review the information presented and to determine what (if any) claim was justified.

The following is the actual text of the memo:

To all Parties Regarding the following:

Review of Bryant Electric Claim vs. City of Greensboro Engineering and Inspections Department regarding contract Project Number 1999-03 Gallimore Dairy Road Sewer Outfall and Force Main Project

March 24, 2005

As required in article “17.03 City Manager to be Referee:”, I have reviewed the claim submitted by Bryant Electric for addition compensation due to excessive work resulting from incomplete documents. I have also reviewed the City of Greensboro’s Engineering and Inspections Department communications, documents, and staff reports regarding this project. In addition, I have reviewed the communications provided by the City Legal department regarding this project and Bryant Electric’s claims for additional compensation.

After a complete review I have determined the following:

- Utility Contract work is a specialized field of construction which has standards of performance and documentation which is significantly different than vertical construction due to the nature of the work which inherently requires that the work is accomplished in an environment which cannot be fully know before work begins.

- The language of the project documents support the statement above in several ways; through the use of a built in contingency fund for uncovered conditions, through the detailed documentation of the contractor and owners responsibilities in the event an undocumented condition arises, etc.

- Utility Contractors who have experience in a particular area are expected to understand these standards and to have experience and knowledge of the requirements of the other utility owners in the general area including specialized utilities such Piedmont Gas and other petroleum transport entities which exist in abundance in Guilford County.

- In the normal execution of a utility contract there is a high degree of cooperation required between the design engineer, the contract administrators and the utility contractor which allow for expedited changes to the design documents and standards for installation as required by field review and discovery. This quid-pro-quo nature of Utility construction is advantageous to both the owner and the contractor and is the norm of all utility projects.

- The design documents provided to the contractor for this project were excessively inconsistent with the actual working conditions in the field. This created a need for more field changes than normally experienced during a project of this magnitude. However, the contractors prepared claim for additional compensation is inconsistent with the contract documents and is unsupportable by the information provided.

- The City of Greensboro’s often sited position that the investigation of the conditions in the field are the responsibility of the contractor is correct, however, the City position that the impacts in terms of lost time and cost of redirected work is the sole responsibility of the contractor is also unfair and not supported by the contract language.

Given the over all considerations listed above I am directing the two parties to negotiate a mutually agreeable settlement which recognizes the modifications made to the contract which were beneficial to the contractor, i.e. with regard to liquidated damages, requirements for installation of pipe under I-40, etc. as well as impacts to the contractor which have benefited the City, i.e. re-direction of work, delays related to changes in scope, design or lack of performance of parties not under the control of the contractor.

This final negotiation should be fully supported by the actual costs sustained by Bryant Electric to the degree that Bryant can provide actual documentation of the costs as well as actual documented changes in scope which provided benefit to Bryant Electric by the City of Greensboro.

The negotiated settlement should be submitted to me for final approval and should have all supporting documentation attached and clearly marked and anointed to facilitate my clear understanding of the rational for each element.

To insure that this is accomplished in an appropriate time frame I am requiring that this work be completed and submitted to me for review no later than May 26, 2005, which is 45 working days for the date of this decision. I cannot state strongly enough that it is in each party’s best interest to prosecute this negotiation with a spirit of mutual support and with a resolute interest in coming to a settlement to be submitted for approval.

Sincerely,


Mitchell E. Johnson
Deputy City Manager
City of Greensboro


I would like to mention that Mr. Hammers comments about the contents of this memo, which he cites only in part, are completely misguided. My first comment regarding the difference between vertical construction and utility construction is to make clear to both parties that it is expected in utility construction that you will find conflicts in the ground and every contractor should assume a degree of flexibility in addressing these issues. I made this comment because Bryant Electric seemed to think every conflict was to be paid for by the City of Greensboro, which is certainly not appropriate.

[Note: Sandy's emphasis here] After this memo was received both parties (the City and Bryant Electric) met and discussed issues for several weeks. The resulting settlement was entirely dependent on what they concluded and was in no way directed by me. Once it was presented to me I asked each party if they were satisfied that the result was acceptable. They both indicated that it was. I then requested that a change order with all documentation be prepared and presented to Council. This change order was approved by the Engineering Department, Finance, and Legal and signed off on by another person in the City Managers office. Thus I was separate for the entire process. To claim that I directed the payment and somehow manipulated the process is unfounded and untrue. It was part of the consent agenda but all of the normal documentation was included (consent items are no different in terms of the backup documentation, they are only different in how they are voted on) and any Council member could have pulled it from the consent agenda and asked questions.

As you might expect there were some City employees who probably felt that the settlement was not right (I would expect this) and there were probably Bryant Electric employees who believed they were due more money than there company president settled for.

What is clearly left out of the article is the fact that the City of Greensboro bid a project with drawings to install underground utilities on Chimney Rock Road and Bridford Parkway that were over five years old and not updated, two areas that probably saw more construction and utility installations in the very narrow available right of way (gas, phone, fiber optic, etc.) than any other part of the City in those five years. As an example, on the part of the drawings which showed the pipe crossing I-40 (approximately where the Saturn Dealership is) the drawings showed the old version of I-40 prior to its widening!!! This resulted in a set of drawings that were woefully inaccurate with regard to the actual conditions on the ground which as I say above resulted in a great deal of day by day coordination issues. I believe the project manager on the City side did try to address these issues on some part through the use of time and material change orders but clearly the Contractor felt that the City of Greensboro was not willing to pay the full impact of the problems thus the $1,000,000 plus claim. The contractor certainly could have done a better job but so could the City of Greensboro and for me to take the position in my role that the City of Greensboro had no responsibility for the increase in costs and to have denied the claim outright would have resulted in a claim filed in court and the resultant legal fees on top of a Court appointed mediator who most like would have taken the same steps that I did (I say this based on my past experience with Court claim processes for construction).

Now you have my side of this story and the side John Hammer would have received if he had called.


From: Boswell, Pat
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 4:56 PM
To: (name removed for privacy)
Subject: RE: [Website feedback - ] - Article in Rhinoceros Times dated 02/08/07

Mr. (name removed for privacy):

Because so much of the writing in the publication to which you refer is admittedly opinion, we do not attempt to assess its accuracy. For example, the statement that “City councilmembers, with very few exceptions, blindly accept whatever the manager tells them.” This is clearly an opinion statement as opposed to any sort of verifiable fact. However, I will forward your question to Council so that they will know of your concern. They receive a huge volume of e-mail and generally do not have time to reply to individuals, but they will know that you wrote.

From: (name removed for privacy)
Sent: Thu 2/8/2007 2:24 PM
To: City of Greensboro Contact Center
Subject: [Website feedback - ] - Article in Rhinoceros Times dated 02/08/07

Name: (name removed for privacy)

This messagge is for the Mayor and City Council Members. Reference the article in the Rhino Time, "Manager Leading City Council By The Nose", I would like to know if this article is accurate. If not, what specifically is not accurate. If it is accurate, what is the City doing to rectify this mistake?

Be careful what you ask for...

Whenever the Greensboro City Council goes into a closed session at the end of our council meetings, the practice for the last 40+ years has been to announce that the council would not be returning to open session except in those rare cases when it was known there would be a need to reconvene to take immediate action. Final adjournment of the entire meeting then occurred at the end of the closed session. This signaled reporters at the beginning of the closed session it was safe to leave if they so chose without fear of missing something important (and allowed Channel 13 viewers to switch to more entertaining programming).

Rhinoceros Times editor John Hammer recently challenged that practice, saying that we must officially adjourn during the open meeting. Legal research revealed conflicting opinions -- state law does not specifically address this particular situation, the Institute of Government said it was fine, an attorney general's opinion said it was not. Due to these discrepancies, the city attorney advised it was up to the city council to decide how we wanted to handle it. We decided to err on the side of caution and voted 6-3 on Councilmember Mike Barber's motion to always return to open session after a closed session to officially adjourn.

That's not a problem for us councilmembers since we have to stay until the very end anyway and it's simple to return to the council chambers and approve a motion to adjourn -- what's another 60 seconds after a couple hours worth of meeting? However, if last night was any indication, reporters will likely feel obligated to wait for council to return "just in case." If the city council ends up in another lengthy closed session as sometime happens, that could mean hours of thumb-twiddling for our faithful reporters.

Sorry, Margaret! Be careful what you ask for...

PART news

The Randolph County Commissioners voted Monday night to grant the PART board permission to levy a $1 per vehicle registration fee in Randolph County. After the PART board holds a public hearing and votes to approve that fee, we estimate the projected revenues will be approximately $144,000 annually. With this funding from Randolph County, we will be able to proceed with plans to construct park-and-ride lots in Randolph County and eventually provide express bus service on the 220 South corridor.

Another win for improving air quality in our region!

WIRED

Today's luncheon briefing conducted by the Piedmont Triad Partnership (PTP) was an informative session focusing on the 3-year, $15 million WIRED grant PTP has received from the federal government. WIRED stands for Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development; the Partnership was one of only 13 regions nationwide to receive this funding.



PTP President and CEO Don Kirkman and WIRED Project Manager Theresa Reynolds reviewed the challenges the Piedmont region is still facing -- there are about 35,000 less jobs in the region in 2007 than in 2000. The Triad lags significantly behind Charlotte and the Triangle area (Raleigh, Durham, & Chapel Hill) both in current and projected job growth.



The WIRED initiative will operate on a regional basis to attract new economic development and jobs in four cluster areas -- health care, advanced manufacturing, creative enterprises in the arts, and logistics/distribution -- along with the interdependent supporting businesses for these clusters. This will be accomplished by focusing on regional leadership development, improving K-12 education to produce better-prepared workers, and training new workers as well as providing displaced workers with new applicable skills. While the QUANTITY of available workers is important, the QUALITY of those workers' skills is even more vital to the economic success of the Piedmont. In addition to their other planned activities, PTP will soon be offering grants for innovation, entreprenurial growth and training, and retraining of incumbent workers for projects that fit into one of the four targeted clusters.


The following map handed out at the meeting graphically illustrates the "outcommuters" (people who live in one county and work in another ) and how dependent the entire Piedmont region is on the urban employment centers in Forsyth and Guilford counties, the Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem area.

In case you cannot decipher the key, it reads "Persons working outside their county of residence" and has the following color code:

Red = 1,500 to 4,850

Orange = 1,000 to 1,500

Dark green = 700 to 1,000

Light green = 350 to 700

Tan = 0 to 350

Let's hope the WIRED project is successful in promoting new jobs for the entire region!

Weekly schedule

This week's schedule is not too bad with official activities only on Monday and Tuesday so far. Both of those days include luncheon events so I'll have to really exercise my willpower to stay on track with my "Mayor's Challenge" weight loss efforts. (Speaking of which, I took a brisk 45-minute walk this afternoon, and I do mean "brisk" with that cold wind whipping around.)

On Monday, February 5 I will be attending a luncheon briefing session hosted by the Piedmont Triad Partnership at Magnolia Manor.

The Bryan Foundation annual luncheon is on my calendar for Tuesday, February 6. A regular city council meeting follows later that evening. The potentially most controversial item on the agenda is the third-party rezoning request from adjacent neighbors of Greensboro College's athletic complex site off Freeman Mill Road. Given the total absence of emails, phone calls and/or lobbying from either side on this issue, I am optimistic that the neighbors and the college have reached a satisfactory agreement on this issue.

The rest of the week looks promising and free at this moment except an NCPTA committee meeting on Saturday meeting in Raleigh, but I'm not counting on it. Something always seems to pop up.

Coliseum report

At the February 1 War Memorial Commission (coliseum) meeting, we learned that Centerplate revenues for January topped $700,000 with $450,000+ in food and beverage sales and $250,000 in merchandise. General Manager Jay Kudla predicted we would hit the $1.5 million mark during next week's circus. This will elevate the coliseum's commission on these sales to the 35% mark.

The attendance for the George Strait concert on January 20 was over 19,000 and generated $300,000 in concessions and merchandise sales. The same operational plan will be in effect when Kenny Chesney performs on April 19. The concert business seems to be improving with Jamie Foxx, Bob Weir and RatDog, and Norah Jones on the schedule in coming months. You can also thank the Coliseum for the free Chris Daughtry in downtown Greensboro on March 23 as part of the effort to convince the NCAA that we have the ability to host the Women's NCAA basketball finals and associated national convention in grand style. Speaking of basketball, the Harlem Globetrotters will immediately precede the NCAA women's regionals on March 22 and get everyone in the mood for more basketball.

Arena football will kick off its first home game on March 31. Scheduling details are being finalized.

The possibility of an ECHL ice hockey team in the Coliseum for the coming season is not out of the question yet. The potential owner is still exploring options to purchase and place a team here. Matt Brown considers April 1 as the "drop dead" date to have enough time to market the team adequately and sell sponsorships, season tickets, etc. Dates are still being reserved on the Coliseum's schedule just in case things do work out. Keep your fingers crossed!

The next commission meeting was moved back one day to from March 1 to February 28 so as not to conflict with opening day of the ACC Women's Basketball Tournament. Given the top national rankings of three of those teams, this tournament looks to be an exciting one.

West Lee Street/High Point Road corridor study

As reported in various media, Monday [correction: Tuesday] night's kickoff session for the West Lee Street/High Point Road corridor study was well-attended. There was plenty of participation and input from the residents and business owners who attended, identifying both strengths and weaknesses in the area. Since I have been pushing for this study for a long time, I was delighted with the turnout and participation.

Here's the link to the city's web page if you want to monitor the information and progress on this important undertaking.

More city efforts for clean air

More good news for our air quality is announced in the following press release:


CITY RECEIVES GRANT TO REDUCE VEHICLE POLLUTANTS
NC Solar Center provides funds for 20 diesel oxidation catalysts

GREENSBORO, NC (January 30, 2007) – The City has been awarded a $12,000 grant from the NC Solar Center to purchase and install 20 diesel oxidation catalysts (DOCs) on heavy-duty trucks. A DOC is a device that uses a chemical process to break down pollutants in the exhaust stream. DOCs reduce emissions of particulate matter by at least 20 percent, hydrocarbons by 50 percent and carbon monoxide by 40 percent.

The DOC’s will be installed on City trucks this spring. Mileage on the trucks will be recorded and monitored for at least one year to determine the amount of reduced emissions.

“We look forward to positive results from this environmentally-friendly technology,“ said Gary Smith, equipment services manager for the City. “Because the City operates such a large fleet of motor vehicles, we strive to find opportunities like this to protect the environment and to be a conscientious business partner in our community.”

The new DOC’s are just one way the City of Greensboro works to protect our environment. The City’s vehicle fleet also includes six Toyota Prius hybrids that combine gas engines with electric motors. In addition, the City has been using biodiesel, a clean-burning fuel made from 20 percent soybean oil for its fleet of 700 diesel trucks since 2002.

The City’s DOC proposal was one of more than a dozen sent to the NC Solar Center at NC State University. Created in 1988, the North Carolina Solar Center is operated by the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University. Its mission is to advance the use of renewable energy resources to ensure a sustainable economy that protects our natural environment, encourages energy independence, and lowers energy costs for consumers.

Bright flowers for a winter day

I was a lucky door prize winner at Tuesday's bridge luncheon benefit for Family Services of the Piedmont. These lovely primroses sure add a touch of bright color to my living room on this cloudy February day.

Finished at last!

I finally completed the Christmas afghan I began crocheting during my spare time back in November. It's only six weeks late (or 11 months early for next Christmas).

Kammie

Guess who visited Grandma today!

She's finally getting some hair on her little head and is beginning to teethe, gnawing on anything she can get her hands on. She still looks just like her Dad.

Mayors' Challenge

As noted in the press release below, I am participating in the Mayors' Challenge to lose 10 pounds in the month of February. If you see me gnawing on carrots and celery for the next month...

“MAYORS’ CHALLENGE” BEGINS
City of Greensboro Council members and employees take the challenge

GREENSBORO, NC (February 1, 2007) – City of Greensboro employees will participate in the “Mayors' Challenge” to lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks, beginning February 1. Greensboro Mayor Keith Holliday, Jamestown Mayor Billy Ragsdale and High Point Mayor Pro Tem John Faircloth have challenged each other to lose 10 pounds and are inviting residents to join them in losing weight through healthy eating and exercise. In Greensboro, City Council members Tom Phillips, Mike Barber, Florence Gatten, and Sandy Carmany have joined Mayor Holliday in the effort. City Manager Mitch Johnson, Assistant City Manager Bob Morgan and more than 40 employees have also committed to the program.

“Greensboro and Guilford County have a wealth of resources for people who want to get fit,” said Mayor Holliday. “From wonderful walking and biking trails to recreation facilities and nutritional information at the public library, we have all we need to succeed in this challenge.”

To be part of the Mayors’ Challenge, sign up at www.gcmayorschallenge.org. The website also features information about getting started, eating and exercise tips, a tracking record, and links to more resources.

Join the City of Greensboro and get fit in 2007!