This newsletter is about the Hickory City Council meeting that I attended this past week. City council meetings are held on the first and third Tuesdays of each Month in the Council Chambers of the Julian Whitener building.
At the bottom right of this page under main information links is a Hickory's Local Government link. If you click on that link, it takes you to our city’s website, at the bottom of the page you will see the future dates for meetings scheduled for this year.
At the top of the page, if you click on the “Documents” link, you will find historic Agenda and Minutes links. Agendas show what is on the docket for the meeting of that date. The Minutes is an actual summary of the proceedings of the meeting of that date.
Here is a summary of the agenda of the 3/17/2009 meeting. There were a couple of important items that were discussed at this meeting and the details are listed further below.
Invocation by Rev. Kathy Johnson of the Greater Shekinah Glory Church (I thought this was a very inspiring and well thought out poem so I am sharing it at the link).
Consent Agenda:
Social - Proclamation – The Community Appearance Commission Requests that 4/25/2009 be Proclaimed as “Arbor Day” in the City of Hickory and celebrating Arbor Day in Hickory by giving out trees to citizens. This will be the seventh year that the City will officially celebrate Arbor Day and which will be held in conjunction with the Earth Day celebration at the SALT Block. The City of Hickory has been recognized as a Tree City USA since 2005 and by proclaiming April 25, 2009 as Arbor Day in Hickory, the City will be fulfilling one of its requirements for Tree City USA status.
Proclamation - Declaring 5/2/2009 as “Adult Life Programs’ Day” in the City of Hickory
Request From the Hickory American Legion Post 48 and Barb Hammond Smith VFW Post 1957 for the Use of Union Square for the Veteran’s Memorial Service to be Held on Sunday, May 24, 2009 From 3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Business - Voluntary Non-Contiguous Annexation of the Property Owned by Claude Ray Shrum Located at the End of Timberland Hills Drive (Authorize Public Hearing for April 7, 2009)
Vacant Building Revitalization Grant to HPG Facility, LLC for the Property Located at 542 Main Avenue, S.E. in the Amount of $25,000.00 - The Vacant Building Revitalization Grant Program was established by City Council in September, 2008. The program provides matching funds up to $25,000.00 for projects seeking to renovate and rehabilitate vacant buildings. The applicant plans to renovate this facility into a retail self storage facility, which will have both outdoor and indoor units. HPG Facility, LLC plans to invest approximately $606,000.00 in the construction of the storage units. It has been determined by staff that $84,194.00 of the construction costs are eligible for the grant funding, thereby exceeding the $50,000.00 required amount to obtain the maximum grant amount. The Redevelopment Committee reviewed the application and recommends approval.
Community Appearance Grant to River Holding, LLC for the Property Located at 25 2nd Street, NW in the Amount of $5,000.00 - Hickory Community Appearance Commission approved the application. The grant request provides for an update to the property, which includes remodeling the front, side and back exterior areas of the building.
Approval of Citizens’ Advisory Committee Recommendations for Assistance Through the City of Hickory’s Housing Programs
Recommendation for approval for assistance under the City's First-Time Homebuyers Assistance Loan Program - Christy Short 2705 N Center Street #78, Hickory Approved for up to $6,500.00
Recommendation for approval for assistance under the City’s Housing Rehabilitation Loan Program - Junie Rinehardt 815 8th Street Place, SE, Hickory Approved for up to $5,000.00
Transfer Cemetery Lot in Fairview Cemetery from Doris Byrd Hall f/k/a Doris Beard Heir of Pauline B. Hedrick and husband, Morris Ray Hall to Jerry Shook
Budget Ordinance Amendments
Social - Budget $25 Library donation from Cardinal Book Club for the purchase of a child’s book. Budget $1,500 of Springfest donations from Beaver Family Foundation Inc. ($500) and MDI ($1,000) in the International Council line item for the International Springfest event.
Accept and budget a total of $6,200 in donations for the Unifour Senior Games which is coordinated by the City of Hickory's Park and Recreation Department. Donations include State Employees Credit Union ($600), Humana ($1,000), Tenent/Frye Regional Medical Center ($500), Catawba Valley Medical Center ($1,000), Catawba Valley Community College ($1,000), Carolina Orthopedic Specialists ($500), Western Piedmont Council of Governments ($1,000), Hickory Orthopedic Specials ($100) and Catawba Valley USBC Association ($500).
Business - Appropriate $276 for Police Department Overtime. Appropriate $10,077 of Miscellaneous Insurance Claims from Nationwide Insurance Company for repair of a damaged Police Vehicle. Appropriate $18,905 of General Fund for security glass to enhance security for the Records, Desk and Magistrate areas. This appropriation represents a part of the remaining Police State Reimbursement balances from previous years (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007) that have been rolled into Fund balance at year-end. Budget $50 of Airport property rental revenue from the use of the multipurpose room towards the purchase of new tables for the room.
Development - Budget $7,502 of Community Development funds for housing rehabilitation and administration for HOME funds. Transfer $185,698 from the General Fund for annual routine repair and replacement projects for City facilities including: HVAC work, roof repair/replacement, painting, structural repairs and grounds renovations. City staff does an evaluation and prioritization annually of repair and replacement needs, and this work is a result of that evaluation.
Informational Items:
Mayor Wright Attended the 2008 NCLM Centennial Conference in Charlotte, NC From October 11 – 14, 2008; registration - $360.00
New Business - Public Hearings:
1 & 2) Resolutions Confirming and Levying Assessment Along a Portion of 2nd St Pl, SE– No. 03-07 & No. 04-07 - The City Clerk received a petition from the owners of property along 2nd St Pl, SE to install curb, gutter, and sidewalk along a portion of their street as per Section 29-2 of the Hickory Code of Ordinances. The City Council adopted a Resolution Directing that Street Improvement Project be Undertaken. Unanimous Consent of Council.
Notes about the Council - This was a very light agenda and the meeting lasted less than 20 minutes start to finish. Alders Meisner and Hoyle weren't present. Mayor Wright made mention of the salary reports that were in the Hickory Daily Record. He said he didn't see anything the city should be ashamed about and he is proud of the way that the city's staff has managed the tax payer's money. I think it would be fair to surmise that he was a little agitated by City Manager Berry's picture being on the front of Sunday's paper.
Alderman Seaver made mention that Hickory High's Key Club took first place in every major category at the district convention in Durham. This was out of over 240 clubs in North and South Carolina.
The Hound's Notes: Here are a few of the ironies in this whole Public Pay issue being outed.... 1) I hear Public Officials always talking about their pay versus other people's pay (Example Athletes). I don't hear the athletes squawking about their income being made public.... 2)The public salaries are a lot better than most of the private sector salaries in this area. Why not be happy about your job stability and your overall picture versus what other industries are doing around here..... 3)Now you know what that, "there out to get me" feeling feels like. The people in the private sector have been feeling that for years. 4)Many of the same people that have been shouting about the government being too secretive and not transparent just found out what transparency is all about and they don't like it. 5)These same people that scream about protecting and utilizing the 1st amendment are now shouting down someone for doing just that. 6)People that say that they won't have anything to do with the HDR, because of this article, are commenting all over the Hickory Daily Record Website.
I can go on. There are so many ironies. Most of the comments I have seen, on the HDR website, I construe to be from teachers. I know some great people who are teachers. They are humans just like the rest of us and I understand them being upset, but I think they must understand that this really doesn't matter in the end. Why do you need to justify what you make. Frankly, I think what teachers are making is about just right.
I support education. Education is about the students. We need to get all of this other stuff out of the classrooms. We need to get politics, salaries, and social junk out of the classroom. We need to get back to basics. We need to support teachers and students by giving them a non-hostile work environment. No bullies, thugs, or clowns disrupting classes.....We need to rethink the way that students are being taught. We need to move students in the direction towards creative based knowledge education or trade education at an earlier age.....These young people are our future. They are the machines that will make our lives better or worse as we grow older. We can keep fueling their minds with junk or we can start developing them in more creative/productive manners.....Once we get past this "It's all about me" attitude and figure out that we are all in this together, then maybe we can get this community and this country headed back in the right direction again.
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Tuesday, March 17, 2009
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6 comments:
"We need to get politics, salaries, and social junk out of the classroom." Unfortunately, this is what a literature class, history class, etc., has to concern itself with. However, in my classes, I teach binary thinking, the ability to see BOTH sides of an argument.
"We need to support teachers and students by giving them a non-hostile work environment. No bullies, thugs, or clowns disrupting classes..."
DO this and salaries MAY be enough. That "non-hostile work environment" also includes limiting attacks by parents and administration bullied by parents.
"Once we get past this "It's all about me" attitude and figure out that we are all in this together, then maybe we can get this community and this country headed back in the right direction again."
I agree. However, I have to live. The difference between what we in Humanities make compared to those in uncredited programs is absurd. It is English classes, math classes, and science classes that create the FTE that pay 70, 80, and 90 k salaries of people who train 6 people while my classes are full of 25, 30, even 40 people.
What I teach is how to be a human being, how to consider life as precious, how to keep and nurture a conscience. You are seeing the effect of the downsizing and lax treatment of my discipline in the greed and sociopathy of the economic meltdown of today.
Moreover, the "ME ME ME" ethic has risen to prominence due to the devastation of the humanities, philosophy, and ethics departments in colleges across the nation.
I don't mean the teaching of politics, but that doesn't need to happen until they are past adolescence. Social studies does need to be taught, but what needs to be stopped is the pushing of any kind of social agenda, be it conservative or liberal. People need to know how our system works at the federal, state, and local level. They need to know the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, and the treaty of Versailles.
But where we are truly failing in education is in Math, Literature, and Composition. That has nothing to do with you Robert. I blame that on the system. A system that produces parents that don't care that produce offspring that don't care. They want education handed over on a silver platter. That happens with the bourgeois, as well as the peasants. Look at the grade escalation scandal that is taking place in Chapel Hill, for example.
That is the reason we must rethink education. Get the malcontents out of the classrooms in general, then separate these kids out by what they are good at once they reach 8th grade and then go from there.
If a kid studies to be a mechanic in High School and then later decides to become a lawyer or doctor, they will still have time to do so. I honestly think their mind will be more developed to adjust to doing so once they get older, if we optimize their cognitive abilities towards their niche when they are younger.
But teaching Hodgepodge, sending kids through a meat grinder, and hoping something will stick isn't leading to a good outcome; in this state or this country. Times have changed. The days of shuffling failures off to the factory are gone. We are now shuffling the failures off to the streets and those streets are going to be a lot more dangerous, if we allow that to continue.
I do have respect for teachers. I hope that we can address some of this "stuff" with this Future Economy Council. I know that it is well represented by the Educational Overseers in this area. We might have to butt heads with Raleigh and Washington, but that is the direction we are headed towards anyway.
It's tempting to be turned off by the call for increased teacher salary. This issue is beaten to death by politicians that only seek to gain political favor by proclaiming their support for educators. No one wants to hear a group of professionals constantly complain about their pay, and their is no more guilty party than teachers in this respect. The teacher pay issue has become cliche and the public is beginning to grow tired of hearing about it.
All this aside, the citizens of this state should be absolutely embarassed by what those entrusted with the raising of it's children are paid. Going back to my previous comment, the best and brightest of our state leave for other states where more opportunity is present. Many of our best homegrown teachers leave for better job markets or take a career path that leads them away from the meager salaries of the public school teacher.
The quality of instructor is more important than class size, money spent per student, or demographic breakdown - yet we continue to tell educators that we dont value them. When the children of a 1st year teacher qualify for medicaid, there's a problem.
Don't pick a fight with the few passionate educators that have forgone more lucrative career paths in order to serve the community.
Teachers' salaries certainly are an issue in the quality of education as are budget issues, but I think the breakdown in the development of the child is the failure of parents and schools to adaquately divide the responsibilities needed. For example, parents want schools to do too much in the way of behavior problems, motivation, goal setting and such. It is the parents responsibility to teach manners, discipline, the fact that there will be consequences for behavior from toddlers on up. Teachers have a role while the kid is in school to oversee such things but the respect for rules and need to respect authority should start long before school and continue with the school system. Too often parents just want to drop the kid off at school and let the system socialize them totally.
Schools don't adaquately teach budgeting, personal finance, the government and court systems, and things that would make better citizens out of kids and there is too much social fluff. It's not about money in the end. It's about the hard work of establishing basic skills in reading, math, etc.(the schools job) and instill values like hard work, love of learning, concern about a kids personal development and how he/she will fit in the world, moral development, and such (mostly parents)that will move us forward.
The partnership needs work.
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