The Edison Project - Good News and Great Ventures - Year 2 - 10/1/2011

2012 The Edison Project - Catawba County Chamber of Commerce

What is The Edison Project? The Edison Project is sponsored by the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce and is a celebration and recognition of the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of Catawba County. We are looking for entrepreneurs that have an innovative idea for a viable business in the Catawba County area that they would like to submit for consideration and review by a panel of judges. You will compete with other entrepreneurs for an economic incentive of $10,000 in cash ($5,000 1st place; $3,000 2nd place and $2,000 3rd place) plus other pro-bono benefits for the best new entrepreneurial business ideas in the Catawba County area for 2012.

Photos provided by Pat Appleson Studios:   
Photos copyright: ©2012 Pat Appleson Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Used By Permission




2012 The Edison Project - Catawba County Chamber of Commerce - Rules of Competition - Catawba County Chamber of Commerce website

The Edison Project - Catawba County Chamber of Commerce - The Winners - Catawba County Chamber of Commerce website

The Edison Project (2011) - Good News and Great Ventures - 9/19/2011

First Place: David Scalise, Tileware Products - David and his business partner Mike Freedel has developed a new fastening system for shower accessories installed in the tile mortar. They have manufacturing and distribution in progress and are looking to expand on their already working business model with investor assistance.

Second Place: James Tate, Tension Technologies - James has developed an innovative load indicating lock washer and patented tensioning components. James is seeking capital to manufacture product to meet demand, as well as continued testing, research and establish a marketing program.

Third Place: Molly Hernstreet, Opportunity Threads - Molly has already established a social enterprise that is an eco-textile cut and sew operation that is mainly grant funded. She works with entrepreneurs that have productions requests that are below most textile company's minimum orders. She is looking for capital for additional equipment and seeking out new customers to grow a sustainable self-funding business.


Other Contest Finalists
Jill Towery-Salmagundi: salmagundibags@yahoo.com Jill’s business produces chairs, settees, and tuffets each one unique. Jill is seeking capital to expand the manufacturing side of the business as well as increase her online retail partners.

Sara Hord-Millstone Meadows Farm LLC: mhord828@bellsouth.net Sara is a trained and experienced chef looking to add to her existing business of a destination working farm, to add homemade artisan bread to be sold to restaurants and through farmers markets. Some equipment has already been purchased and additional capital is needed to fully equip the commercial bakery at the farm.

Barbara Gilbert- Cecil’s Kitchen: bmgilbert@embarqmail.com Barbara is looking to expand on her existing catering business by offering a “community incubator kitchen” facility for a fee to part time bakers and caterers. Capital is sought to establish this commercial grade kitchen.

Jonathan Williams-Delightfully Daisy: jonathan@delightfullydaisy.com Jonathan’s business produces gourmet dog treats with 100% human-grade ingredients. Due to the demand from wholesale and retail customers Jonathan seeks funding to scale his business to meet the ever growing demand.

Jeff & Teena Stewart-Java Journey: deafjeffdaref@gmail.com Java Journey is an existing non-profit coffee shop ministry. Their goal is to obtain capital to grow the roasting business, which will allow them to share their ministry by reaching more people and offering jobs and skills to the unemployed.

Andrew Harren-Flip Frame Media: drew@flipframemedia.com Andrew has developed a media model that uses 15 inch HD monitors in high traffic locations to display company’s advertising messages. Test marketing of the product has been well received. Andrew is seeking capital to expand his business by purchasing and installing 50-200 additional Flip Frames over the next two years.


Edison Project Application

  Writing an Executive Summary

  Edison Project Q and A

CEG's HDR Letter to the Editor - Unedited Version - from 10/10/12

- Response to Council Action on October 2, 2012

In the Hickory Daily Record last week, Citizens for Equity in Government presented five specific ideas for improving the way our City Council functions to serve the people of the city. Each of these ideas relates to enabling the Council to become more transparent and more responsive to interested citizens. In addition, CEG called for members of the Council to meet with representatives of the CEG which followed a suggestion made by Dr. Michael Crowell from the NC School of Government.

On Tuesday night, at the first meeting of the City Council since the special election, the Council to an extent responded to the CEG’s first suggestion to move the "Citizen’s Requesting to be Heard" from the end of the meeting agenda to the front . That response, in a motion made by Mayor Rudy Wright, passed unanimously by the Council . Mayor Wright has stated that this was done to allow citizens to comment on any specific agenda item prior to the Council moving on to the Consent Agenda and the rest of the meeting. While we commend the City Council for attempting to address Citizen Comment in a more constructive manner, it was once again done through a process that failed to gather citizen opinion through open dialogue before the Council moved forward and the motion was approved.

The Mayor and several Council members have publicly indicated that they are open to meeting with “any voter” with an issue or concern. CEG members are voters and citizens of Hickory. Our efforts in the recent referendum effort helped to correct the failure of the City Council during the 1960’s to allow the voters to decide how they prefer our council members to be elected. The Mayor has said he wants “to move the city forward in unity.” It would help if he proved his sincerity by not continuing to speak disparagingly about citizens who voted “Yes” on the referendum, and by meeting with CEG representatives.

Clearly, by the vote Tuesday night, City Council has acknowledged the validity of some of the concerns and issues that led to the petition drive and referendum. We hope they will heed Dr. Crowell’s insightful wisdom and agree to meet with CEG representatives for a constructive dialogue to discuss citizen issues, working together to build an enduring foundation for all of the people of Hickory.

- Joe Brannock and the Citizens for Equity in Government

Don't fall asleep - More Big Stuff is Coming!

I will be putting together the presentation of the Edison Project tomorrow. It took me a few more days to get last weeks City Council newsletter than I would have liked. That process is evolving and I can assure you that exciting developments lie ahead involving the endeavor to bring these meetings to you in a more user friendly fashion.

We have also had a lot of things going on behind the scenes and as in a discussion I had last night with an associate, all that has come forth is overwhelming and is hard to research, verify and report in a timely fashion when I am responsible for the content myself. But, everything is falling into place and I have faith that we will continue moving forward towards the goals we have established and continuing down the rabbit hole of the mission that many of us have chosen to accept.

Muse - Survival

Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- October 7, 2012

Workers in China strike over iPhone 5 labor demands - USA Today - Yamiche Alcindor - October 6. 2012 - Thousands of factory workers at a plant in China went on strike Friday to protest their working conditions on the iPhone 5's production lines, CNN reports.                        Employees at Foxconn's plant in Zhengzhou, China, made the decision after management enacted "overly strict demands" for production of Apple's new iPhone 5.              The strike began at 1 p.m. local time on Friday with the majority of its participants from the on-site quality control line for the iPhone.The work stoppage has "paralyzed the production lines," CNN reports.               Neither Foxconn nor Apple responded to requests for comment by the news agency.              "Employees could not even turn out iPhones that met the standard" because of "design defects," according to China Labor Watch, a New York-based advocacy group that works closely with sources in China.              Foxconn's demands, coupled with the fact that workers were not allowed to take vacation time during a recent week-long holiday, created a high-pressure situation, CNN reports..... Foxconn denies worker unrest slowed iPhone assembly - USA Today - October 6, 2012


16 Critical Economic Issues That Obama And Romney Avoided During The Debate - The Economic Collapse Blog - Did you watch the presidential debate on Wednesday night? It is absolutely amazing how they can have an hour and a half debate about the economy and say so little. It seemed like both candidates were falling all over each other wanting to talk about how much they value education, but will more education really solve our problems? After all, 53 percent of all Americans with a bachelor's degree under the age of 25 were either unemployed or underemployed in 2011. So perhaps they should just both agree that education is a good thing and start talking about how to create more jobs for all of us. If you want to grade the debate from a technical standpoint, clearly Romney was the winner of the debate. Romney was full of energy and was generally sharp with his answers. Obama looked like he had just popped a couple of antidepressants and was ready for nap time. As a result, this might have been the worst blowout in the history of presidential debates. A CNN/ORC International poll that was taken right after the debate found that 67 percent of all Americans that had watched the debate thought that Romney was the winner. Never before had any presidential candidate crossed the 60 percent mark in the history of their post-debate polling. So Romney definitely had a big night. But the reality is that both candidates were telling the American people what they want to hear. If either Obama or Romney told the truth about what we are facing they would lose votes, and in a race this tight both of them really want to avoid doing that. Obama and Romney both desperately want to win this election, and the words that are coming out of their mouths have been carefully crafted to appeal to the "undecided voters" in the swing states. If you actually believe that they can deliver on everything that they are promising, then you must not have been paying much attention to U.S. politics over the past several decades.               Perhaps the biggest failure on Wednesday night was debate moderator Jim Lehrer of PBS. His questions were about as far from "hard hitting" as you could get.                The hour and a half debate was almost entirely about the economy, and yet almost all of the critical economic issues were ignored.                     Yes, Obama and Romney have slight differences when it comes to tax rates and regulations, but those small differences are not going to do much to change the direction of this country one way or another.                Meanwhile, there were some really huge issues about the economy that were not addressed at all last night....


Gasoline Prices Set to Rise Through Election Day - CNBC - Sharon Epperson - October 5, 2012 - Retail gasoline prices, already at the highest levels on average since July 2008, are likely to continue to climb this month as refinery and pipeline problems overshadow weakness in U.S. consumer demand.                 On Wednesday night, a fire broke out at Exxon's (XOM) Baytown, Texas refinery, a 584,000 barrel per day facility that is the largest operating refinery in the U.S.                Exxon said there may be "some impacts to production" from the fire, but the plant will resume normal operations. A partial shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline, the nation's largest oil product pipeline, also contributed to supplies fears, as it impacted the portion of the line carrying gasoline from Atlanta to Nashville.               "It will only take another refinery issue and a bit more of geopolitical noise to have the first U.S. election at a US average gasoline price of $4 a gallon," says energy analyst Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix.                The national average for regular unleaded is now at $3.79 a gallon, basically on par with where pump prices were last Friday.                 Yet that masks the volatility in the gasoline futures (New York Mercantile Exchange: RBCV1), and especially some wholesale markets. Gasoline futures prices dropped 30 cents after the expiration of the previous month's contract, reflecting the seasonal shift among many refiners from summer-grade gasoline to a cheaper winter-blend.                       On Wednesday morning, the EIA reported a sharp drop in gasoline demand versus a year ago - leading futures to fall to the low of the week. But prices quickly recovered after the fire at the Exxon Baytown refinery.



U.S. restaurants look to overcome weak traffic - Wall Street Journal Market Watch - Debbie Cal - October 5, 2012 - TAKING THE PULSE: Efforts to manage commodity costs by raising menu prices without deterring customer traffic could pay off in the third quarter for U.S. restaurant companies. They are expected to record a combined same-store sales increase of 2.8%. Starbucks Corp. SBUX -0.73% , McDonald's Corp. MCD -0.03% and Yum Brands Inc. YUM -0.71% are continuing investments in their overseas businesses to maintain profit margins amid concerns around sluggish domestic growth, while Brinker International Inc. EAT -1.13% is relying on menu and in-store improvements to boost sales.                 Street projections show both profit and revenue growth for Yum Brands, Starbucks, Brinker and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. CMG -4.45% , while profit is likely to be flat for fast-food leader McDonald's.                   Wall Street Expectations: Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters predict an adjusted profit of 97 cents a share on revenue of $3.64 billion. A year ago, Yum posted income of 80 cents, or 83 cents excluding some items, on revenue of $3.27 billion.               Key Issues: The parent company of Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut expects its China and Yum Restaurants International businesses to drive its profit growth in the second half as its Pizza Hut and KFC chains are booming in urban areas. However, China generated just 37% of Yum's total operating profit in the second quarter as rising food costs and wage inflation squeezed Yum's profit margins in the country. China typically contributes half of Yum's total profits.



Insurers seek 17 percent increase in NC homeowner policy rates - WRAL.com - October 3, 2012 - The North Carolina Rate Bureau, which represents insurance companies that provide coverage in the state, has asked the state Department of Insurance for an average 17.7 percent increase in homeowner policies, officials said Wednesday.              The Rate Bureau would like the increase to take effect next June.                The filing is the first request for higher homeowner insurance rates since the Rate Bureau sought a 19.5 percent increase in 2008. The DOI allowed a 4.05 percent statewide average increase to go into effect in May 2009.              The public can comment on the proposed increase during a public hearing on Oct. 17 in the Jim Long Hearing Room of the Dobbs Building, 430 N. Salisbury St. in Raleigh.             Written public comments can be mailed to NCDOI, Attn: Bob Mack, Property & Casualty Division, 1201 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1201, or emailed to 2012homeowners@ncdoi.gov. The deadline for submitting written comments is Oct. 19.             The DOI will then review the request to determine what, if any, rate adjustments are warranted. If the two sides cannot agree on rate changes, another public hearing will be held for both parties to present their cases for any rate adjustments.



Reason For Today's Unemployment Rate Plunge: Part-Time Jobs For Economic Reasons Surge Most Since QE1 Announcement - Zero Hedge - Tyler Durden - October 5, 2012 - We already noted the absolutely stunning surge in reported Household Survey jobs which "added" 873,000 jobs, or the most since 2003 and the second most in the past decade, which was just a little bit off the Household Survey used in the monthly NFP jobs changes, which came at 114,000, or about 8 times less. But what was the reason for this epic jump in Household survey jobs? Simple, and those who have read our series on America's transition to a part-time worker society know the answer. The reason is that the number of part-time people employed for economic reasons soared by 582,000 to 8,613,000, the most since October 2011, and the largest one month jump since February 2009, when "restoring" confidence in the economy was all the rage... and just before the Fed announced the full blown QE1 in March of 2009. Odd symmetry.                   So putting it all together, what does this mean for the true state of the US economy? Recall back in September one of our Charts of the Day was the number of Unemployed and Underemployed for the month of August, which was 25.8 million. Readers may be surprised to learn that when putting it all together, in September this number increased to 26.2 million.

Why the unemployment rate won't keep dropping - CNN Money - Stephen Gandel - October 5, 2012 - In September, the politically charged rate fell because of a huge jump in a survey that few economists trust.                 FORTUNE -- It was either an average month for job growth, or one of the best months in nearly three decades. In the September jobs numbers, there was evidence for both.                Last month, employers said they added 114,000 workers to their payrolls. Not fast by any means, but not bad.              The unemployment rate, however, was a blockbuster. In September, the unemployment rate fell to 7.8%, down from 8.1%. That's the lowest it has been since Obama took office....


A Jobs Report Conspiracy? - The Economic Collapse Blog


Another Phony Employment Report - Paul Craig Roberts - October 5, 2012 - October 5. Today’s employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows 114,000 new jobs in September and a drop in the rate of unemployment from 8.1% to 7.8%. As 114,000 new jobs are not sufficient to stay even with population growth, the drop in the unemployment rate is the result of not counting discouraged workers who are defined away as “not in the labor force.”                 According to the BLS, “In September, 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force.” These individuals “wanted and were available for work,” but “they were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.”                       In other words, 2.5 million unemployed Americans were not counted as unemployed.                    The stock market rose on the phony good news. Bloomberg’s headline: “U.S. Stocks Rise as Unemployment Rate Unexpectedly Drops,” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-05/u-s-stock-futures-little-changed-before-payrolls-report.html .                        A truer picture of the dire employment situation is provided by the 600,000 rise over the previous month in involuntary part-time workers. According to the BLS, “These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.”                   Turning to the 114,000 new jobs, once again the jobs are concentrated in lowly paid domestic service jobs that cannot be offshored. Manufacturing jobs declined by 16,000.                  As has been the case for a decade, two categories--health care and social assistance (primarily ambulatory health care services) and waitresses and bartenders account for 53% of the new jobs. The BLS never ceases to find ever growing employment of people in restaurants and bars despite the rising dependence of the US population on food stamps. The elderly are rising as a percentage of the American population, but I sometimes wonder if employment in ambulatory health care services is rising faster than the elderly population. Whether these reported jobs are real, I do not know.                    The rest of the new jobs were accounted for by retail trade, transportation and warehousing, financial activities (primarily credit intermediation), professional and business services (primarily administrative and waste services), and state government education, where the 13,600 reported new jobs seem odd in light of the teacher layoffs and rise in classroom size.                 The high-tech jobs that economists promised would be our reward for offshoring American manufacturing jobs and tradeable professional services, such as software engineering and IT, have never materialized. “The New Economy” was just another hoax, like “Iraqi weapons of mass destruction” and “Iranian nukes.”

Paul Craig Roberts : The Unemployment Numbers are Phony

Newsletter about the City Council meeting of October 2, 2012

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 right of this page under Main Information links is an Hickory's City Website link. If you click on that link, it takes you to our city’s website, at the left of the page you will see the Agenda's and Minutes link you need to click. This will give you a choice of PDF files to upcoming and previous meetings.

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 8/21/2012 meeting. There were a couple of important items that were discussed at this meeting and the details are listed further below:

Please remember that pressing Ctrl and + will magnify the text and page and pressing Ctrl and - will make the text and page smaller. This will help the readability for those with smaller screens and/or eye difficulties




 Invocation by Pastor Jay Robinson of Viewmomnt Baptist Church

Special Presentations
A. Presentation and Administration of Oath of Office to Deputy Chief Fred Hollar - (From the City Information Officer) - (2:15)

“I feel fortunate that we have a person of Chief Hollar’s character and experience. He is well known and well respected through out the community. His vision and relationships with our partners in emergency services make him uniquely qualified to lead our excellent professional fire fighters,” said City Manager, Mick Berry.

Chief Hollar started working for the fire department after graduating from Hickory High School and has been dedicated to his career since day one. He brings over 45 years of experience and dedication to his new position. Two of his many major accomplishments include developing the City of Hickory Disaster Plan and developing a comprehensive 15-year plan for the Hickory Fire Department, including station locations, apparatus placement, purchase, and cost projections for planned facilities, including personnel resources for growth.

“I look forward to serving as the Fire Chief for the City of Hickory and serving with all the dedicated men and women within our department and throughout the city,” said Chief Hollar. “Delivering core services to the community is a team-oriented experience. We in the Hickory Fire Department realize this as our base philosophy. We will work hard to train our department to meet the needs of the community so each and every member can respond to any incident where help is needed.” Chief Hollar added, “Two words—responsibility and accountability—will define our department as we move into another management team.”

Chief Hollar brings a background of extensive experience in Fire Sciences, Fire Service, and Operations, encompassing areas of expertise in Management of Emergency Services, Community Fire Safety and Prevention, Fire Suppression, Emergency Management, Fire Investigations, Training, hazardous Materials, Emergency Medical Services, Administration, Budgeting, Equipment Safety and Performance, Rules and Regulations, Aircraft Rescue Services, and Diversity.

Chief Hollar is very active in developing and initiating programs not only for the department, but for the county and state, as well. He has extensive knowledge of Emergency Management and Emergency Operations Center, which are used on a daily basis for the City.

The City of Hickory’s Fire Chief Thomas Alexander retired after 45 years of combined service with two fire departments. Chief Hollar was previously working as the Deputy Fire Chief for over 23 years. Chief Hollar and Chief Alexander share the same objectives on how the Hickory Fire Department should operate and how best to achieve those objectives.

Additionally, Chief Hollar understands how to communicate and motivate coworkers to get the job accomplished. He has the ability to establish and maintain effective communications and rapport with fellow staff, clients, and management, plus the various private federal and local entities that are affiliated with fire services.

In addition to his responsibilities as the Fire Chief, he serves on a variety of boards and commissions within the City, county, and state. Chief Hollar’s ability to establish positive, strong work relationships and his open and positive personality has enabled him to maintain an effective and efficient performance in a conscientious manner throughout his years working with the Fire Department. His dedication to the City of Hickory Fire Department is an asset that will continue to be a benefit in his new role as the Hickory Fire Chief.

B. Presentation of Proclamation for Fire Prevention Week to Chief Fred Hollar
Whereas the City of Hickory is committed to ensuring safety and security of all those living in and visiting our city; whereas home fires killed more than 2,600 people in the United States in 2010 and fire departments in the United states responded to more than 369,000 home fires; Whereas residence who have planned and practiced a home fire escape plan are prepared and therefore will be more likely to survive a fire; Whereas only one third of Americans have developed and practiced a home fire escape plan and whereas working smoke alarms cut the risk of dying in half; whereas Hickory's first responders are dedicated to reducing and preventing Hickory home fires and home fire injuries through prevention and protection education; whereas the 2012 fire prevention week theme, “Have two ways out."  effectively serves to remind us to develop and practice a home fire escape plan through fire prevention week and year round;   Therefore the Hickory City Council does hereby proclaim the Week of October 7 – 13, 2011 as Fire Prevention Week in the City of Hickory .


Proposal introduced by the Mayor outside of the constructs of the agenda 

Newsletter about the City Council meeting of October 2, 2012 - Addendum on the CEG proposals - Proposal introduced by the Mayor outside of the constructs of the agenda
 
Consent Agenda:
A. Approval of Jeffrey Don Boggs to the Hickory Fire Department Local Relief and Supplemental Retirement Board of Trustees. - The Fire Department Board of Trustees Local Relief and Supplemental Retirement Board consist of five (5) members. The five members consist of (1) appointed by the North Carolina Insurance Commissioner (2) appointed by Mayor and Council, (2) elected by the fire department membership. The purpose of the board is to administer the disbursement of funds received from the State of North Carolina Department of Insurance for local firefighter relief and supplemental retirement programs. As of September 7, 2012, Deputy Fire Chief George Byers submitted a letter to Fire Chief Tom Alexander giving notice of leave from the appointed position by December 31, 2012. This is to ensure that a sufficient amount of notification is given to appoint a new board member.

B. Approval of acceptance of a bullet proof vest grant in the amount of $10,150 to the Hickory Police Department to assist in funding the purchase of bulletproof vests for police officers. - This grant will pay up to 50% of the cost of NIJ approved vests purchased by Hickory Police Department. Thirty vests have been requested at an estimated price of $675 for each vest. Monies are placed in the Police Department budget uniform line item annually to purchase vests for police officers. Life expectancy of each vest is approximately five years. The City’s match is already budgeted in the annual budget.

C. Approval of proclamation for Mr. and Mrs. Wade Hampton Shuford Day, October 7, 2012.

D. Approval of proclamation for Red Ribbon Week, the week of October 23 through October 31, 2012.

E. Special Event/Activities Application for Girls on the Run, Nancy Mitchell, Operations Director, YMCA, December 8, 2012 at L.P. Frans Stadium, from 7:00 am until 12:00pm.

F. Special Event/Activities Application for Crawdads 2012 Fall Fling, Matt Moes, Director of Special Events, Hickory Crawdads, November 10, 2012 at L.P. Frans Stadium, from 9:30am until 2:00pm.

G. Special Event/Activities Application for Enterprise Company Picnic, Matt Moes, Director of Special Events, Hickory Crawdads, October 27, 2012 at L.P. Frans Stadium, from 2:00 pm to 11:00 pm.

H. Special Event/Activities Application for Peelin’ Eatin’ & Politican, Lindsay Keisler, Catawba County Chamber of Commerce, this event is for a Legislative Shrimp Boil, at L.P. Frans Stadium, October 25, 2012, from 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

I. Transfer of Cemetery Deed from City of Hickory to Sharon Widder Kenz in Oakwood Cemetery

J. Transfer of Cemetery Deed from City of Hickory to Terri S. Hammons in Oakwood Cemetery

K. Transfer of Cemetery Deed from City of Hickory to Pam Connelly in Fairview Cemetery

L. Approval of moving the regular scheduled Council Meeting of November 6, 2012 to Monday, November 5, 2012 due to the National Election day being held on November 6, 2012.

M. Budget Ordinance Amendment # 4.
1. To appropriate $1,974 of General Fund Balance (Funds reserved from the State of North Carolina Un-Authorized Substance Tax revenue) and budget in the Police Department's Departmental Supplies line item. This amendment is necessary to purchase items for the School Resource Officers to teach DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) in the school system for FY12-13. Funds are made available to the Police Department from the State and remain in General Fund Balance until appropriated.

2. To transfer $8,779 of General Fund Contingency and $8,779 of Water and Sewer Contingency to the Stormwater Fund-Stormwater System line item. These transfers are necessary to pay the contractor for additional work done on the 8th St. Ct. NE culvert replacement project. The additional work is due to the
significant amount of existing underground utilities that the contractor had to work around.

3. To appropriate $109 of Local Government Revenue received for the month of August 2012 and budget in the Police Department Overtime line item. This payment is revenue that funds a portion of an Officers time spent when accompanying involuntary commitment patients.

4. To budget a $3,416 insurance claim check from Argonaut Great Central Insurance Company in the Police Department Maintenance and Repair of Buildings line item. This insurance claim check is payment for lightening damage to the Police Department Firing Range.

5. To transfer $10,150 from the Police Departments Uniforms line item to the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Project. The United States Department of Justice awarded the City of Hickory a $10,150 Federal Grant to pay up to 50% of the costs of National Institute of Justice approved vests. There is a 50% required local match which is funded from the Police Departments Uniforms line item; therefore a budget amendment is necessary.

New Business - Departmental Reports:
1. Inspiring Spaces update, Assistant City Manager Andrea Surratt - (14:50)

Community Input Phase - Meetings with different City groups and other organizations such as DOT. They will have meetings in each quadrant. City staff will hold a meeting with every group, including council,  in January.

 Quotes below are from the advisory committee.

Ms. Surratt showed various pictures of locations in the city.

Corridors that are being looked at

(First Pass)

(Second Pass)

Looking for Public Private partnership. How does our character define our community.

 2. Grace Chapel Road update, Public Services Director Chuck Hansen - (37:50) - Connects Grace Chapel Road to the WalMart complex near Granite Falls. It is meant to keep traffic off of Highway 321 and to create some industrial properties through a partnership between the Caldwell County Economic Development Corporation, the City of Hickory, Granite Falls, and MDI in Caldwell County. There are 9 preliminary buildings designed for this developed land consisting of 1,000,000 square feet. Utilities will be the next issue addressed. Properties are zoned Office and Industrial.

3. Hickory’s brand initiative “Life. Well Crafted.” began a year ago and many strides have been made over the last 12 months. Communications Director and Brand Manager Mandy Pitts will review year one and give an update on some exciting new marketing tools and strategies. (51:30)

Mandy states that our community is made up of Doers and Makers. Below are words that are from the Facebook page that people say best describe Hickory.

The Branding website has be rebranded as Hickory Well Crafted from the former Start something here. This site has been changing daily. One story from the site is related to businesses that have been located in Hickory for 75+ years.

Logos of various entities located in the area meant to display a consistent theme.

This advertising was in an US Airways magazine in September during the time that the Democrat National Convention was taking place.

The following is a snapshot of priorities heading into year two.

The vision looking ahead.

Newsletter about the City Council meeting of October 2, 2012 - Addendum on the CEG proposals

Proposal introduced by the Mayor outside of the constructs of the agenda 


The following was sent by Mayor Rudy Wright to Joe Brannock of the CEG in relation to this e-mail after the Mayor had stated that he was willing to reach out to people that are not satisfied with Hickory City Government.

Joe Brannock's e-mail to Council Members:  

The CEG would appreciate the opportunity to meet with council representatives to discuss concerns expressed by citizens which led to the recent referendum. It is our hope that the mayor was sincere, and that each of you share in his sentiment in wanting to address those "factors that affected the referendum and use the referendum to propel Hickory forward in unity."

We issued a press release outlining what we know are concerns that have been expressed to us and that we believe deserve to be addressed.

We look forward to working with council representatives on coming together to begin a new chapter in our city's history.

I can be reached at either this email address or by cell at 828-455-3789.

We would appreciate your attention and input in scheduling a meeting.

All the Best

- Joe Brannock

Mayor Wright's response:

As I have stated repeatedly over the past 11 years, I stand ready to talk with any voter at any time with respect to  his/her concerns about matters affecting them or about matters affecting our City in general, and know that all members of Council share that commitment. I will be meeting directly with interested voters in public meetings over the coming weeks to demonstrate my continued commitment to open government and unity of purpose among Hickory residents of all walks of life. I don't have plans to meet with special-interest political committees of any stripe, particularly one that has announced its agenda to the world via press release prior to calling on us to speak with them about that agenda. Recognizing that  residents have expressed concerns to me about citizen comment at our Council meetings coming after our votes have been taken, I will make a motion that, for tonight's meeting,  we allow those Hickory residents who wish to speak about a SPECIFIC agenda item do so before 2nd readings and before consent agenda and department reports. Other resident comments will come at the end of the meeting as has been our custom. Of course, resident comments at any time will be subject to our customary standards of decorum. As a reminder my cell # is 238 1465, email addresses rwright@hickorync.gov and rudy@asigncohickory.com.

The Hound: I don't think proper protocol was followed here. This was not part of the agenda. It was not a matter on the Agenda. This was not on the public City Council Agenda. The Mayor introduces it and they vote upon it as soon as Fire Chief Hollar's swearing in ceremony takes place. 

And this is what the Mayor proposes at the 10:25 mark of the City Council meeting and the Council unanimously consented to. It does not address the proposed CEG issues that have been brought forward, because the CEG's reasoning is not allowed into the decision making process. The Mayor and by unanimous consent the Council have gone ahead and taken an action on their own without listening to the public once again and is that not what got us to this place to start with? Their is an unwillingness to listen to the public.

At the end of the meeting, as part of Matters not on the Agenda, Alderman Lail readdresses the issue at the 1:09:30 mark of the meeting and an ensuing discussion takes place for several minutes. We commend Alderman Lail for this action, but not to second guess would have preferred that he done this before the Mayor's proposal was voted upon earlier. It seems everyone else is on board with whatever the Mayor proposes lock, stock, and barrel.



CEGs first 5 proposals for a more representative City Council

1) Move time for citizens requesting to be heard to the top of the agenda at City council meetings.

2) Demand that council members take conflict of interest matters more seriously.

3) Record and broadcast City council meetings via Charter Cable and the internet.

4) Restore citizen’s right to request that items be removed from the consent agenda.

5) Make “working agendas” available by Wednesday of each week before a City council meeting to give citizens time to be aware and prepare for meetings.

Citizen Requesting to be Heard

James "Jimmy" Davis felt moved to address the council at the end of the meeting in relation to the motions, votes, and discussion above and other issues related to this City Council meeting.





And Mayor Wright's final response to Joe Brannock after Council last night:

Mr Brannock - tonight Council voted unanimously to accept my motion to let citizens who wanted to speak on a SPECIFIC agenda item to do so before our votes, rather than at the end of the meeting - as you and I both know that issue has arisen just once in the past 11 years, but I felt it was a move most citizens would understand - Why did you send an email to all Council, except me, and you didn't copy the newspaper, asking that they deny my motion? You said in that email you wanted to talk with some/all Council members before we vote - What objective(s) could you have to ask that we delay what your group has been asking for? I'm serious about serving the people of Hickory and have no patience for political games.. Why didn't you copy me on your emails to Council? I responded directly to you, and copied the paper because the good people of Hickory deserve the openness.

Monday Morning meeting with the Mayor - October 1, 2012

Rudy Wright on Hal Row discusses the referendum and says what the opposition was saying about Elite and Million Dollar Tent was unconscionable.

The Hound:  I had to force myself to listen to this, because it frankly was like hearing someone take nails to a chalkboard. And I am not speaking in any way, shape, or form about Hal. He was very professional in this interview. The CEG were the trouble makers? When the Mayor and his entourage were out here scaring old people and saying that we were in with ACORN and other things that he is on the record doing. And a No advocate was in the paper saying they ran a high minded campaign. All they have ever said to this day is that we were looking to take a "Right" away to vote in all wards. It is very much apparent that they still don't care about South Hickory.

I don't mind the Mayor not wanting to talk to me. I would be willing to sit down and talk to him, because that is how I am when it comes to these issues, but I really don't care to talk to him either. The reason why I quit calling into Hal's show when the Mayor is on is because Rudy Wright just blew off anything I ever said on that show. He would always say that they would look into it or he was willing to listen, but at the end of the day, he purposefully went in a 180-degree opposite direction. So frankly, I don't feel like wasting my time.

But, ask the Mayor why he refuses to meet with a lead representative of the Citizen's for Equity in Government  (CEG) Joe Brannock and he says that he will only meet with people from the CEG of his choosing. What if the shoe were on the other foot?

We have already explained our meanings of the words we used and the Mayor and his friends want to spin it towards some convoluted non-sensical definition that they have come up with.  The only people that accept their spin are the same ole people who always fall in line. What the Mayor's indignation is displaying is that we are right on target. If we weren't dead on then he and his buddies would have blown this off a long time ago and they are showing that they can't. As Johnnie Cochran would have said, "If the shoe fits, you must admit."

The Definition of Cronyism and the Million Dollar Tent

People associated with Union Square say just ask Mick Berry, he'll give you the numbers, when those numbers have been requested, but not given, in any professional context. We want to see the line items of where and what monies are accounted for and to whom. Is that so much to ask when it comes to public money?

It is a matter of trust, and the City Council plays a role in that. First it was going to cost $286,000 in December, then they come back with $426,000, and now Rudy Wright has stated that it is $501,000 and we are just supposed to take his word for it as though it is some sort of decree. And Hickory Inc. has now said they must add additional lights and cameras and we haven't seen the appropriations for that. If we don't understand this, it is their job to help us understand this. We are not stupid!

They do a document dump a few days before the election. Official certified documents show that these numbers were requested back in April and I know that requests had been made all the way back to the origins of the Union Square structure. The Hickory Daily Record doesn't even seem to have looked at the material and pretty much prints up what Hickory Inc. wanted the public to read.

We are told the documents are available. A member of the CEG, Rebecca Inglefield, goes to City Hall and looks at these documents that have no context and City Officials tell this member of the CEG that their only obligation is to provide the documents, they don't have to answer any questions. These non-answerers include Mick Berry and City Council Attorney John Crone. When she is insistent on getting to the root of this information they tell her to put her questions in writing. She is arrested as she is writing the questions down. So that pretty much debunks the whole "Go ask Mick Berry" statement doesn't it. Hickory Inc. has continuously demonstrated a lack of cooperation, forthrightness, and transparency.

We are at a standoff, because we do not accept or trust Hickory Inc.'s accounting and documentation methods as they relate to public records.

The other side is the one that has it in their minds that they know better than the rest of us... That they don't need public input on public projects... That they can manipulate processes and numbers to justify their personal ambitions, desires, and goals... and we are supposed to lie down and Rudy Wright is going to tell us what our sign can say. Are these words "dangerous?" Does King Rudolph have a problem with our freedom to speak and express ourselves? Who really seems to be the one that has the dangerous idea here?

We have all been told, "You just don't have the information we have." Any information we don't have is a result of Hickory Inc. not being forthright in divulging it with the people. They are a club. They are a small group of people who have empowered themselves through secrecy and lack of compassion towards their fellow community members to use the Public Trust towards their own personal desires, goals, and achievements. They are supposed to be public servants and work towards the interests of the public, but instead they think we are supposed to be here for them and we are just supposed to go along with whatever they decide... whatever they decree... and just lie down.

The above is what we mean by elite. I can appreciate the Mayor's story about his father. My father died when I was two years old and my mother had three children and was a widow at the age of 22. So Rudy's father and I are similar in many ways and I never called Rudy's family or father elite. Frankly, we didn't call the Mayor elite, but since he thinks this is about him, well I think that says a lot also.

What I (and we) have said is that investments in Hickory do not need to constantly be funneled towards Union Square. They should be treated no better, or worse, than any other commercial enterprise in Hickory. We haven't told anyone to boycott Union Square and its businesses. What we have said is that Union Square property and business owners need to pay for their own marketing and upkeep of their commercial interests and the conflicts of interests need to stop.. What is wrong with that belief? And why is Hickory Inc. doing the same things over and over again and believing that they are going to eventually come to a different result? Where is the evidence?

The whole interview is available above without editing, except for taking out the commercials. I hope you will give it a listen and I encourage you to call the Mayor and talk to him if that is your desire.