There was plenty of political news this week ? Hyde County fired a manager, Dare County elected new board leadership, and a close race for state Senate was finally decided.
The blog this week includes some thoughts on those developments.
HYDE COUNTY FIRES A MANAGER
Hyde County took another step toward solidifying its reputation as the most dysfunctional county in North Carolina on Monday night when the three incoming members of the Board of Commissioners voted with one current board member to dismiss the county manager by a vote of four to one.
The action came at the end of the three-hour meeting when newly elected commissioners Anson Byrd of Fairfield Township, John Fletcher of Ocracoke Township, and Earl Pugh Jr. of Lake Landing Township, were sworn in, and Barry Swindell, Currituck Township, was elected board chairman. Shortly after the new members were sworn in, the board went into a closed session for about a half hour.
Byrd, Fletcher, and Swindell voted for the termination. Dick Tunnell, Swan Quarter Township, voted against, and Earl Pugh Jr. abstained, which was tantamount to a ?yes? vote, according to county attorney Fred Holscher.
The county manager, Mazie Smith, has served fewer than two years in the position, and she now joins a long list of others who have quit or been fired as Hyde County manager.
According to the Hyde public information officer, since the 1980s, the average length of employment for county managers has been 18 months.
Smith, a Hyde County native, was well received when she started in January of 2011 and immediately started making changes to bring Hyde into the 21st century.
She strived to make the county government more transparent with a new website and a public information operation to share news with citizens and the media.
The commissioners who fired Smith gave no reason, though new board chairman Swindell called it ?nothing personal? just an issue of ?management style? and ?a different direction? in which the board wants to go.
Some think the difference in ?management style? is that Smith expected the county?s department heads and employees to be accountable.
The board did not appoint an interim manager, so for now department heads are on their own, reporting to chairman Swindell.
Many Ocracokers were shocked and displeased with the decision, including Rudy Austin, president of the Ocracoke Civic and Business Association who said that Smith?s loss is a big step backwards.
?Our main concern is Hyde County government functioning in a responsible manner,? Austin told Island Free Press reporter, Connie Leinbach, on Tuesday.
Austin is correct that the county has its hands full right now dealing with the economic blows from back-to-back hurricanes Irene and Sandy, both of which took out Highway 12 on Hatteras and had a big impact on day visitors to Ocracoke.
In addition, the Republican-dominated statehouse in Raleigh has been trying for two years now to raise ferry tolls between the mainland and Ocracoke and impose tolls on the free ferry between Hatteras and Ocracoke. Both would be economically crippling for Ocracoke.
Now, more than ever, Hyde County and Ocracoke need some steady leadership.
And, by all accounts, Smith was, by and large, providing that.
Ocracoke?s new commissioner, John Fletcher, voted to oust Smith, though he didn?t have much to say about why.
In fact, Fletcher wasn?t even Ocracoke?s choice to represent the island on the board. In last spring?s primary, Ocracokers voted for the incumbent commissioner, Darlene Styron-Doshier. Because of voters on the mainland, Fletcher won and was unopposed in last month?s general election.
And here is where the problem lies for Ocracokers.
The island is a popular tourist destination. The rest of the county is swamps and farmland. Ocracoke is the county?s cash cow, bringing in the majority of the county?s income in property taxes and sales and occupancy tax.
Ocracoke has little in common with the small towns on the mainland. It has much more in common with the tourist destinations on the Outer Banks and its economic future is more closely tied to theirs.
Ocracoke?s community leaders have mounted several efforts in the past few decades to secede from Hyde and join Dare County.
However, according to state law, Ocracoke can?t leave Hyde County and join Dare without the approval of the Hyde County Board of Commissioners.
Now, the board members may be dysfunctional, but they apparently aren?t stupid, and they aren?t about to let the cash cow jump ship.
So, Ocracokers are stuck with Hyde County, for better or for worse.
Their future may have been looking up a bit under Mazie Smith?s leadership, but now they are back to a rudderless county as issues such as the future of Highway 12 and ferry tolls jump back into the forefront in Raleigh.
Perhaps former commissioner Sharon Spencer, who spoke during the final public comment period at this week?s meeting and noted the power struggles that have gone on within the government, said it best.
?In the interest to the county, you have done a great disservice,? Spencer said about the firing. ?Mazie has done her job. She hasn?t done anything against the board. She has brought transparency and better service for the citizens. I?m just so sorry for this county.?
Spencer, by the way, was also voted out of office this year. With Darlene Styron-Doshier?s loss and the firing of Mazie Smith, Hyde County has gotten rid of all of the women in the top echelons of power.
A coincidence? Perhaps.
DARE COUNTY?S LEADERSHIP
Four commissioners were sworn in at Monday?s meeting of the Dare County Board of Commissioners.
They included incumbents Richard Johnson, a Republican representing District 1, and Allen Burrus, a Democrat representing District 4 on Hatteras Island, along with Warren Judge, who was unopposed for the District 3 seat, and Republican Bob Woodard, who won the District 2 seat.
Judge was re-elected chairman of the Board of Commissioners, and Burrus, who had been vice-chairman, lost the vote to Johnson.
The vice-chairman?s position is mostly honorary, but I?m sure it hurt Burrus when he lost.
The good news is that he will continue to be an advocate force for Hatteras Island issues on the board.
DISTRICT 1 SENATE SEAT
Democrat Stan White has apparently conceded to Republican Bill Cook in the very closely contested seat for District 1 in the North Carolina state Senate.
Even with a hand-to-eye recount, White is the apparent loser by just 20 votes out of the
more than 87,000 cast in the race.
Now that?s a razor-thin margin.
White was appointed to fill the seat of long-time Senate leader from Dare County, Marc Basnight, who retired in January of 2011.
Cook was elected to the state House of Representatives in the Republican sweep of 2010 and is from Chocowinity in Beaufort County.
Basnight has his enemies, and it is clear that since the statehouse fell into Republican hands and Basnight left, there are many folks in Raleigh eager to stop what they feel was his favoritism toward coastal North Carolina and, especially, Dare County.
White is a former county commissioner and former member of the state Board of Transportation who was a leader on issues such as the replacement of the Bonner Bridge and the future of Highway 12.
It?s true that as a freshman senator after the Republican sweep of 2010, White?s power and influence in Raleigh was muted.
But he still lives here in Dare and knows our transportation issues well and fought against the new Republican insistence on increased ferry tolls and new tolls on free ferries.
The question for us now is whether Cook can or will take up our causes in Dare and Hyde counties, including long-term fixes for the problems of ocean overwash on Highway 12 and the ferry tolls.
All of the Hatteras and Ocracoke islanders who are not happy with the way the repairs on the highway have proceeded since Hurricane Sandy can now send their complaints to Cook and see what he will do about it.
