BC 2015 05 18 Regular Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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May 18, 2015 (Regular Meeting) /s/ Megan Smit Megan Smit, Clerk to the Board (D) INFORMAL COMLv fENTS Page 2382 /s/ Stephen M. Morris Stephen M. Morris, Chairman Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners Chairman Morris opened the meeting for Informal. Public Comments at 6:47 p.m. He stated each speaker would be limited to three minutes. Kristel Swayze, resident of 4300 Deacon Court in Concord, expressed opposition to House Bill 463. She stated that she started a petition yesterday at 10:00 p.m. and it currently has 112 signatures. She presented the petition, printed at 5:00 p.m. with 104 signatures to the Board. The petition is hereby incorporated into the minutes by reference and is on file with the Clerk to the Board. Missy DeSouza, resident of 916 Coach House Place in Concord, expressed opposition to House Bill 463. She stated expanding the size of the Board of Commissioners and splitting the county into districts should be a local decision, not a state decision. Anita Brown, resident of 1220 Greenside Drive in Concord, expressed opposition to House Bill 463. She stated there needs to be adequate time for public input before going forward with this bill. She urged Representative Pittman to withdraw the bill. Grant Rader, resident of 1050 Betty Street in Kannapolis, expressed opposition to House Bill 463. He stated the decision to expand the Board of Commissioners and split the county into districts should be a local decision and not a state decision. He urged citizens of Cabarrus County to sign the petition opposing House Bill 463. Michael Fischer, resident of 3917 Moray Court in Concord, expressed opposition to House Bill 463. He expressed no opposition to increasing the membership of the Board but expressed his opposition to splitting the county into voting districts. The following letter was also submitted to be entered into the record. Dear Mr. Pittman, Since you are the sponsor of H3463, we are addressing this letter to you. We want to strongly encourage you to reconsider this bill and withdraw it from consideration. In the past 2 years, our county has suffered much turmoil and divisiveness over certain issues by certain individuals. We now have the opportunity to move forward in a cohesive fashion for the benefit of ALL the people of Cabarrus County. In our opinion, HB463 plays into this divisiveness once again by creating districts where a commissioner's first responsibility or loyalty may well be to the residents of that particular district instead of to the county as a whole. This attitude can easily devolve into what is best for me, rather than what is best for us. We believe that our current system for electing our county commissioners has -until the past 2 years -by and large worked well. We believe that our current board of commissioners is committed to making decisions that will be in the best interest of the majority of the people here in our county. A board that is not united and cannot look at the big picture is unable to govern for the whole; individual fiefdoms can battle for their own agendas with little or no regard for the majority. By continuing to have our commissioners elected at large, EVERYONE votes for ALL the members of the board, and those elected are responsible to ALL the citizens rather than merely or primarily to the citizens of their particular district. If at some point our commissioners determine that the current board should be expanded or should be elected by districts, that is a decision that should originate and be decided HERE, not in Raleigh. We have always understood that one of the tenets of the Republican Party is that there is too much government interference. Is this bill 463 not an example of our state