Hendersonville Four Seasons Politics
Amy Lynn Holt, a Hendersonville High School parent and the board's most vocal advocate for saving the historic core building for HHS use, was elected chair of the Henderson County School Board Monday night.
In a 5-2 vote, board members elected Holt over Mary Louise Corn, the top vote getter in the Nov. 8 election and a former West Henderson High School principal.
In electing Holt, the board chose a leader who has argued strongly that the Board of Commissioners had usurped its authority by overriding the School Board's recommendation on school construction priorities and design. The School Board voted 4-3 for a renovation-new construction option that would have saved the Erle Stillwell-designed classroom building and auditorium for future HHS students. Instead, commissioners voted unanimously for a new construction plan that would preserve the historic building for a future unspecified use.
The School Board also has voted to put Edneyville Elementary School ahead of the HHS construction, a ranking that the Board of Commissioners also rejected.
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Hendersonville Four Seasons Politics
Michael Edney, the chairman of the Henderson County Board of Commissioners, issued a statement Friday night that sought to assure the Edneyville community that commissioners plan to move ahead on an Edneyville Elementary School project immediately after the Hendersonville High School construction.
The unusual move by the board chair highlighted the stakes in Monday night's School Board meeting, when that board is expected to vote up or down on a $53 million Hendersonville High School project. A no vote, commissioners said Monday night, means that the county will shelve the HHS project for at least two years and possibly more than that. Commissioners did not commit on Monday to moving ahead with the Edneyville project if the School Board votes no on an all-new HHS project.
Edney addressed two of the biggest concerns of HHS alumni and others who favor a renovation plan over new construction: use the historic Stillwell building and parking.
The county's plan "includes the preservation and use of the historic Stillwell Building by the school system as the elected School Board sees fit," Edney said, "We have encouraged and committed to appropriate financial resources for the integration of Stillwell’s classrooms and auditorium with HHS to maintain the link between past, present and future. Onsite parking will be increased and staff is exploring ways to add yet additional parking opportunities both on and offsite."
Here is Edney's complete statement:
The Henderson County Board of Public Education will meet Monday evening. We anticipate that a part of their meeting will focus on the future of Hendersonville High School. Both the School Board and Board of Commissioners, as well as their staffs have worked together diligently over the past couple of years to be at the point where we are preparing to move forward to seek City of Hendersonville zoning approval and road closure.
During this process, much information and unfortunately, misinformation has been circulated in the community. It is of utmost importance that both the Board of Public Education membership and the community at large have accurate and truthful information. To that end, I wish to reiterate the following:
The current plan to build a new, state of the art Hendersonville High School, endorsed by each County Commissioner, five duly elected representatives from five unique backgrounds and perspectives, includes the preservation and use of the historic Stillwell Building by the school system as the elected School Board sees fit. We have encouraged and committed to appropriate financial resources for the integration of Stillwell’s classrooms and auditorium with HHS to maintain the link between past, present and future. Onsite parking will be increased and staff is exploring ways to add yet additional parking opportunities both on and offsite.
There are those in the community who have attempted to derail the Hendersonville High School project by inappropriately linking it with the Edneyville Elementary School project. The only relationship these two separate projects have are that they are both of the highest priority for both the School Board and the Board of Commissioners.
While we continue to address final details related to the high school, Commissioners absolutely have Edneyville Elementary in our sights. Last month we officially directed our architects to begin work on Edneyville as soon as their resources are available to do so. School and County staff are working as we speak, behind the scenes, collecting the necessary information for the architects and other professionals to hit the ground running.
Should the School Board and subsequently the City, sign off on the high school project, we expect to break ground in about a year with students occupying the facility in August of 2020. Given this schedule, it is my desire that the actual design of the new Edneyville Elementary School begin once HHS construction is underway and that the elementary school can be ready to receive students as early as August of 2021. Given the substantial strength of the County’s finances under the management of staff and the leadership of the Board of Commissioners, this scenario is doable.
With this said, let me be clear, the past few years have seen great accomplishments in Henderson County, primarily because we have united together as a community with a common purpose – to make our county the best it can be – and these future plans are dependent upon the same. We can, and must, work together with a common purpose. In this instance to provide our young people with the best possible educational opportunities available. The plan we have outlined does just this and I believe deserves your support. Thank you, and may you and your loved ones have a blessed holiday season.” Read Story »
Hendersonville Four Seasons Politics
Henderson County commissioners delivered an ultimatum to the School Board on Monday night to cast a yes-or-no vote on the all-new Hendersonville High School plan next week. If the School Board votes no, commissioners said in a motion that passed unanimously, the county will shelve the HHS plan.
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Henderson County Four Seasons Politics
Thanks to aggressive expense control, Henderson County ended the 2015-16 fiscal year with a gain of $2.8 million.
News that the county has been fiscally cautious has in the past inspired hosannas by board members. That was not the case Monday night in the context of efforts by two commissioners to cut taxes.
Commissioner Bill Lapsley, along with Grady Hawkins, lost in two efforts to tie support of a local option sales tax to a rollback of the property and both voted no on a 5-cent tax increase in the current year's budget.
While Lapsley praised the work of "an excellent management team" in controlling expenses, "the bottom line I would point out again is that this is probably the sixth year in a row this board has added to the county's fund balance, in this case $2.8 million," he said. "I have a concern that we are bringing in much more money than the county needs for its budget to expand. I think we should look seriously at this when we discuss what the tax rate should be for this county."
An audit by the Asheville firm of Martin-Starnes showed that revenue of $121.5 million fell short of the budgeted amount by $2.4 million. The county more than made up the shortfall with expense control. General fund expenditures of $118.6 million came in $5.24 million under the budgeted total of $123.9 million. That difference enabled the county to toss $2.8 million into its reserves. As a result, the unassigned fund balance grew to $27.7 million.
"If I'm reading this correctly, we have almost double the amount of fund balance than our 12 percent policy," Lapsley said. The state requires counties to set aside a fund balance of 8 percent of its general fund and the Board of Commmissioners have a policy of keeping 12 percent in reserves, which translates into $14.2 million. "We're carrying close to 24 percent, maybe 23 percent at this point," Lapsley said.
Wyatt confirmed that the county has been able to put leftover money into the fund balance five out of last six years either because of expense savings or revenues that beat projections or both. Read Story »
Henderson County Four Seasons Politics
Michael Edney, a Henderson County native in his fourth term as a Henderson County commissioner, was elected chair of the Board of Commissioners Monday night, taking over for Tommy Thompson.
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Henderson County Four Seasons Politics
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory conceded the election to Democratic challenger Roy Cooper on Monday, ending a contentious monthlong vote-counting process and ushering in a period of divided government in the state for the first time since the Republican sweep in 2012.
“I personally believe that the majority of our citizens have spoken, and we now should do everything we can to support the 75th governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper,” McCrory said in a video his campaign posted around noon after it became clear that a recount of votes in Durham County would not change the outcome. “The McCrory administration team will assist in every way to help the new administration make a smooth transition."
The Republican Governors Association applauded McCrory's service.
“North Carolina is a stronger state thanks to Governor Pat McCrory’s steadfast leadership and fiscal discipline,” RGA Chairman Governor Scott Walker said in a statement. “With over 300,000 jobs created on his watch, 9-year low unemployment, a $450 million budget surplus and $4.4 billion in tax relief, North Carolina is thriving. While we hoped for a different outcome from this very close race, ensuring all of the legal votes that were cast were counted was the right thing to do. As soon as that was done, Governor McCrory respected the will of the voters. The RGA is exceptionally appreciative of Governor McCrory for his strong leadership and enormous accomplishments as governor.”
The liberal Progress NC action was not as kind in its assessment.
“After wasting plenty of time and taxpayer dollars with frivolous complaints and bogus accusations, we are thankful that the McCrory campaign has finally acknowledged Governor-elect Cooper’s victory,” Gerrick Brenner, executive director of the organization, said in a statement. “Now it’s time to move forward and for the General Assembly to start repairing North Carolina’s reputation by repealing HB2, raising teacher pay to the national average and looking out for people instead of polluters. North Carolina voters supported these priorities when they elected Roy Cooper, and it’s time to move North Carolina forward instead of backwards.” Read Story »
Henderson County Four Seasons Politics
U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows on Wednesday confirmed what the Washington press corps had been reporting for several weeks. He is officially running to chair the House Freedom Caucus, a Tea Party-oriented group that has sought to steer the Republican leadership to a more conservative agenda.
“The coming year will be a critical period for the Freedom Caucus, and I am humbled at the opportunity to speak with our members and hopefully earn their support for chairman," Meadows, who won a third term in the Nov. 8 election, said in a news release. "From day one since our founding almost two years ago, the mission of the Freedom Caucus has been to give a voice to the countless Americans who feel that Washington does not represent them. Our members are committed to developing and advancing a policy driven agenda that supports accountable and limited government, Constitutional rule of law, and principles that foster the liberty, safety, and prosperity of Americans. I look forward to hopefully earning the support of my colleagues and to building on the great work of my good friend, Jim Jordan, as we continue working to return our government to its rightful owner: the American people.”
Reports from Washington since before the election have said that Meadows has strong support among his Freedom Caucus colleagues and that he appeared to have a clear path if he ran for the chair's seat. Read Story »
Henderson County Four Seasons Politics
Rain was the theme 20 months ago when officials gathered for the groundbreaking of the three-story health sciences building on the Pardee Hospital campus and it was the theme again Tuesday morning — for a while.
Rain fell for the first time in three months on Tuesday but as if on cue the sun came out just as the ceremonial ribbon-cutting finished up at 11:20 a.m.Hundreds of people gathered to celebrate the opening of the Health Sciences Center heard local officials praise the unprecedented five-party agreement that resulted in the building.“We want to welcome everyone to this beautiful facility in the city of Hendersonville,” said Mayor Barbara Volk. “That’s one of the things that we’re most pleased with is that it’s here in the city of Hendersonville.”When Wingate University began looking for bigger quarters, city officials scrambled to make sure the college didn’t leave the city. In the meantime, County Manager Steve Wyatt, then-Wingate president Jerry McGee, Pardee CEO Jay Kirby and BRCC president Molly Parkhill began working on an ambitious and unprecedented effort to cooperate on a major building that would serve them all.“It’s amazing when we pick up the paper today and see the divisiveness around the country and sometimes in our own community what can happen when you check your egos at the door,” said Pardee CEO Jay Kirby. “The fact that our county, the city, Wingate, Blue Ridge, Pardee all came together, put their egos at the door and did what was best for our community, for our patients and for our teachers and what you are standing in today is a reflection of that — nothing more, nothing less.”The Comprehensive Cancer Center, using Pardee oncologists and those from UNC Health Care, will “bring advanced healing close to home,” Kirby added. “We treat over 500 cancer patients each year. Eighty-five to 90 percent of all cancers on this earth can be treated in this building.”Wingate President Rhett Brown recalled a meeting early in the process when he visited Hendersonville and asked Wyatt, “Tell me again what we’re doing up here?”“And he said, ‘Walk with me.’ So we walked outside and we were standing in beautiful downtown Hendersonville and he put his arm around me and he said, ‘Imagine, if you will, that a young person born in Henderson County could not leave Henderson County and become a pharmacist, physician assistant or nurse anesthetist in our county.’ And it was at that point that I got the vision.”Brown thanked his predecessor, McGee, and Wyatt for their dedication to the project.“It was their shared vision and their sheer tenacity that brought us to this day,” he said. “Wingate University in Henderson County will eternally be grateful.” Read Story »
Hendersonville Four Seasons Politics
If the road to this point had not been so contentious, three other high school districts in Henderson County might well be grumbling about what the $53 million Taj Mahal Hendersonville High School is getting. The county rivals may yet look upon it with envy when the doors open to students in August of 2020.
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