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Adding context to the forum

On Wednesday we covered Action Greensboro's forum on local government leadership. Sounds like a snoozer, right?

Not really, if you have the back story to what was said. We'll try to add some context here.

Much of the conversation centered around Guilford County, the retirement of former county manager David McNeill that was sudden, and the following resignations of deputy manager Ben Brown and county attorney Sharron Kurtz.

Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones, along with Mike Smith, the dean of the UNC School of Government, and John Alexander, professor of leadership at Elon University Law School spoke at the forum.

The way in which our city and county government operates is designed to keep politics from running the system. Back in the day this was to ensure that all sections of town are treated fairly. These days it has the same fundamentals, but also applies to hiring employees fairly, planning and other things. As we've gotten more advanced in technology and plans, higher levels of expertise are needed for jobs such as planning, land use and economic development, to name a few.

Essentially, the council-manager form of government keeps politicians from playing favorites. But it can go haywire, and some have mentioned in county halls that when Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin "Skip" Alston and vice chairman Steve Arnold took power, they did so in order to put their hands directly on the day-to-day operations.

"And the people who are setting policy are getting into the administration of government," Alexander said, "and things may be less efficient and may be more political."

Shortly after Alston took power, he created committees to examine government operations, substance abuse, the budget, and hire a new manager and county attorney.

In that regard, they did put their hands on government in a greater way, with the promise of no property tax rate increase for 2009-10. That was delivered, as were numerous other cuts, and layoffs that affected some key employees and eliminated vacant positions.

Meanwhile, Arnold made a move that was uncharacteristic for a commissioner - sat in on county staff budget hearings. Typically, the county manager makes a budget with his or her staff and then delivers it to the commissioners for them to dissect and cut or add.

What's significant about those meetings is that they are closed-door. And though there's no quorum of elected officials present, if two or more commissioners are making decisions about public money then it begins to run into the grey area of North Carolina statute controlling open meetings.

Which the forum also addressed, on the question of transparency, and how Mecklenburg County does its business.

"We try to create that transparency by saying to our staff to make sure that they not give anything that gives any impression that you are tying to hide," Jones said, adding that he tells his staff to avoid the impression that "you are trying to hide the public’s business from the people."

When that works, we receive messages about county moves such as the hire of a new manager or plans to cut the budget. But we didn't even hear about the joint meeting called to reduce the bond sale, which saved county money, until 10 minutes before it happened.

When transparency doesn't seem to work, we have to ask for information about layoffs, departures of key county personnel and the way in which money is given out to community groups.

And let's be clear: this post is not a reporter's lament. It's about community perception of its government in distributing information on how its tax dollars are spent and high points from the forum.

"We as managers have an obligation that the media understand the policy that’s being proposed," Jones said. And that has happened, at times, between Guilford County and the N&R. Brenda Jones Fox, who is spotty about returning phone calls and messages, spent about an hour explaining the county budget to us one morning.

At other times, the communication is not so good. Only after a commissioner asked for it have we received information about the severance packages paid to laid off county employees. And then, the figure is a "to date" amount, not a total.

This is information, we feel, the county should be able to know.

On to other forum topics.

When filling jobs, professionals talk to one-another. In Guilford County, after a short search for applicants, the county promoted from within for its county manager. That is not uncommon practice in government, but Jones said he did field calls from people interested in the open manager's spot here.

"There are not many jobs that are open in North Carolina where I don’t get a phone call about that community," Jones said. "And I don’t criticize that community, but (Jones tells the potential applicant) there are questions that I have that you would like to have the headhunter answer."

When searching for a county attorney, local attorneys said that Guilford County would have trouble finding a staff member to put on board. Eventually the county hired a firm at a greater cost to the county, which is not uncommon for a county of this size.

There seemed to be an implication among the panelists that there's Guilford County has a reputation lately among its peers that's been tarnished.

But the meeting wasn't all about slamming the county, though Guilford County seemed to receive most of the pointed discussion. Alston was able to offer his thoughts, as well, and leaned on the successes of the Board of Commissioners.

"We’ve been able to cut out of the budget, $24 million," he said. "That’s leadership."

Then he spoke to the public.

"And call us. A lot of county officials are talked about, and not talked to. And if you talked to us, then you might understand the reasoning that (commissioners) do what they might do ... and I don't mind talking to anyone at all about what’s been happening over the last several months."

This is true. Alston is very responsive when called. For his corhort, Arnold, however, it's a different story. The number listed as his contact on the county's Web site - 887-8383 - is disconnected.

Then again, why should it be the responsibility of the public to contact their elected officials to find out what's going on? Why should the county's roughly 250,000 registered voters have to track down Alston themselves? Wouldn't that be a bit inefficient?