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Again, we don't know exactly what programs will be cut in the county, but cuts to The Guilford Center are certain.

We spoke with Glenna Harford, business manager for The Guilford Center, who said that she expects cuts between $1.8 million and $2.5 million as a result of the state budget, which Gov. Bev Perdue signed this afternoon.

But state mental health officials must first figure out what programs should be cut and will likely say how those should be cut.

"Hopefully, they’ve been planning for this," she said.

Waits for programs will likely grow for clients, Harford added.

"There may be waiting lists for services, there may be services that we will not be able to provide anymore," she said, "and both of those things are bad, because when someone is sick they may (have to wait) and get sicker and may end up being hospitalized."

The Guilford Center's budget is roughly $40 million, and the state cuts will take about five percent from the budget.

Surely there will be many impacts that the state budget will have on local government.

In the next few days, we hope to nail down what some of that means for folks on the day-to-day needs.

On Wednesday we spoke with Merle Green, the county's health director, and she told us that because of the economy her department is already feeling the strain of more people looking for work as they lose jobs.

"We took cuts in our case management programs and that is one of our major concerns," she said. "These are nurses and social workers who go into the homes of the elderly and the homes of teen moms and the homes of families where they have developmental disabilities."

But she couldn't give out much for details on that just yet. Overall, Green said she expects to know how state money impacts her department early next week.

As for other county departments?

Well, the ink is hardly dry on the budget, and Gov. Bev Perdue still must sign the danged thing. And for any other consequences in Guilford County, the people who would speak to that - County Manager Brenda Jones Fox and DSS financial director Myra Thompson - are on vacation for most of this week.

We will update as much as possible. In the meantime, here's a few pieces on cuts and spending we are pretty certain about.

The regular Tuesday City Council meeting was rescheduled to Monday night.

What: Greensboro City Council meeting.

When: 5:30 p.m. today.

Where: Melvin Municipal Office Building, 300 W. Washington St., Greensboro.

Watch it: Time Warner Channel 13 or www.greensboro-nc.gov/citygovernment/council.

How to speak: Sign up before the meeting. Speakers have up to three minutes for items not on the agenda. The speakers-from-the-floor section is limited to 30 minutes.

On the agenda:

• City Council will consider a neighborhood development plan for the Jonesboro/Scott Park area, adjacent to U.S. 29 and East Market Street.
• City Council will consider adopting new state guidelines for the retention and destruction of public documents.
• Police Chief Tim Bellamy will discuss proposed changes to the Complaint Review Committee, a citizen group that reviews complaints about police officers.
• Interim City Manage Bob Morgan will also explain what has been done to address issues raised in a city employee opinion survey.
   

Hey wonks! You're gonna love this:

The North Carolina City and County Management Association has a free textbook online for those interested in learning more about the guts of local government in the state and how it works. The text is super accessible and easy to absorb for a typical high school education level. The book is actually intended for high school sophomores.

The chapter on counties, for example, starts out with basic topics but then goes into detail over more complex ideas-

The county manager directs the general operations of county government. He or she has the authority to hire and fire personnel in departments directly under the authority of the board of commissioners, but not those who are responsible to an independently elected official (sheriff, register of deeds) or work for the state personnel system or an independent board (education, elections, health, social services).

The county manager prepares a budget for the county and manages the county’s expenditures. He or she also reports to the board of commissioners on county government operations and on public problems facing the county. Like the city manager, discussed in Chapter 2, the county manager is typically a professional who has studied public administration and belongs to the International City/County Management Association (www.icma.org).

What's interesting here is that a number of those laid off in the county were working for public health and social services when County Manager Brenda Jones Fox made the call on those cuts. Though it's likely that the cuts eventually went before the respective boards governing the departments, it would be interesting to see if and how those boards played a role in what jobs would be cut.

What we do know is that department directors had a sheet on which they could prioritize positions and people based on experience, cross-training and other factors. From there, the layoffs were determined.

What: Greensboro City Council meeting.

When: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Where: 300 W. Washington St., Greensboro. Parking is free in the Greene Street deck.

On TV: Time Warner cable channel 13 or online.

How to speak: Sign up before the meeting. Speakers on non-agenda items have three minutes each.

On the agenda: City Council will consider adopting guidelines that are designed to help shield future residential development from the noise of the urban loop. ... Council will accept $2.6 million in federal Neighborhood Stabilization Funds for a housing program that will buy homes for resale and help fund repairs for new buyers who want to purchase foreclosed homes. The activities are meant to help mitigate the impact of foreclosures in Greensboro. ... Council will be asked to adopt the Jonesboro/Scott Park Neighborhood Plan. ... The city staff will ask City Council to a 20 percent match, or $3,700, to a state grant that will help Greensboro expand recycling to multifamily housing complexes that do not currently have it. ... Council will consider a new agreement with Family Dollar that will allow Greensboro to start to build the new McGirt-Horton library branch.

Upcoming: Council will hold a special briefing at 5:30 p.m. Friday to receive a presentation on handling solid waste. The meeting will be held in the Plaza Level Conference Room of the Melvin Municipal Office Building. ... Council has called a special meeting for 12:30 p.m. July 28 in the Council Chambers of the Melvin building to discuss the city manager search.

—AMANDA LEHMERT

Wednesday was Mitchell Johnson’s last day working for the city of Greensboro.

He accumulated – with sick leave – 27 ½ years as a city employee. His final gig with the city was as a special assistant to the City Manager. But he, most notably, was City Manager from 2005 to March of this year.

When Scoop caught up with Johnson this week, he was getting ready for a life completely outside the public sphere.

He squashed a rumor floating around that he would go work for Guilford Metro 911. Johnson said he has no immediate plans to work for another city or county. He is, however, pursuing consulting work to help businesses improve their relationships with government entities.

He doesn’t seem to have any hard feelings about his dismissal – at least not any he was willing to share.

"When I walked into the manager's office," he said, "you are kind of walking through a door you can't walk out of."

And he plans to stay in Greensboro and enjoy what it has to offer, without the stress of being its top employee.
 

I’ve been keeping an eye on a bill at the General Assembly called H 1452: Local Government Code of Ethics. Greensboro Rep. Pricey Harrison is a primary co-sponsor.

The measure would require city councils, county commissioners, school boards and the like to adopt their own ethics policies. You can see one that the Guilford County Board of Education adopted here. And the Winston-Salem city council just adopted one.

Greensboro and Guilford County don’t have such codes.

The state law would require the code’s adopted by local boards to address at least five things:

(1) The need to obey all applicable laws regarding official actions taken as a
20 board member.

(2) The need to uphold the integrity and independence of the board member's
office.

(3) The need to avoid impropriety in the exercise of the board member's official duties.

(4) The need to faithfully perform the duties of the office.

(5) The need to conduct the affairs of the governing board in an open and public manner, including complying with all applicable laws governing open meetings and public records.

Harrison says this is a way to help the public have more confidence in local officials. She said many people had contacted her complaining about appearances of conflicts on local land use decisions.

But I’ve had local officials push back and say they don’t need the state telling them how to go about their business.

The measure, which has passed the House, was on today’s Senate calendar but it was delayed until next week.

Assuming it passed, what would you like to see in a local code of ethics? What steps could the city council of county commissioners take that would give you more confidence in their decisions? Would you like to see city council candidates talk about this? 

The comment lines are open.
 

Ryan Shell is already making plans for how he will spend his City Council salary if he gets elected this November.

He says $5,000 of it will be spent on five annual scholarships for young people in District 2. Shell filed paperwork to run in the district on Thursday. He will challenge Gordon Hester and Jim Kee for the seat.

Shell said he worked while he attended UNCG and knows first hand how difficult it is to pay for college.

“It was just way to give back directly to those kids,” he said.
 

Inside Scoop is now on Twitter, and you can follow us here.

Our updates from this blog will show up at Twitter.

Thanks to Guilford County Register of Deeds Jeff Thigpen for the suggestion.

GREENSBORO – You’ve heard of singing for your supper. But how about singing for bus passes?

That’s what T. Dianne Bellamy-Small did.

The councilwoman and trained mezzo soprano lent her voice to a concert in honor of black music month June 28.

The proceeds will go to purchase 900 bus passes for the city’s homeless day center – a cause Bellamy-Small championed. The center will open this fall.