All seven county commissioners on education panel
By Matt Shaw
Published in News on January 7, 2005 2:08 PM
J.D. Evans, chairman of the Wayne County commissioners, has taken an unusual step that is intended to keep the entire board focused on education this year.
Evans appointed all the commissioners, rather than the typical three, to the county's education committee for 2005. Efton Sager will remain the committee's chairman.
All board members need to stay actively involved in discussions about public schools, especially this year, said Evans, a retired educator. The two boards have begun talks about ways to have better racial balance in the central Goldsboro schools. They will also be planning a multi-million-dollar school building program.
The commissioners were also appointed as a group as the finance committee.
Evans also made these appointments:
*Appointments committee: Chairman Wilbur "Andy" Anderson, John M. Bell and Atlas Price Jr.
*Buildings and grounds committee: Chairman Evans, Anderson and C. Munroe "Jack" Best Jr.
*Solid waste committee: Chairman Roland "Bud" Gray, Bell and Sager.
*Intergovernmental committee: Chairman Price, Best and Sager.
The commissioners will also have these representatives or liaisons on other boards:
*Anderson, Wayne County Economic Development Commis-sion, Wayne County Board of Social Services, and Goldsboro-Wayne Airport Authority.
*Bell, Wayne County Council on Aging, Wayne County Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, and Wayne County Criminal Justice Partnership Advisory Committee.
*Best, Wayne County Economic Development Commission and Wayne Health Corp. Board of Trustees.
*Evans, Wayne County Public Library Board of Trustees, WAGES, and Eastern Carolina Job Training Consortium.
*Gray, Wayne County fire commissioner, Wayne County Historical Society and Wayne County Animal Control Advisory Board.
*Price, Wayne County Emergency Services and chairman of the Wayne County Transportation Committee.
*Sager, Wayne County Board of Health, Wayne County Board of Elections and Eastern Carolina Council of Governments.
Those appointments are in effect through next December.
Rezoning granted
The commissioners voted 6-1 Tuesday to rezone Denize Odeh's property at the intersection of Collier Street and U.S. 117 North.
Anderson was the sole holdout. He has been concerned that the land may have some soil contamination from a gas station previously on the site, which could interfere with its development.
Because the vote was not unanimous, the commissioners will need to repeat the vote at their Jan. 18 meeting.
Should the rezoning be done, Ms. Odeh plans to open a convenience store with fuel pumps.
Other business
The county will renew its property and liability insurance with Crawford-Henderson Inc. for the 2005-06 budget year.
The company's quote of $446,670 is around 3 percent higher than last year, but the county has added vehicles, replaced equipment at the landfill and increased the value of the Borden Building in the last year.
This will be the final year of a three-year contract, County Attorney Borden Parker noted.
The county has a separate policy for its emergency medical services. The commissioners expect to discuss that contract in February.
Also Tuesday, the commissioners asked the N.C. Department of Transportation to take over maintenance of West Raintree Lane.