Cary, NC-  This Friday, October 14, our friends at Cary Magazine will honor 5 women for their outstanding service to our community at a luncheon at the Umstead Hotel. I asked Tara Croft of S & A Cherokee (who own Cary Magazine) to tell me about these annual honors.

Cary Magazine began The Women of Western Wake series in 2005 and held the first luncheon in 2008. The editor at the time realized that the area has a lot of powerful, influential women and decided to recognize them as a group once a year in The Women’s Issue. The luncheon was first organized to bring the honorees together and engage readers and other businesswomen with a live event to hear their perspectives in person. This year’s 5 women brings the total honorees to 33.

I asked Tara what made this year’s women stand out and she responded:

They’re steadfast in standing up for their causes, and they don’t bend. That’s not without controversy for some of them, but it’s a price they choose to pay to do what they believe is right.

This years honorees:

Dr. Kerry Chandler, director of breast imaging services at Wake Radiology: She worked her way through med school with a young child, and is now devoted to making sure as many women as possible get their yearly screening mammograms to save lives. She is incredibly driven toward that pursuit.

Phyllis Eller-Moffett, CEO of Quality Staffing Specialists: Originally wanted to settle into an industry with staying power, and chose staffing. After working for another company for years, she moved to North Carolina and started QSS from scratch. It’s now a notable company with hundreds of temporary worker placements every day, and she has won a laundry list of awards for her accomplishments.

Debra Goldman, Wake County Board of Education: She’s been a public servant before, as a volunteer firefighter for seven years. When she was in a car accident, she decided she wanted to help others. Now she resolves to help children get the opportunities they need to excel.

Monica Smiley, editor and publisher of Enterprising Women magazine: After working in publishing, Smiley decided she wanted to find the thing that really fed her soul, and established Enterprising Women magazine. Today she’s a thought leader in women’s entrepreneurship and has represented her magazine all around the world at international conferences of women entrepreneurs.

Bianca Strzalkowski, 2011 Military Spouse of the Year: She was named Marine Corps Spouse of the Year at the beginning of the year, then selected from all the branch honorees as the overall Military Spouse. She works to help military families feel at home in new places, support spouses in being independent and achieving their own goals while

Past Winners

There are women whose names everyone in Cary knows, like Sheila Ogle, Daphne Ashworth and Ann Goodnight. Some honorees have founded companies from the ground up, and others who are public servants. A full list of past winners  can be found here.

Nominations

Although Cary Magazine does get suggestions throughout the year for nominees, it’s not officially a nomination-based honor. The editors take note whenever they see a woman who is a president, CEO or founder of a company that’s making the news. They look for women who aren’t afraid to challenge others in positions of power but also those who succeed as wives, mothers, sisters and friends while managing, leading and inspiring others.

When selection time comes around each year, they consider the full picture of all the women they’ve been noting. They select the most inspirational, or those who have made the biggest waves in the past year and in their overall career history. It’s never an easy decision, simply because Western Wake has so many astounding females.

Youngest Woman Awarded

Bianca Strzalkowski from this year’s ladies may very well be  the youngest. She’s 31 and has already made a name for herself as a national figure representing military spouses and families around the world.

At last year’s Luncheon Cynthia Marshall shared a poem, Be the Best of Whatever You Are which sums up the qualities sought out in this award. http://www.great-inspirational-quotes.com/be-the-best-of-whatever-you-are.html

The award represents women who are the best. They might be the best in very different ways or at radically different things, but in some way, they are at the top.

Event info:

Friday October 14, Cary Magazine honors the  2011 Women of Western Wake Luncheon

The Umstead Hotel & Spa in Cary.

When:  11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Tickets for this event are $40 per person.

Purchase Tickets

This event, Sponsored by Crescent State Bank, and will feature a panel discussion with the 2011 honorees.

Story by Hal Goodtree. Maps adapted from Wake County GIS.

Cary, NC – Green Level, White Oak, St. Matthew’s and Marks Creek – they are all Wake County townships. Do you know where they are?

Municipalities vs. Townships

Here’s a hint: Wake County has 12 municipalities. Cary, Morrisville, Raleigh and Wake Forest are all municipalities.

Townships date from the 1800. They divide the entire county, underlying the municipalities.

Wake County has 20 Townships.

Wake County Townships

1. Barton’s Creek
2. Buckhorn
3. Cary
4. Cedar Fork
5. Holly Springs
6. House Creek
7. Leesville
8. Little River
9. Marks Creek
10. Meredith
11. Middle Creek
12. Neuse
13. New Light
14. Panther Branch
15. Raleigh
16. Saint Mary’s
17. Saint Matthew’s
18. Swift Creek
19. Wake Forest
20. White Oak

See a current map of Wake County municipalities and townships to get a clear picture of what towns lie in which townships.

Just for the record, St. Matthews is the township which contains Knightdale.

The History of Townships

Here’s where it gets really interesting.

Following the Civil War, Republicans (then known as the party of Lincoln) controlled the State legislature. A new State Constitution was adopted in 1868, authorizing, among other things, the creation of townships.

According to the NorthCarolinaRoom, the purpose of creating townships was to undermine the traditional power of landowners (Confederates). Townships had three officials – two justices of the peace on one clerk.

“These officials served two-year terms as the governing body for each township, regulating roads and bridges, as well as managing taxation and property assessment under the supervision of the county commissioner. Each township also had a school board (3 members) and at least one constable. This system resembles the townships of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Power shifted from the Republican Party to the newly-formed Conservative party (mostly former Confederates) around 1875. The constitution was amended to permit the North Carolina General Assembly to change the system created in 1868, and townships were stripped of their government system in 1877. Township titles were maintained as informal county subdivisions (sometimes for the census and infrastructure maintenance) but townships would no longer have any official government function.” - NorthCarolinaRoom

The Power of Townships

Today, townships have no power. Townships have no elected officials and no active government function.

But you can still find Townships on the current Wake County map. The reason is data collection. Unlike municipalities, which grow and change in size and shape, townships have remained fairly constant since the mid-1800′s.

Echoes of the Past

Townships may be long gone as a political institution, but their echo lives on in maps, roads, place names and schools.

Sometimes, it seems like our region has been ripped from the wilderness in a matter of just a few years. Au contraire.

Townships are another reminder of the rich history of Wake County and North Carolina.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Wake County Commissioner Erv Portman and Wake County GIS Director Charles Friddle for help in researching this article.

Cary, NC – In a Town of Cary email today about the snow, I noticed a link to the WakeGov YouTube channel. Who knew? I didn’t.

The first video was posted over a year ago on the spraying a neutering of pets. I looks like they release a new video about once a month. The current video is “Winter Safety Tips” and features Sheriff Donnie Harrison and Wake EMS District Chief Jeffery Hammerstein.

There’s plenty of good information and tips, the pace is quick and it’s well worth watching.

Story and photo by Lindsey Chester

Cary, NC – On Wednesday night, October 20, Bond Park Community Center in Cary was the site of a friendly debate about the future of our school system between those seeking office on the Wake County Commissioner’s Board.

The Forum, sponsored by Wake Community Schools Alliance, was moderated by Kim Genardo of NBC 17 and she asked some pointed questions. The candidates were told they had 2 minutes to respond and all were asked the same set of questions.

The questions:

Define the role of the commissioners vs the school board.

Everyone was very clear that the Commissioners’ role is that of “banker” for the Wake County School system. The Commissioners are in charge of the taxes collected and the school board must come to them to fund their budget. Don Mial was quick to point out that the county only funds 1/4 of the total funds needed to run the school system and that the other 3/4 comes from the state and federal governments.

Paul Coble stated, ” that the Commissioners must make sure that that money is being spent appropriately, as it was approved, and not spent somewhere else”.

Joe Bryan mentioned that the commissioners should ” be in charge of building schools and fund them and that they (the commissioners) pay for it, therefore they should be in charge”.

Who is responsible for school construction and maintenance?

All agreed that the School Board should be focused on student achievement, and that the commissioners should fund building.

Gurley asserted that the school board must spend their maintenance money as its allocated and not be diverted elsewhere or deferred.

Here Paul Coble made this point: that the Commissioners build the schools and have always held these buildings as liabilities in their balance sheets. He would like to see the county own the buildings as assets. This would keep the current Triple A bond rating and continue to make lending to the county less expensive and easier. Don Mial added that the commissioners can approve the construction, but let the board decide school location.

Impending need to pass another bond for school construction funding

The current $1 billion estimate (33 schools through 2020) was calculated assuming that new schools would be Mandatory Year Round (MYR) to calculate capacity. Would they support a bond that allows them to avoid MYR?

No one came out in favor of MYR. They all felt that parents needed choice in their calendars and that year round worked best when it was set up as a magnet school choice.

Coble spoke to the fact that the current year-round schools are not functioning at capacity, and therefore not fulfilling their claim of holding more students. He mentioned unfilled tracks at some schools.

Joe Bryan suggested that a 25 cent sales tax should be proposed to cover the costs of the next round of school construction.

Mial stated that the decision is up to the voters to tell the commissioners what they want. Matthews re-iterated that the Commissioners and School Board need to work together to come up with a plan. All agreed that the job would be to educate and convince the voters that their plan was worthy.

The elephant in the room

Gurley then mentioned that the $1 billion would cover the construction of the needed new schools for the predicted capacity, but most likely another $1 billion would be needed to renovate existing schools. That’s a number no one had heard mentioned before.

Support for impact fees

Bryan, Mial, Matthews, Gurley, Coble all clearly opposed adding Impact fees to new construction. Rao asked, “If we are not adequately funding where is the money going to come from? If taxes don’t go up…it backs us to the wall for the bond issue, and there will be a tax increase”.

Nichols insisted that Wake County is underfunding their schools. He pointed out that the distribution model used to fund schools from state tax dollars works in rural areas, yet our county is near the top in spending and that Wake County gives more in taxes to the state than we receive back. He didn’t agree with impact fees either, and thinks everyone needs to investigate different ways to adequately fund the school system.

At this point, time was running short and the respondents were kept to 1 minute responses.

Should the School Board become it’s own taxing authority?

Kim Genardo quickly mentioned that in the U.S., 15,000 school systems do have this authority.

Overwhelmingly- the candidates replied ‘no”.

Brown mentioned that this would have to be approved at the State Legislature level which would be difficult to accomplish.

Nichols echoed her sentiments. Mial was concerned that this creates yet another taxing authority, and in tough times people don’t want to be taxed more.

Gurley also added that it is the Commissioner’s job to look at the needs of the whole county and to decide where that tax money is spent. He mentioned the choice between hiring new teachers vs. new sheriff’s deputies as resting with the county commissioners.

In closing the candidates thanked the audience for coming out and asked for our votes on Nov 2.

Candidates for Wake County Commissioner – Complete Links

Unlike elections for The Wake County School Board, or State Senate or House, the Commissioners are elected “at Large”. This means that while they will each represent a district- everyone casts votes for all four districts that are up for election on Tuesday, Nov 2.

Here are links to each of the candidate websites. Learn more about them in their own words.

District 1:

• Don Mial
• Joe Bryan- incumbent

District 2:

• Lindy Brown- incumbent
• Phil Matthews

District 3:

• Tony Gurley- incumbent
• Steve Rao

District 7:

• Jack Nichols
• Paul Coble- incumbent

Midterm Turnout Poor

Mid-term elections have tepid voter turnout. Less than 31% in North Carolina, fourth lowest in the nation. Great visualization at The Pew Center.

Vote Tuesday Nov 2

County Commissioners hold a lot of power. Take a look at the websites linked above and go to the polls, even if it’s “only” a midterm election.

Demonstrate to the next set of County Commissioners that Cary is paying attention.

2010 General Election
Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Find Your Polling Place

Find your polling place instantly online at State Board of Elections. You can also find out via email at WakeGov.com.

Early Voting – Through Sat Oct 30

Herb Young Community Center
101 Wilkinson Ave
(919) 460-4965

Hours: Fri Oct 22 11 – 7 pm, Sat Oct 23 11:00 am – 5 pm, Sun Oct 24 1:00-5 pm, Mon- Fri Oct 25-29 11 am – 7 pm and Sat Oct 30 10 am – 1 pm

Facebook Event

Show your support for voting by visiting our 2010 General Election event on Facebook.

by Ed Clayton

Cary, N.C. – On Friday, January 29, I attended the Wake County Commissioners retreat, both to learn more about our County Government and to have an opportunity to observe our elected officials in an informal setting. Although the retreat was open to all, by my count I was one of two citizens present. Also present were the Commissioners and County staff.

The Retreat

The Wake County Commissioners spent the day Friday at the Walnut Creek Wetlands Center,  an educational facility located on 59 acres of undeveloped flood plain near downtown Raleigh. What had been planned as a day and a half retreat was compressed into one day as a result of the impending snow storm.

The Commissioners – Chair Tony Gurley, Joe Brian, Harold Webb, Betty Ward, Paul Coble, Lindy Brown, and Cary resident Stan Norwalk – spent most of the day digesting and discussing revenue and expense projections interjected with a presentation by David King of Triangle Transit. The retreat was a low key affair.

The day kicked off with the mandatory update on growth, demographics, and a dose of statistical information. A review of the Commissioner’s goals for 2009 set the stage for a later discussion of goals for 2010.

Budget

Commissioners face a significant challenge later this year when they adopt a budget for FY 2011. The present FY 2010 budget totals $965.2 million and included belt-tightening steps to balance expense and revenue. Staff’s preliminary pass at the FY 2011 budget shows an $8 million gap between expense and revenue, but looming outside this gap is another $9.77 million in needed expenses making the true gap more like $17.8 million. This rough cut at the numbers makes some assumptions regarding a schools budget that likely will not stick and thus the prospect of an even larger gap.

An Example, Libraries

One expense trimming possibility that has already made the news is the staff suggestion that the Garner branch library be closed. Commissioners are apparently already receiving emails from upset patrons of that branch. County staff shared extensive data regarding each branch library in order to make this suggestion, including: circulation, branch operating cost, patron usage (real time data on the number of people walking in the door), computer usage, number of library card holders living within a 10 minute drive of the library, and number of people living within a 10 minute drive of the library. Guess which branch library comes out on top of the evaluation? The downtown Cary branch!

A Transit Tax Vote in Our Future

A presentation by David King of Triangle Transit brought a focus on transit and the Commissioners role in the process of advancing transit in the region. House Bill 148, passed in the 2009 session of the General Assembly, provided enabling legislation that empowers the County Commissioners of Wake, Durham, and Orange counties to conduct a referendum on the enactment of a ½ cent incremental sales tax that will benefit transit. Triangle Transit and the Wake Commissioners are understandably reluctant to schedule a referendum before the economy turns up. King and the County Manager suggested that the Commissioners consider scheduling the referendum for Fall 2011.

The Commissioners will increasingly be on the “hot seat” as they move toward the creation of a budget for 2011 and face some difficult program cuts in order to balance the budget.

As Matthew Eisley wrote in the News & Observer yesterday, Wake County’s weekly early release on Wednesdays is giving a lot of parents heartburn.

Turns out it’s giving student-athletes heartburn, too.

As noted in the N&O, students who play sports have to hang around for an hour until the teachers finish their meetings. At Green Hope, athletes are herded into study halls which function, for all intents and purposes, as a form of detention.

No talking. No cell phones. No trips to the bathroom or for a drink of water. Forgot your sneakers and want to call your Mom? Forget it.

Everybody knows teenagers just want to fool around. But there has to be a better solution that quasi-lockup.

Will anyone quit their team because of the inept application of early-release? Probably not.

A better question: Is it fair to student-athletes? What have the the students done to deserve this virtual punishment? Joined a team?

And, finally, what exactly are teachers doing with this extra hour? According to one report from a high school student who wishes to remain anonymous, the teachers “just mope around, grade papers and complain about having to stay.”

Add this to the N&O’s complaint about the stress it puts on families with two parents who work outside the home and early-release Wednesdays may need an early retirement.

What’s your experience been with early release? Do you have a high school athlete in your family? Leave us a comment.