Whether it appears so or not, there is a lot going on in city government. For most of the past weeks and the weeks to come, City Council and I are meeting on what seems to be (at least according to my wife) an almost nightly basis. The double whammy of having to craft a 30 million dollar budget by July 1 while also trying to find Laurinburg’s next city manager among 60 applicants has led to much ‘quality time’ that Council and myself are getting to spend together. Now whether or not we succeed in delivering to the citizens a budget and a manger that will lead to brighter horizons for our beloved city is still far from clear.

But what is clear is that all the time spent together is leading to a more productive ‘meeting of the minds’( or, for those of you cynics out there, perhaps ‘meeting of the mindless’ would be more appropriate). What I mean is that the necessity of council and myself spending a lot of time together developing the budget and interviewing prospective managers has allowed for a degree of unity and understanding amongst ourselves that, I believe, will allow us to achieve some things in the future. Government by committee has its plusses and minuses, the big minus being the difficulty in coming to a consensus on issues when members see things very differently. However, it seems the more time we spend together, the more we are finding similarities in our vision in what is good for Laurinburg and I think that will lead to more effective leadership.

Over the next two weeks we will be having our city manger finalists back for a second and more extensive interview. Hopefully, after that, a final selection will be made. We are excited about the remaining candidates and hope the one selected will accept the offer and be ready to dive in soon.

The budgetary process is not proceeding as smoothly. The city’s revenues are not increasing and the cost of doing business is always increasing (rise in employee’s health insurance, liability insurance, electric etc.). Therefore, council is demanding a lean budget and that any fat be trimmed. However, council also realizes that ‘crash diets’ are not healthy either. That if you want to reduce successfully, it must be done gradually and as painlessly as possible. What I mean by this is that council has no appetite to lay any one off in order to reduce spending. Instead, employees are being asked to give up benefits, such as travel, education, and even benefits such as dental and employer 401k contribution are being considered for cuts. Any type of cost of living pay increase is seemingly out of the question, these times just don’t allow it. Council also understands the need to devote money to capital projects and growth oriented initiatives such as downtown revitalization, economic development, beautification, and possibly recreation. Lastly, council understands the need to keep taxes low and I would be surprised if the budget contains any tax increase and I would not be surprised if there is a tax decrease in our already low city tax rate.

On a different note, I don’t know if anyone noticed that Laurinburg made the national sports news media this past weekend. Unfortunately, it was not for positive news. The Laurinburg Institute was mentioned in a story about a former basketball player for the Institute who was caught having someone else take his SAT’s for him. While it was nice to see Laurinburg’s name appear in the national media, it was embarrassing that the article mentioned that the Laurinburg Institute has recently lost its standing by the NCAA as an accredited institution of higher learning and therefore any courses taken there will no longer be recognized by the NCAA as being valid. Of course this means that no future college player would want to enroll there. This comes on the heels of the Institute losing its accreditation as a charter school several years ago, again because the education provided there did not meet the standards required, on that occasion the unmet standards were of the state of North Carolina. I mention this because, as a former supporter of the Institute, both monetarily and spiritually, I think, as mayor and as a Laurinburg citizen, that it is a downright shame that the Institute has deteriorated to the state it is currently in. I so wish that the proud alumni of the Institute could and would get involved and demand the changes necessary to restore their school to its proper place. I believe, based on the many alumni I have known, and from the memory of perhaps one of its greatest alumni, the late Anzell Harrell, that there is the desire and the resources within the Institute’s alumni to save the Institute. I, as mayor, extend to any interested alumni any help my office can provide. It is now or never for this important piece of Laurinburg’s heritage.