Each year our County Commissioners determine what positions they (that is, we as county citizens) will take with the North Carolina legislature. On January 23 the Commissioners will receive recommendations from County Staff.
While I have strongly disagreed with positions our Commissioners have taken in the past, I hope that they support some of these very reasonable approaches to improving life in Chatham County. Among them are:
- Remove rural broadband barriers: allow local governments to partner with broadband projects, increase state funding for rural broadband, and remove constraints that allow providers to pick and choose where they will serve customers.
- Reinstate the Jordan Lake Rules: quit screwing around with silly approaches (like the Solarbees) to improving the water quality in Jordan Lake, and enforce the agreements made several years ago to reduce upstream pollution.
- Chatham Park Special Assessment: the ability to propose a special tax assessment on Chatham Park infrastructure.
- Severing mineral rights: since fracking (my opinion: fracking is EVIL) is still a threat to the county, ensure that property owners have clear title to the mineral rights beneath their lands. This is more difficult than it seems since a lot of titles go back to the King’s land grants.
- Eliminate Economic Tiers: Chatham County economics is evaluated on a whole basis. Because northeast Chatham County tends to be wealthier than southeast Chatham County the average impairs economic development funds for the western part of the County.
Hopefully our Commissioners will look favorably on these recommendations.
