| Posted: January 27 2007 at 10:50am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Town compiles 'wish list'
By Shawn Daley, Editor
Thursday, January 25, 2007 5:40 PM EST
As the North Carolina General Assembly convenes this
week to begin the 2007-08 session, Apex Mayor Keith Weatherly wants to make sure
his town’s needs aren’t forgotten.
Weatherly formulated a “wish list” for state
legislatures that town council approved Jan. 23 by a 4-1 vote.
Dominating
the list were changes for the Wake County Public School System, including a new
set up for electing school board members, eliminating the cap on charter
schools, and raising the cap on class sizes by one student.
“I felt all
of these were no-brainers,” said Weatherly.
In the past few years,
student reassignments and planned mandatory year-round conversions have hit the
town hard.
Weatherly said he believes it’s the responsibility
of elected officials to respond to the concerns of constituents. Issues with the
school system have been among the biggest concerns for many
residents.
Since town officials have minimal influence over the school
board Weatherly hopes to gain some leverage with the help of state
legislators.
“The issues with schools affect many residents in Apex,”
said Weatherly. “I wanted to make sure that when the legislature came back into
session (on Jan. 24) we would have some type of list to send them.
“We
also encourage other communities to do the same thing and get involved in the
process. There is strength in numbers and that is how you make
changes.”
The current school board election system is currently broken
into nine different districts. Residents are only allowed to vote for the
candidate in their respective district.
Changing the election to a
countywide process for all candidates, said Weatherly, would lead to more
accountability.
“It should be the same as the way Wake County
commissioners are elected,” said Weatherly. “Each has his own district but
everyone in the county can vote for them. Each taxpayer should have a vested
stake in the election. Now, they are relegated to voting for just one school
board member.”
Weatherly said he would even compromise by including two
at-large candidates similar to elections for the Raleigh and Cary town
councils.
“There is certainly more than one way to do it,” said
Weatherly. “But any change has to be for the better. We can’t put up with the
status quo for another (election) cycle.”
Apex officials also want the
cap on charter schools raised or eliminated. North Carolina allows 100 charter
schools and currently has 96 statewide.
The belief is that an increase in
charter schools would help ease the current overcrowding problem.
“There
is a demand for charter schools and Apex could stand to benefit directly from
them,” said Weatherly. “We could even try to bring a charter school to town.
There is no reason for an arbitrary cap on these schools.”
Increasing
class sizes by one student, said Weatherly, is another way to help ease
overcrowding in schools.
“It would alleviate the capacity problem for
next year and there would be no need for mandatory year-round schools or more
classroom trailers,” said Weatherly.
One non-school item on the list
deals with the on-going saga of the Outer Loop. Town officials are petitioning
to redirect Triangle Transit Authority funds originally earmarked for light rail
transit to the highway project.
“This might help keep it from becoming a
toll road,” Weatherly said. “We need to get other towns involved. There is
strength in numbers and we are trying to expand our base of
representation.”
Councilman Bill Sutton was the only dissenter in the
vote for the wish list.
Sutton was angry that Weatherly did not include
his wish list discussion on the written agenda and waited until the meeting
began to mention it.
“I certainly don’t think the mayor was trying to do
anything devious,” said Sutton. “But I just don’t want to do business that way.
We’re a public body that’s supposed to deliberate and I felt the way we did this
was off the cuff.
“When something isn’t on the agenda it doesn’t give the
public a chance to come here and discuss it. I also didn’t have time to do any
homework on these issues. So, really, it was just a protest vote. Otherwise, I
might have very well voted differently.”
Weatherly said not including the
item on the agenda was an honest mistake.
“I take total responsibility
for not putting it on the agenda,” said Weatherly. “I honestly didn’t think
about it until (the day of the meeting). I knew the legislators were coming into
session and I wanted to make sure they had something from us. That was my only
motivation for it.”
Edited by ApexNC.com on January 27 2007 at 10:51am
__________________
Mark Wilson
Editor
ApexNC.com!
|
Active Topics
Memberlist
Search
Help
Calendar
Register
Login
Forum Locked)
Topic: Town compiles ’wish list’
Outer Loop... "Town officials are petitioning to redirect Triangle Transit Authority funds originally earmarked for light rail transit to the highway project." Finally, an idea that REALLY serves the town's people. Now that is taking the bull by the horns! Bravo Weatherly.
