Minutes: November 12, 1999
Facilitators and Attendance
Facilitating the meeting was George Alwon of the Raleigh Consulting Group, Inc.
There were 18 members present. They are listed as follows:
| Name | Affiliation |
| Jim Talton | Chairman, Citizens Advisory Committee |
| Allen Jones | DJB Construction Group |
| Ann Rollins | PTA |
| Blount Williams | Alfred Williams |
| Bob Beasley | Mallinckrodt |
| Brooks Gulledge | Residential Contractor |
| Chuck Fuller | Citizens for a Sound Economy |
| Diana Bader | PTA |
| Forrest Ball | Real Estate |
| Joe Sansom | State Treasurers Office |
| John Dornan | Public School Forum |
| John Hood | John Locke Foundation |
| Larry Dickens | DOT |
| Nellie Tomlinson | Attorney, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice |
| Randy Jones | Rhone-Poulenc In-House Attorney |
| Renee Shaw | Banker |
| Susan Fonville | PTA |
| Terry Yeargan | Bovis Construction Corp. |
Those that were not present are as follows:
| Name | Affiliation | |
| Bynum Satterwhite | Wake Education Partnership | |
| Don Walston | Howard, Perry and Walston | |
| Dr. Edna Black | Education Management Consultant | |
| Ferris Chandler | Retired, Cooper Tool | |
| Ginger Graves | Teacher, Campbell College | |
| Joe Whitehouse | CMS | |
| John Boling | SAS Institute, Inc. | |
| John Boylan | Spectrum Properties | |
| John Linderman | Grubb & Ellis | |
| Joyce Fennell | Teacher | |
| Bob Williams | Retired, NCSU | |
| Ross Rhudy | Raleigh/ Wake Board of Realtors | |
| Tim McBrayer | Signature Publishing | |
| Truman Newberry | Architect |
Minutes
The minutes for the meeting of November 12, 1999 are as follows:
1. Review June 1999 Bond Issue Ð Brad Crone, Campaign Connections
Brad was involved in developing the strategy to present opposing views during the case study of the bond issue that failed in June 1999. He discussed his views on why he thought the bond referendum failed and gave some suggestions on future bonds. Some of his observations and recommendations included:
- Bond election was never a fight over schools; it was fight over taxes
- Not a growth issue as reported in N&O but actually a tax issue; our growth is not developer-driven; it is job driven.
- Do not use public money to buy research on next bond.
- Bring on a consultant because politics is not about reality, it is about perception. Bring them in early.
- 1996 bond was a good example of how to run a campaign; brought in opposing views early.
- Look at Johnston County as a role model.
- Citizens willing to support new schools, just not new taxes, (not $400/year, not $200/year). Figure out how much we can generate taxwise out of new growth money, and stay within that (no new taxes).
- May have a scaleback from $650 million to much less (i.e., $350 million).
- Plan very complicated and poorly explained.
- Even a $200 tax increase would have been problematic; anything over $100 would be problematic.
- Look at a three-year phase for spending bond.
- Suggest a November referendum
- Keep in mind that next year is a tax reevaluation year
- Endorsement of a new bond package by taxpayers' group, Citizens for a Sound Economy, etc., would have a significant impact on chances for success.
- Wake's "relative" low tax rate has no bearing on the fact that people do not want to pay more taxes.
- Homebuilders polled extensively on other sources of revenue. They will most definitely fight on a transfer or impact fee. Additional sales tax was a more palatable solution. N&O and lots of liberal Democrats will most surely oppose a sales tax. Global Strategies did the survey for the homebuilders. The Citizens Advisory Committee will receive a copy of the poll during the next meeting.
2. Work of Phase III A/B Building Program: Its Work, Findings, and Conclusions Ð Blount Williams,
Alfred Williams. Blount also discussed points about why he thought the bond referendum might have failed and gave some suggestions on future bonds. Listed are highlights of his group's findings of respending of the 1996 bond money:
- Coordination - Lack of coordination of county services; board should work on joint facilities with other agencies when possible, such as coordinating with parks and recreation so fields can be close by new schools.
- Transportation Burden - He said that "We were committed to our racial balance program". He supported the fact that the school board might have to pay more for an acre of land but would save on transportation to far away sites.
- Multi-prime Contracting - Multi-prime is less expensive upfront but has higher costs in the long run. It lacks accountability.
- User/Community Feedback - School system at times planned/designed schools without input from immediate neighborhoods, as well as potential users.
- Prototype School Designs (system now does that) - A very tight timeline might warrant it. We do not believe it is in the best interest to mandate it; the cost is still there to prepare the site to fit the prototype design.
- Fees - Getting good value and were paying fees in line in this area.
- School Facilities Planning Department - Found as a committee that they had a genuine openness. There was very good work being done; they were being overtaxed with work.
- Public Relations - Findings and conclusions were not made known to the community. No one else was going to trumpet the fine work being done.
- Put audit process in place to get useful feedback, facility groups, etc.
- School system needs to support and foster a public speaking forum where information is shared with the community. Any new school opening should have an event - promote the fine facilities our taxes have paid for to educate our children.
3. Review Cost Survey and Address Funding Limitation Ð John Dornan, Public School Forum.
John has been involved in studying survey research on why people voted "no" on bond referenda and tax levies elsewhere. Some reasons:
- Splits among public officials
- Mistrust of public officials
- Reasonableness of what they are asking for
- Organized opposition
The Public School Forum has looked at local spending patterns in school systems for the last 12 years. John shared highlights of the rankings of Wake County and North Carolina.
4. Bus Tour
Randy Jones encouraged the group to participate in the bus tours and to make it a priority. Only two members attended the first bus tour.