
{"id":15208,"date":"2011-01-13T10:01:34","date_gmt":"2011-01-13T15:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=15208"},"modified":"2011-01-13T10:01:34","modified_gmt":"2011-01-13T15:01:34","slug":"chatham-cuts-county-positions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2011\/01\/13\/chatham-cuts-county-positions\/","title":{"rendered":"Chatham cuts county positions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Taylor Sisk<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Chatham County Board of Commissioners voted last week to eliminate four staff positions, discontinue the county\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s funding of Chapel Hill Transit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Pittsboro Express bus service and delay a consultant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s update of the county\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s land-use plan. <\/p>\n<p>According to figures released by County Manager Charlie Horne\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s office, the budget cuts will save the county approximately $2 million over the next four years and some $275,000 this fiscal year.<\/p>\n<p>The 3-2 vote fell upon party lines, with the newly elected Republican majority voting in favor of the cuts and the two Democratic incumbents casting the dissenting votes.<\/p>\n<p>The commissioners voted to eliminate the positions of director of the Office of Human Relations, held by Esther Coleman, and director of the Department of Sustainable Communities, held by Cynthia Van Der Wiele, and two vacant positions: a health educator addressing obesity and a resource conservation manager.<\/p>\n<p>At a tense and overfilled Jan. 3 commissioners\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 meeting, Chatham residents reminded the three new commissioners \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Chair Brian Bock, Walter Petty and Pamela Stewart \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that they had run on platforms of fiscal conservatism, while others spoke against eliminating the positions held by Van Der Wiele and, most particularly, Coleman. <\/p>\n<p>A petition has subsequently been circulated through the community urging the commissioners to reconsider their decision to eliminate the human relations position. <\/p>\n<p>Among the director\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s responsibilities were to assist in the investigation of discrimination claims and promote the employment of qualified individuals regardless of race, gender, religion, disability, age, sexual orientation or economic background.<\/p>\n<p>Primary responsibilities of the director of the Department of Sustainable Communities were to develop and implement a comprehensive community sustainability plan and to coordinate transportation initiatives, green building and affordable housing. <\/p>\n<p>Figures released by the county show that the human relations position was budgeted for $84,578 in salary and benefits and the sustainable communities for $122,757 in salary and benefits.<\/p>\n<p>Bock said that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153most of the commissioners feel that the current economic situation compels us to take a closer look at positions that are discretionary and not critical to providing key services.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Horne said on Tuesday he anticipates that the county\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s volunteer human relations commission will strive to fulfill the former director\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s responsibilities as much as possible. <\/p>\n<p>As for the responsibilities of the former sustainable communities director, he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We can absorb these duties in ways that will make the impacts minimal.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Horne doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect any of the four eliminated positions to be reinstated soon. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I see a recovery where we might be able to add more staff being four or five years off,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Pittsboro Mayor Randy Voller expressed his disappointment with the haste in which the new commissioners made the cuts. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They ran on a platform of being fiscally conservative, and they started implanting these things instantly, without prior discussion,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Voller has been a champion of the Pittsboro Express route, which connects Pittsboro and Chapel Hill and is subsidized by a federal grant. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Transit investments are very important,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re planting something for the future.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Limited public-transportation options, he said, narrow employment opportunities. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That in itself is detrimental to our local population.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Voller added that he hoped to work with the county commissioners to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153find accommodation for transportation options,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d exploring, for example, grant opportunities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Chatham County Board of Commissioners voted last week to eliminate four staff positions, discontinue the county\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s funding of Chapel Hill Transit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Pittsboro Express bus service and delay a consultant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s update of the county\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s land-use plan. 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