Big Lies | Eastern North Carolina Now

By:  Hood Richardson

During the Tuesday January 7th Beaufort County School Board meeting the Board and the public were informed by the School Superintendent and the School Board Chairman that their negotiations with the City of Washington to acquire about 4 acres of land to be used in the new Eastern Elementary school building construction were over.  They made statements to the effect that it would be impossible to get the land from the City of Washington and the School Board should authorize the redesign of the project.  That is, moving the proposed buildings, tearing down the maintenance service buildings at the Pennsylvania entrance so they could be used for a storm water pond.  

Most of the above paragraph is not true, it is all a lie.

These redesign costs and the cost of replacing these buildings could be as much as seven or eight million dollars in this writer’s opinion.

My investigation reveals that the City of Washington has made intensive efforts to come to terms with the School Board.  The City has never said the school board could not get the land.

The City has tried to trade the 4 acres of land for Kugler Field or some land at the abandoned P. S. Jones School site.  The City of Washington would like to improve facilities at Kugler field to be used for sporting and public events.  The field was donated to the school system with the understanding that should it not be used by the system it would be returned to the Kugler heirs.  The City proposed to enter into an agreement with the school system and the county that would allow them to satisfy the Kugler heirs and obtain title to Kugler Field.  The proposed agreement continues, should the City fail to satisfy the Kugler Heirs, the City would accept land at the abandoned P. S. Jones school site.  The City has already developed part of the site with park and bathroom facilities.

The school system told the City that the County would never agree to this arrangement.  The Superintendent and the School Board Chairman represented to the City of Washington that they had consulted with (all of the) commissioners and the land trade would not be approved by the County Commissioners.  This is not true. The City invited County Commissioner Chairman Frankie Waters, Vice Chairman Jerry Langley and the Manager Brian Alligood to be present for some of the negotiating meetings.  The City was told that the Commissioners would not get involved in the land trade issue.  Another untrue statement.

Whomever advised the City that the commissioners would not get involved violated the law and lied to the City.  None of this land trade issue has ever been brought to the Beaufort County Board of County Commissioners. I have never heard of any of this until today.  No one has the authority to speak for the Beaufort County Board of County Commissioners unless and until issues are presented to the entire board and decided by the board.  This behavior is unethical at best and illegal at worst.

Frankie Waters went to Pitt County, made an agreement with T.  W. Allen and the School Superintendent to form a committee that Waters appointed himself to serve on to over-see the spending of the 52-million-dollar new school construction without the participation of any other (known) commissioners.  This cut of the Board of County Commissioners from their fiduciary responsibilities.   To this date the Board of County Commissioners has never seen the new school plans nor has any idea of how this money will improve education. There was a vote at the December meeting of County Commissioners to write checks when requested by the school board to pay for construction.  That vote was four to three.  All the money for school construction comes to the county.  That is so the County can make sure the money is properly spent.  Waters, with his illegal agreement, cut the County out of the process.

Those who voted to pay the bills (write checks) with no oversight were Frankie Waters, Jerry Langley, Randy Walker and Ed Booth.  Note that Ed Booth and Randy Walker’s wives are elected school board members. This relationship of interlocking offices is at best unethical and at worst corrupt.  I have repeatedly accused this gang of four, two RINOs and two Democrats of making many back-room decisions without consulting the entire sitting board.  This is what is going on now.  Dishonesty.

We have this disaster because only the Superintendent, with no oversight from anyone, is making decisions he is not qualified to make. What we are looking at is the spending of fifty-two million dollars without a valid review of existing facilities, student demographic projections, transportation costs/alternatives (including neighborhood elementary schools) and changing the grade structure in the Washington Attendance Area (K-5 or K-8) and making more efficient use of the newer facilities off Market Street.  Moreover, there has been no planning to accommodate the proposed Interstate connector from Greenville to Highway 17 nor the already approved Fred Smith development of a 91.32-acre tract of land located between Highland Drive and Market Street south of the Kingswood subdivision.  That one project, with a proposed 386 units, will have a tremendous long-term impact on the Washington Attendance Area.  But the major consideration should be ending the crosstown busing that is a holdover from the pre-merger Washington Attendance Area.

Read more at: https://www.thewashingtondailynews.com/2024/09/10/rezoning-request-for-386-unit-housing-development-unanimously-approved-by-city-council/

There is a meeting scheduled for Thursday January 9 to plan the school redesign so it can be authorized by the school board next week.  There are millions of dollars of waste on the line.  Citizens should call their school board members and County Commissioners and demand their honest behavior.

When any four commissioners bind themselves together with the cooperation of the county manager to subvert the wishes of the public, honest government is gone.  This kind of corruption gets worse and spreads to other public offices.

Footnote:  In our Judeo-Christian principled government, lying is never acceptable.  All elected officials should be held to a high standard of truth and honest dealings.