Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.
Two big holes blasted in the Gang of Four's jail plans
The December meeting of the Beaufort County Commissioners was a humdinger.
Once again,
nominal Republican Al Klemm deserted his party and sided with the minority of three Democrats (Langley, Booth and Belcher) to give the Democrats control of the chairmanship. Jerry Langley was re-elected on the same 4-3 vote as last year, with the board's three Republicans (Brinn, Deatherage and Richardson) voting for Richardson whilel Langley, Booth and Belcher voted for Langley. Klemm broke the tie, voting for Langley. Klemm was immediately rewarded by the Democrats by being re-elected Vice Chairman.
Here's the video of the "action":
But the real news of the night came during the Public Comments section of the agenda. Donna Lay raised serious questions about the legality of the method the Gang of Four is planning for paying for a new jail. According to County Manager Randell Woodruff the plan is to
borrow the money to build a new jail and sheriff's office without submitting the bonds to a vote of the people.
Lay pointed out that Article 5 Section 4 of the North Carolina Constitution provides: "The General Assembly shall have no power to authorize any county, city or town, special district, or other unit of local government to contract debts secured by a pledge of its faith and credit unless approved by a majority of the qualified voters of the unit who vote thereon, ..." She went on to say that she understood that current state law allows the issuance of debt without a vote but that the original intent was to use such financing for projects that would "pay for themselves," by generating revenue or the increase in the tax base paying off the debt. Translating the legal meaning of "a pledge of its faith and credit" means the taxing authority of the county as backing for the bonds. "There is no way that I have heard that you can build this jail without using tax money and if you use the taxing authority of the county the Constitution requires a vote of the people," she said. The Gang of Four (Langley, Booth, Belcher and Klemm) sat stone-faced and none responded to counter Mrs. Lay's contention.
Lay also pointed out to Al Klemm: "You, sir, ran for office as a Republican. You claim to be a Republican. A fundamental Republican principle is to support and defend our constitutional rights. So I want to ask you, Mr. Klemm: Why did you vote to deny the people the right to vote on this issue? Klemm did not respond. But in an email newsletter he sent out recently he said the reason he did not support letting the people vote on the issue was because "there is no way it would pass..." a vote of the people.
Here's her presentation:
The second bombshell was delivered by Beaufort Republican Party Chairman Keith Kidwell. He opened his comments by asking the Commissioners: "Have you ever heard of the National Institute of Corrections (NIC), a division of the U. S. Department of Justice?" He got no response. So he went on to review what the NIC says about building new jails. He noted that they outline the proper steps that should be taken in the planning process, noting that one of the crucial points NIC makes is that the community should participate in the planning process. He also advised the Gang of Four, who are moving ahead with hiring an architect, that NIC provided consulting services and suggested it would be wise to use that resource since they would be unbiased because they would not be making any money from what was recommended as is the case with the architects the Gang of Four has been using. He concluded his comments by saying:
You have not taken any of the steps indicated by the National Institute of Corrections which say these steps are vital to building a jail. No you have not done any of them, as a matter of fact one commissioner I meet with most recently, told me that all we were going to get was his "Best Guess" and if we build too big? "If we build it they will come". Well sirs my best guess is this is not the best way to decide what our needs are when spending as much as 30 million dollars of taxpayer's money, believe me gentlemen this is not "the field of dreams" and you are not Kevin
Costner.(referring to the actor in the movie Field of Dreams).
Here is the video of Mr. Kidwell's presentation:
Later in the meeting, Commissioner Stan Deatherage offered a motion that the design proposals for the jail that are currently being solicited be reviewed and scored by the entire Board. That motion was defeated—you guessed it—by a 4-3 vote with Klemm again siding with the Democrats against the three Republicans who voted for the motion.
