Retired Navy officer, Charlotte fire captain, Cornelius resident and consultant Rob Cannon kicked off Friday's day-long Cornelius Town Board planning session with an assessment of which commissioners favor which quadrants of their brain power when carrying out their duties, and how the mix of personalities and to how their minds work can be blended to maximum effect on behalf of the town. The assessment was derived by their responses to questions.
Typically, people lean toward two, maybe three parts of the four-part mind operation to form their thought process and their approach to issues. But one person in the room, Town Manager Anthony Roberts, was assessed as a "one in 1,000" exception who approaches issues using all four parts of the brain.
Following the 90-minute kickoff session at The Peninsula Club, Mayor Jeff Tarte, who initiated the day-long session during his first year as mayor four years ago, greeted the elected officials, town staff and assembled media, laying out the day's agenda.
After his introductory address, Tarte said, "I will turn the proceedings over to our whole-brained town manager."
At that, the one-half to three-quarter-brained group discussed myriad topics including an outline of the continuing Community Master Plan (CMP) process, the semi-annual police department budget debate between Commissioner Dave Gilroy and Police Chief Bence Hoyle, and the annual rating of the town's top 24 projects.
"If we can tackle those 10 things (at the top of the list) in the next year, that will be very impressive," commented Tarte.
Those 10 initiatives, in order, are I-77 widening, addressing the 911 call center, Exit 28 "bookends," Exit 28 Area Plan as affected by the "diverging diamond" interchange, lake patrol, response to the county property tax revaluation, arts vision, Smithville Center, and the establishment of a waterfront amenity. Widening I-77 ranked as the unanimous top priority.
"What's impressive about that is this isn't group-think," said Tarte. "These rankings were done individually."
Just as interesting, Tarte said, was one of the initiatives at the bottom of the list, which included 37 items in all. The Red Line Regional Rail Project was ranked 29th.
To see the entire list of 37 agenda items and how they are ranked by the Cornelius Town Board, see this story on www.lakenormancitizen.com.
Police debate
After Police Chief Hoyle briefly discussed progress his department made in closing a salary overlap within his ranks and salary gap by comparison to other law enforcement agencies in the region, he cited additional needs within the department, which include officer pay. Among those needs, he says, is a third officer in the narcotics unit to provide safety surveillance during undercover buys, and civilian specialists for crime scene work.
A complex crime scene, Hoyle said, can take eight hours to process, and the department currently has two qualified investigators whose time could be more effectively spent elsewhere.
That prompted Gilroy, as usual the lone voice on the town board aggressively challenging police department spending, to challenge Hoyle to find ways to slow the growth of the CPD, which Gilroy has consistently cited as far outpacing the growth of the town.
"If you deny a budget request, the growth will get slowed because I will make lemons into lemonade," Hoyle said. "Ten years ago we had 2.7 officers per 1,000 (residents), and we've gone down to 1.8 (per thousand). I have been aggressive in the past trying to get people hired, and you have been very supportive of that. But I believe we have underspent on people, and I think I can prove that. The way to slow growth is to quit doing things the Cornelius Way. We do things nobody else does."
That was a clear challenge to Gilroy and fellow commissioners that residents would notice a reduction in the police department, and may react accordingly,
"It's really about if we want to strip down to very basic fundamentals." Hoyle said. "We can do that, but it's going to have an impact on you. You can't keep doing more and more and more and keep us at below-average in staffing."
Gilroy dismissed out of hand Hoyle's assessment that a reduction in the pace of growth at the police department will have a noticeable affect on service levels.
"Police spending almost tripled in the last decade," said Gilroy. "You can't make the case that before your time it was a disaster from service level standpoint. We can't sustain that pace. That was far faster growth in spending than in population in this town. Once you build out a full-service police department, it should grow slower than the population growth."
The brief back-and-forth set the stage for the two-day budget retreat in March in Winston-Salem. Last year's debate between the two was fierce as the rest of the board looked on, and Hoyle threw down the gauntlet that will no doubt be picked up by Gilroy in six weeks.
"I spend 60 to 70 hours a week on the job and you're the one who sets the expectations and the objectives," Hoyle said, "and if that objective is to spend less money, then give me less money."
It doesn't take half a brain to figure that will be a hot topic in this year's budget process.
The List
In order, the ranking of 36 priorities in 2012 by the Cornelius Town Board of Commissioners:
1. I-77 Widening
2. 911 Call Center
3. Exit 28 Bookends
4. Exit 28 Area Plan
5. Lake Patrol
6. Revaluation Response
7. Arts Vision
8. Smithville Center
9. Water Front Amenity
10. CMP Priorities
11. Cornelius EDC
12. Sidewalks
13. Fire Tax Districts
14. Road Maintenance
15. Rural Preservation
16. Wayfinding Signage — complete rollout
17. Bike Paths
18. Diverging Diamond
19. West Catawba, Phase II
20. Magistrate
21. Meridian Revitalization
22. Swimming
23. Greenways
24. Open Storefronts
25. Bailey Road widening
26. Fire Trucks and Staffing
27. NIMS and Emergency Preparedness Management
28. Red Line Commuter Rail
29. Bus Service Expansion
30. Police Tax Districts
31. Robbins Park Phase II
32. Animal Shelter
33. Pet Licensing
34. Charmeck Consolidation
35. Citizen Communication Plan
36. Washam Potts Road widening
