Ethics Training for all Elected Officials in N.C. HB#1452 Starts January 1, 2010 , Locally Ethics Training Needs To Happen ASAP

S.L. 2009-403


House Bill #1452 which was signed into law in late summer says the following

AN ACT to require all cities, counties, local boards of education, unified governments, Sanitary districts, and consolidated city‑counties to adopt a code of ethics for the governing board and to require the members of those governing boards to receive education on ethics laws applicable to local government officials.



As we have seen lately where local politicians are texting their "circle of friends" while sitting on the city council, or with the same "circle of friends" wanting to take a local mayor and chairman of county commission on a plane ride to D.C.

Plus, we have the same "circle of friends" illegally giving money to a local political action committee. It is time for all the local Guilford County elected officials to take some basic ethics classes required by the state under this bill.

Here is what is said in the law,

All members of governing boards of cities, counties, local boards of education, unified governments, sanitary districts, and consolidated city‑counties shall receive a minimum of two clock hours of ethics education within 12 months after initial election or appointment to the office and again within 12 months after each subsequent election or appointment to the office.



The ethics education shall cover laws and principles that govern conflicts of interest and ethical standards of conduct at the local government level.



The need to conduct the affairs of the governing board in an open and public manner, including complying with all applicable laws governing open meetings and public records.


This act by the state is a step in the right direction. It comes at a time where there is a lot of corruption on the state level and the local level needs to understand the ins and outs of ethics training. Just because you have been in office for a long time doesn't mean that you understand the process. Can anyone say Jim Black or Mike Easley without talking unethical acts by state politicians.

As stated in this bill,

this act becomes effective January 1, 2010. All members of governing boards covered by this act shall receive their initial training to comply with G.S. 160A‑84 within 12 months after that date.

Let's see how long it takes all the governing boards to comply with this law. Will they wait till December of 2010 to take the class or will they do it ASAP. Who might come out of this class and have a new meaning of ethics on a local level or will it be business as usual with our "PAY TO PLAY" attitude that permeates Guilford County politicians.

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Greensboro City Council Member Robbie Perkins Text Messages to Developer Roy Carroll During Council Meeting, Any Ethical Questions?

Perkins Texts



Above you will see the text messages from Greensboro City Council member Robbie Perkins to local developer Roy Carroll. During this last council meeting on December 15, 2009 it was discovered that Robbie Perkins was texting back and forth to Roy Carroll about a situation involving a court case which is totally a separate issue and a condemnation of Kotis properties to put in water and sewer to Roy Carroll's property off of horse pen creek road.

The first issue that needs to be addressed is should council members be text messaging during council meetings? The answer should be NO because the council members need to be concentrating on who is speaking to them and the case in front of them and not text messaging their friends or in Robbie Perkins case your TREBIC which stands for the Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition buddy.

The second issue is to see if Greensboro City Council member Robbie Perkins is also Roy Carroll's leasing agent for this property off of horse pen creek road? If Yes ,then the councilman needs to recuse himself from yet another case that comes in front of the City of Greensboro. Here is a post from the past where both Robbie Perkins and Roy Carroll are tied together CLICKHERE on the center city pointe in downtown Greensboro.

To understand the above text messages in the first text message it talks about a person by the name of winfree, that happens to be Kotis Properties lawyer in Chick Winfree. The third text says that is has been tabled till January 5, 2010.In the fourth text it states that "Al" has been giving me the play by play. Al is probably, Al Leonard who is Vice President Carroll Commercial Construction Company and Carrolland Company.And the last text seems like Robbie Perkins saying to Roy Carroll to go toe to toe with Kotis Properties. The "Terry" in the last text is Greensboro City Attorney Terry Wood.

A lot of this came out in front because we had a airplane incident over the summer where local developer Roy Carroll wanted to fly the Mayor of Greensboro and chairman of Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston to Washington D.C. , well some of us including this blog wanted to say that this was completely unethical for this to happen CLICKHERE for that post on July 10,2009 titled "Greensboro City Attorney Advised That Trip To D.C. Raises Ethical Concerns for Mayor of Greensboro and County Chairman. Then
on July 16, 2009 we have this post CLICKHERE titled "Roy Carroll's Company + City of Greensboro are Defendents in a Court Case As We Speak, Any Ethical Questions Now?. Now we fast forward to the end of year where the city now wants to condemn Kotis Properties for water and sewer to Roy Carroll's companies and we have a sitting Greensboro Council member text messaging the president of the company while the council meeting is going on. Amazing.

Hopefully the Mayor of Greensboro Bill Knight will make sure that all council members turn off their cell phones and not look down at their blackberry's of I phones during council meetings.

We also need to let the court case run it's course on this issue because it seems that the city attorney Terry Wood has sided with Roy Carroll on this issue and the reserve strip is acceptable but to Kotis Properties it is not but we see that Greensboro City Council Member Robbie Perkins has advised Roy Carroll that "Terry was forthright, you and marty should go toe to toe on Jan 5".

If you want to see the court case of Kotis VS. City of Greensboro & Horse Pen Creek Village CLICKHERE plenty of tidbits in that court case.

UPDATE: more post on this issue
Joe Guarino has more CLICKHERE part #2 and CLICKHERE part #1
Roch101 CLICKHERE
Questions for Greensboro CLICKHERE

Amanda Lehmert from the Greensboro News & Record has a update with a quote from Greensboro City Council member Robbie Perkins CLICKHERE

Northern Greensboro Neighborhood Livid Off of Battleground Avenue , Developers Need To Be Held Accountable

Disbursements made by City of Greensboro with the Usual Suspects

Looking at the City of Greensboro agenda for 12-15-2009 there are some disbursements that need to be shown and for all the citizens to know what your tax money goes to. Here is a partial list of disbursements made by city treasurer.

- Greensboro News & Record $15,716.62
- Action Greensboro from 10-12/09 $87,500
- Bryan Park Golf payment for the 4th installment, 3rd term per contract $31,250
- Downtown Greensboro Improvement Corp.-2nd quarter contribution for municipal service district services $120,000
- East Market Street Development Corp. 2nd quarter contribution $10,000
- Greensboro Sports Commision 2nd quarter contribution $18,750
- Sit-in Movement - 3rd year commitment funding for International Civil Rights Center and Mueum $250,000

Your tax money at work locally.

Triadwatch will be out of town till end of week. There is a lot on the plate this week in regards to the rezoning case between College Hill Historic district and Edwards Communities and also the first true Greensboro City Council meeting where we will see if the pettiness will show in some members of council who want to complain about a petty seating arrangement.

Thanks for making this blog a part of your reading and look forward to more post in future.

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Raleigh City Council $10,000 Shindig VS. Greensboro City Council $40 Punch and Cake

The Raleigh News and Observer has a article out on the new Raleigh City Council and their $10,000 reception following their swearing in ceremony, CLICKHERE . Let's compare that bill to the newly sworn in Greensboro City Council who had a table in the lobby with a cake and some neon green punch with a approximate value of the cake and punch of around $40.00, just a guess.

Here is the menu from the article
"On the menu: fresh fruit, imported and domestic cheese trays with crackers, antipasti, hibachi beef skewers and curried chicken kebabs, at $23 per person.

To wash it down, city taxpayers paid an additional $8 a person for a selection of chardonnay and merlot wines, beer, sodas and bottled water.

The total was $9,854.66 after factoring in a service fee, sales taxes and the city's discount."

This sure is a candidate for an award at the North Carolina Citizens against Government Waste.

But let's give credit where credit is due in the Greensboro City Council only having a table out in the hall with punch and cake with a taxpayer tab of not more than $40.00 compared to Raleigh in $10,000

UPDATE

Amanda Lehmert "Killian" has a update with a nice tip of the hat to triadwatch , hey Mark Binker you might need to take lessons from Amanda here is the post CLICKHERE

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William Warren's award winning published at getliberty.org CLICKHERE are a free service of ALG news bureau. They may be reused and redistributed free of charge.