Date: Sun, 1 May 2011 09:37:36 -0700 (PDT)
From: Linda Bienvenue
Subject: Chatham County Board of Commissioners meetings
Bravo Ms. Fass to your commitment to attend the BOC meetings. You are to be commended for for your dedication to being informed. I also attended the last BOC meeting, and I feel obligated to inform you that there is a procedure to these meetings.
If you wish to speak on a topic, you must sign up to do so prior to the meeting taking place. Shouting from your seat in the audience at the Commissioners is not the proper way to conduct one’s self at these meetings. Also, you need to realize that it is not a “back and forth” conversation that will be taking place. You stand at the podium when called, and state your views, opinions, complaints or whatever you feel you need to postulate, and that is that. The Commissioners take their constituents views into consideration. They also appreciate your emails.
I am not quite understanding your attack on Mr. Bock, though. The decisions being made by the BOC are made by all five (5) of the Commissioners. Mr. Bock is the chairman of the Commissioners, but cannot make the decisions arbitrarily. Any decision that is made is voted on.
What you also need to know is that many items are brought before the board in the afternoon during what is called a BOC “work session.” This is exactly what it sounds like. It is open to the public, and there is also a public input portion where you can sign up to speak there. There is absolutely nothing that is going on “behind our backs” as you mentioned in your post. This has finally been an open board, who has listened to the citizens of Chatham County, and are doing what is best for our county. We are all responsible as individuals to be (or not be) informed. We do not need to be spoon-fed information, nor have our hands held at every turn.
From what I gathered from your “input” at the last meeting, you are concerned about what might happen to your rural property by the evil “Cary” and “Wake County.” One of the things you might want to look into are the annexation laws in North Carolina.
Yes, they are set by the state, not the county. So, you will have to go further up the food chain if you would like any changes there. You also mentioned what you felt all of your neighbors wanted as well. Whether or not you can speak for all of your neighbors, I don’t know, but I am sure that you do go to a grocery store to purchase your food, and a clothing store to get your clothing, and a gas station to buy your gas. These are products of development.
Can you do that in Chatham County? We can’t all be NIMBY’s. (Not in My Back Yard) Just as I was not thrilled to have a gas station put into my development, I realized that there are other people living in the same development that were pleased it was put there to give them a choice in where to purchase their gasoline, as well as the convenience of it. We are living in the 21st Century, and responsible development is what we need.
I invite you to continue to attend as many meetings as you can, and perhaps even prior to those meetings, go online and check out what the agenda will be. Everything is open for your perusal online at www.chathamnc.org
See you Monday!
Linda Bienvenue
Pittsboro