Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/18075
ELECTION Guide 2010 CUMBERLAND COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS The following questions were asked of the candidates for the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners. (1) What can the county do to bring higher paying jobs to the county and quit being so reliant on the service industry? (2) Everyone is tightening their belts. What are at least two areas in the county budget that you think can be cut and why? (3) The schools are going to continue to grow. States across the U.S. are cutting teaching positions. Would you ever see this as an option to meeting the county’s budget? (4) The county government is often asked to make economic concessions to create or draw new busi- nesses. What safeguards do you think should be in place to ensure that county residents are not taken for a ride? Commissioner At Large Charles Evans Charles Evans chose not to participate in this forum. Ed Melvin (1) Work closer with N.C. Department of Commerce to insure we know companies and industry that are looking for locations in North Carolina. With our new incentive policy established in the last few months, county and city will lure more industry to Cumberland County (2) I would look first at services that are not mandated by Federal and State government. • As a vacancy occurs, do not fill the position • Reduce or eliminate travel and unnecessary training • Reduce amount set aside for county maintenance (such as 10=year roof plan) • Use our county resources to carry out minor repairs and renovations instead of contracting out the jobs (3) Cutting teacher positions would be my last resort. I would have to be satisfied that all cost-cut- ting measures have been exhausted (4) New incentive policy that is detailed. New policy is on a points basis: • Contractual agreement • Citizens informed and input • Contract outlines the expectations that go along with incentives • County staff to monitor criteria under the contract on annual basis Linda Devore (1) It is a process to build a community that attracts and retains good jobs. One of the chief complaints potential employers cite about the Fayetteville market is that we do not offer an employable work force — trained, educated, and ready to work. The federal jobs in our area attract thousands of our best trained and educated into government work, and that leaves a disproportionate number of those with less training and education available to other employers. In order for our community to attract additional good paying jobs beyond the service sector we must look at attracting and keeping the people we need to fill those jobs. Many young people leave our community for college, but fail to return. Retaining good people requires having a safe, clean, and attractive community to live and raise a family. The very things we need to do for those of us who have cho- sen to make our home in this community will help us attract the employers we need. The number one deal-breaker in competing with other communities is our high crime rate. Cumberland County has the second highest crime rate in the state, and our county leaders have been slow to respond with the money necessary to expand jail capacity to address the problem. Jail expansion should be the #1 priority on the county’s capital improvement plan, instead of the $15M office renovation project that the commissioners recently appropriated $4M in cash to 20 UCW OCTOBER 20-26, 2010 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM