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.
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STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman bbowman@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Janice Burton Joy Crowe editor@upandcomingweekly.com STAFF WRITER Stephanie Crider stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Marybeth Leiby Marybeth@upandcomingweekly.com Julie Donahue Marketing Consultant OFFICE MANAGER Laurel Handforth officemanager@ upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alicia Miller art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Soni Martin, D.G. Mar tin, Pitt Dick ey, Margaret Dickson, Bob Cogswell, John Hood, Jhana Lewis, Erinn Crider, Karen Poppele, Heather Griffi ths, Beth Solzsmon-Carpenter –––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan Street P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: (910) 484-6200 FAX: (910) 484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a “Quality of Life” publication with local features, news and infor- mation on what’s happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Up & Coming Weekly is published weekly on Wednesdays. Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per per- son. Subscriptions can be purchased for $30 for six months or $60 for 12 months, delivered weekly by first class mail. ©2007 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. PUBLISHER’S PEN by BILL BOWMAN I think it is commendable that our county commissioners met last week to discuss the transfer of the Workforce Development program to Fayetteville Technical Community College. Their main concern was how was it going to impact the 14 or so county employees now employed by the program. FTCC employee salaries and benefi ts operate under state guidelines and in some ways (many ways) are not as good as those offered by Cumberland County. Again, I think it is wonderful that our commissioners and county management are trying to look after the best interest of these loyal and long-term employees so their compensation and benefi ts are not lost or diminished in the transfer. However, I do have two concerns: Why did county commissioners have to call a closed session? Who’s decision was this? After all, meetings where the discussions do not pertain to specific individuals or “personnel matters” should be opened to the public and the media. Kind of makes you wonder what they really discussed. After all, there is a reason for “open meeting” laws and conversations behind closed doors always raise suspicion. Second, and here is a suspicion, what is the existing condition of the Workforce Development program since its director Geneva Mixon was cited for mismanagement of the department and demoted? Who is supervising it now? At the time, Mixon’s boss was Assistant Deputy County Manager Juanita Pilgrim, who retired in January and was lauded with commendations. Hmmmmm? The program that came under such scrutiny by the state and was cited for outrageous use of funds and non-performance was under her watch and supervision? Now, it is rumored that despite the state of turmoil the department is in and Mixon’s demotion, Pilgrim was hired Fayetteville’s Weather Forecast Thursday May 26 Friday May 27 Saturday May 28 Fayetteville’s Weather Forecast back to serve as a “consultant.” Go fi gure! This is even more reason to commend the commissioners for trying to look after the actual people that tried to do their jobs honestly and responsibly. Well, I doubt that the State of North Carolina is going to change their salary and benefi t packages to suit us. So, my recommendation to the commissioners is to give them a choice as to whether or not they want to work for Workforce Development any longer and transfer to FTCC. For those who choose not to make the transition, the county should be able to find positions for them somewhere in our county system. After all, these individuals are trained and skilled and have proven themselves to be good employees. They are also familiar with the operations of the county and our community. Besides, it will allow the quite capable FTCC personnel to get a fresh start on building a Workforce Development program that can actually benefit our residents, local business and industry. No one wants to see Cumberland County employees lose benefi ts for which they have worked long and hard. It should be no problem fi nding 14 positions for these people should they choose not to transfer. In the meantime, lets get this done. Time is wasting. FTCC has a great track record in implementing programs of this nature and with a nine percent unemployment rate here in Cumberland County we need to get people back to work. Thanks for reading Up & Coming Weekly. P.S. Free Ben the Bear. BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, Up & Coming Weekly, COMMENTS? 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