Candidates for mayor, alderman, to square off on issues

On Tuesday, Oct. 20, the Wrightsville Beach Merchants Association will host a public candidates’ forum moderated by University of North Carolina Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo.
Seven contenders have been invited to square off on the issues. Of these, two mayoral candidates, represented by incumbent Mayor Stephen Whalen and Alderman David Cignotti, will position themselves for the town’s highest office in the first contested mayor’s race since 2005.
Two seats will also open for a four-year term on the Wrightsville Beach Board of Aldermen. Five candidates have filed for those positions: Susan Howell Collins, Walt De Vries, incumbent Ed Miastkowski, Bill Sisson and Jim Smith.
Lumina News invited each of the alderman candidates to supply answers to the following five questions. The first four responses have been reprinted in alphabetical order with the candidates’ permission in alphabetical order:

Susan Howell Collins, 59, lifelong resident of Wrightsville Beach
Schooling: University of North Carolina Wilmington
Offices served: Vice-chairman of the Wrightsville Beach Planning Board currently serving second 2-year term
Profession: Licensed paralegal; administrator of Collins & Collins Law Firm, PLLC.

Walter De Vries, 79, 37-year resident of Wrightsville Beach
Schooling: M.A. and Ph.D. in social psychology and political science from Michigan State University, Harvard University post-graduate fellow.
Offices served: Executive assistant to Governor George Romney; elected Republican delegate to the Michigan Constitutional Convention; former special assistant to the chancellor at UNCW.
Profession: Army veteran, political author, former professor, president of De Vries & Associates, Inc., (a campaign consulting firm) and former director of the N.C. Institute of Political Leadership.

Bill Sisson, 61, 11-year Wrightsville Beach resident
Schooling: B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University; M.A in Latin American studies and M.A. in urban planning from UCLA; Doctorate of Chiropractic from Palmer College of Chiropractic-West.
Offices served: New Hanover County Commissioner 1992-1996; New Hanover County Planning Board; Wrightsville Beach Planning Board.
Profession: chiropractic physician

Jim Smith, 52, 5-year resident of Wrightsville Beach
Schooling: B.S. Engineering and Architectural from Perdue University.
Offices served: Wrightsville Beach Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, Charlotte Smart Growth Committee and Urban Land Institute
Profession: Real Estate Development

Question No. 1
Many people we have spoken with recently would like to see a unified approach to local government that respects its residents and property owners; its visiting public; and its employees.
a. If elected, how are you going to build a coalition to achieve common goals?
b. Describe your management style.

Collins: The board’s responsibility is to determine and prioritize the needs of the community. Regard and respect of board members and their opinions is necessary. Open communications using residents’ input should be practiced by aldermen. My style, serving on the WB planning board four years, is building consensus to make united decisions. Hours are spent reading legal documents that pertain to permitting, zoning and ordinances. Understanding and editing legal documents is a daily skill in my present position. My diligence in managing time is an asset to the council, as well as streamlining time spent in discussions at meetings.

DeVries: This is an election about the next four years. Just look at the candidate's answers to these questions and you will see who has the most specific and thoughtful answers. Support those candidates you know can work together and are positive.

I know how to bring government officials and staffs together and did so for 14 years. When I was the executive assistant to Michigan Governor George Romney, my job was to coordinate the state cabinet and make the 130 state agencies, boards and commissions work together in our administration. I listened, examined options and then recommended decisive actions to the Governor; and I was placed in charge of reorganizing … the 130 agencies into 20 principal departments. Government reorganization, like management, is not easy but it can be done. I like to break issues down like this: State the problem, then outline your philosophy about handling it (i.e., solve by government, private organizations or enterprise action) and, finally, outline your program to handle the problem. One more comment: we have a town manager who should administer our town--not the board of alderman who need to make policy.

Sisson: First I assume we are all there to serve the community. I have ideas of my own but I tend to seek out points of agreement with my colleagues and build solutions based on those points. I learned when I was a county commissioner that you can get an awful lot done by working with people rather than against them.

My management style is to include those around me in decisions, to respect their opinions and the information they provide, and then make my decisions having considered this along with other information I have. I guess you could call this team building.

Smith: Communication and teamwork is key. We are all working on a common goal—providing the best services at a reasonable cost while preserving and enhancing our quality of life (upholding the Community Vision Statement). We will have differences of opinion in how to achieve this best. We need to create among the newly formed board a creed by which to govern in which we agree when we disagree to conduct ourselves in a professional, non-personal manner. If something is bothering us about a fellow alderman then darn it—discuss it. It’s kindergarten 101—respect, play nice, work hard, like what you are doing, have fun. What’s wrong with a good debate?

I have one boss, and that is the residents. I have one report, and that is the town manager. I manage from the bottom up—that is I seek out their needs and wants and balance that with budget constraints while continuing to provide for core needs. I seek out advice from those smarter than me to make educated decisions. Teamwork is key while providing the town manager and staff the support they need to do their job to the best of their ability. Manage by wandering around. Meet, discuss, gather ideas and concerns.


Question No. 2
The town’s fiscal year budget for 2010-2011 will have to increase substantially to offset the expense of funding the first payment on the new public safety building.
a. What is your plan for increasing revenue to offset this expense?
b. With the county tax revaluation effective in the same fiscal year, do you have the courage to also raise town property taxes if necessary?

Collins: The town’s revenue will have to increase to pay for the public safety building. Our board approved this significant expenditure and it will be the new council’s responsibility to pay the ongoing expense (approximately $500,000 annually). This council must be diligent and wise in other related expenses because of our present economic position. Tax re-evaluation is necessary to bring properties back to appropriate values. Our tax rate will have to adjust to meet our budget needs.

DeVries: Honestly, where can you go but to increase property taxes? Courage has nothing to do with it. This last board leaves the new 2010 Board with no options. We have no choice but to increase property taxes and have no say about it.

Sisson: I believe we should pay as we go. I like the idea of fee for service income versus general tax increases. Where the town can increase fees it should. Parking may be one of the areas where this will be possible. If we have to tap the reserve fund it should only be as a last resort.

No one wants to raise property taxes. I hate them because they are regressive, but the state does not give us a choice. The public safety building is a done deal. We will have to pay for it and that may mean raising taxes.

Smith: We need to run the town like a business. We have a product to sell. Implement a user fee and in-lieu-of fee schedule. My program regarding these fees could bring in as much as $60,000 per year. I would increase parking fees to $12/day and at the same time renegotiate our agreement with Lanier. Total income with both plans $200,000 or $65 average tax savings per property. Use a contract employee expert for grant applications.
I will strive very hard to keep any increase to a bare minimum.

Question No. 3
Employee moral reportedly dipped last year when the town staff suffered personnel cuts: a hiring freeze, no merit increases and radical changes to employee health insurance benefits. What would you suggest to improve employee morale?

Collins: Employee morale is important and produces quality work outflow. Respect and pride in our workplace with positive input from staff and management is a must. When merit raises are not received by deserving employees, other rewards/honors must take place. Early leave times should be rotated and lunches provided by community and businesses.

DeVries: Do we really know what employee morale is? Have we ever surveyed them to find out how they feel? Right now the board needs to restore their merit pay increases and repair the damage done to health benefits. Chief Carey told me that some police officers, in order to get health insurance for their families, must personally pay $200 a week! I understand that these decisions were made by the BOA in a severe economic downturn, but now conditions are better and changes can be made

Sisson: We start with the board letting the employees know how much we value them for doing their jobs with less and for less than they are worth. But we must begin to restore cuts they have endured. Otherwise we will lose good employees the moment another good offer comes along.

Smith: We must be competitive with salaries and benefits. It is often a false economic formula when we lose quality people and have to replace them.

Question No. 4
To balance the 2209-2010, there was no money earmarked for capital improvements in the 2009-2010 budget. What would you do to amend this situation over the next four-year term?

Collins: Money earmarked for improvements has come from excess tax revenues when economic times were at their peak. No money was marked for capital improvements this year because revenue producing activities were down. It will be necessary to place enough revenue from impact fees and permit fees in the CIP to fund our future budget needs.

DeVries: I have studied the rank order of the capital improvements and it seems to me that beach renourishment recommendations are critical and should be funded now and in the next four years. The same should be said for water quality proposals. Too often, the town has put off needed maintenance and capital needs only to find that had these appropriations made earlier would have saved a lot of money. We need to get away from "crisis management" and start taking planning for the future seriously.

Sisson: Capital improvements cannot be ignored. The longer you put them off the more expensive they become. We have to begin setting portions of the budget aside to fund these projects - cleaning up our waters and beach strand and ensuring beach renourishment cannot wait.

Smith: Combine the expenses of the new safety building, salary and benefit issues, and capital improvement issues with decreased funding from various sources, a tax increase is inevitable. However, it will be my job to help keep any necessary increase to a bare minimum.

Question No. 5
Wrightsville Beach hosts one million visitors each summer impacting public parking, public safety and sanitation.
a. How do you rank these three in order of importance and why?
b. How would you improve your No. 1 choice?

Collins: Our sanitation issues need immediate attention! Waterways testing with high levels of bacteria, beaches that are polluted with trash and storm water runoff draining into Banks Channel are problems affecting all citizens. The “no discharge legislation” is our first step to encourage people to be responsible boaters. Our new WB boat should be used to issue warnings and fines. Our stormwater management is a first step for Wrightsville Beach. Storm water drains and pipes that run into Banks Channel should be improved. Systems of filtration are necessary for the health, safety and welfare of visitors and residents. It is a continuing effort to educate beach visitors of the dangers to our turtle and bird nesting areas when they litter. We cannot relax while litter destroys wildlife at our wonderful family beach. Public safety is not in crisis, according to Police Chief Carey but requires constant attention. Public parking is a continuing problem for citizens since our town has no property for expansion.

DeVries: Public safety, public parking, sanitation. Would you walk around this beach after dark? My wife and I have lived here 37 years and in the l970s and l980s we would have walked the streets on this island without fear. But, in the 1990s and 2000s, no way; and some candidates say we don't have a public safety problem!
I strongly believe when you increase police presence, you quickly see a decrease in bad behavior (drunkenness, assault, vagrancy, burglary, noise, profane language and, yes, even violations by boat owners). We need more police presence now.

Sisson: Public safety - sanitation and public parking. Public safety must be the first priority of any government – but it cannot be separated from a clean environment. Crime is more likely where it looks like the citizens don’t respect their own town. A dirty beach and dirty streets convey this impression as do closed swimming areas. Handling the boat-related sewage problem dovetails with improving public safety and using our police boat to enforce the no dumping zone. Parking is a long-standing problem and there seems to be no immediate on-site solution.

More active citizen and business involvement with law enforcement makes officers’ jobs easier. The same goes for fire prevention and ocean rescue. The aldermen should personally facilitate this effort. Our officers should enforce the no discharge zone as well as other ordinances that protect the environment.

Smith: Safety—residents and tourists must be provided a safe environment to maintain our quality of life. Sanitation—our water and water quality is the reason we want to live and recreate here. Parking—is more of a convenience than a necessity like No.1 and No.2.

Offer competitive salaries and benefits to continue to recruit the “A Team.” Careful consideration needs to be given to adding police as well as addressing the magistrate situation.




Brian Freskos and Marimar McNaughton