LUMBERTON — Tony Normand, the developer and first executive director of COMtech, has been authorized by the Robeson County Board of Commissioners to do a study of that board’s pay, benefits and discretionary funds and make recommendations for potential change.
The board, according to Normand, is not obligated to enact his recommendations.
“I want this to be fair, thorough and complete,” said Normand, who lives in Alabama and contends he has “no personal or financial interest” in the outcome of his study. Normand said he would not be compensated except for some expenses.
“This helps ensure neutrality, fairness and avoids any charges of personal benefit regardless of the findings or recommendations,” he said.
Normand, whose background includes experience in polling and assessment of public opinion, said he will use such resources as the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, Bureau of Labor Statistics, The University of North Carolina School of Government, The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, Robeson Community College, community organizations and businesses.
Normand told The Robesonian last week that he had been working on the project for about three weeks and had interviewed 92 people of all races and ages, male and female, many of them just members of the public. He said gathering information will take at least another two weeks.
“It doesn’t make a scientific study … but I believe it is a very good reflection of opinions across the county,” Normand said.
Questions about the commissioners’ pay, benefits and discretionary funds surfaced after a series of stories by The Robesonian last year showed the commissioners are among the best-paid in the state, have benefits that other commissioners don’t enjoy and discretionary funds that are unique in North Carolina in their size and how they are distributed.
County Manager Ricky Harris last year presented the commissioners the results of an in-house study of their pay, benefits and discretionary funds that has not been made public; Harris has said publicly that his findings were in line with what The Robesonian reported.
Normand said the commissioners “want to do the right thing,” but feel they have not been treated fairly by The Robesonian.
“They are good guys, but change is difficult,” Normand said. “There has to be five votes to get a consensus on anything, and that is not always easy.”
Normand did not say what his recommendations would be, but offered the following observations:
— The salary and benefits of the commissioners are being unfairly compared with those of commissioners in smaller and larger counties.
“It’s unfair to compare just the salaries of a certain office or job title,” Normand said. “As an example, you have to take into consideration the population and size of a county. The responsibilities of two people with the same title may not be the same. One may work more than the other.”
— Most of the commissioners might actually be losing money with their $700-a-month stipend because of the size of the county and the distances required to do county busienss. He said the $700 a month is taxable, so when taxes are taken out the commissioners are only making about $560 a month.
— The commissioners spend more than 40 hours a week doing county business.
“Just answering the phone calls they get from constituents takes an enormous amount of time,” he said. “I’m convinced from my own observations that they receive at least 30 calls a day.”
Harris and Commissioner Noah Woods, the board’s chairman, have said the commissioners will review their pay, benefits and discretionary funds during the preparation of the budget that becomes effective July 1.
Harris said he will present his budget proposal to the commissioners during their May 20 meeting. Work sessions will then be scheduled.
The commissioners’ next meeting is Monday. At that meeting, they will:
— Hear a summary of the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s 2012-13 Secondary Road Construction Programfrom Chuck Miller, the district engineer.
— Hold a public hearing on an ordinance regulating collection and disposal of solid waste generated within the county.
— Hear a presentation on the Interstate 95 Economic Study from Kristine O’Connor of the state DOT’s Priority Projects Office.
— Hear a presentation from Everett Davis concerning the Lumber River Day Festival.
— Consider approving a resolution asking the state not to close the minimum-security prison on N.C. 711.
— Consider appointments to the Robeson Community College board of trustees and the Eastpointe board of directors.
Also on Monday, the company recently denied a conditional-use permit it needs to establish a solar farm just outside Rowland will appeal that decision to the Board of Adjustments at 5 p.m. in the commissioners’ room.
The appeal is being made by Carolina Solar Energy of Durham, which wants to establish a solar farm on about 35 acres of a 64-acre tract of land in a Residential-Agricultural zone on N.C. 130.
There is no way in this world I can see where he will give a fair report and recommendations. He still has too many favors to pay off for his past escapades. As the old saying goes, "there's honor among thieves." I'm not necessarily accusing them all of open thievery, but this whole pay and benefits situation is back handed, now you see it, no you don't thievery in my view.
It the group really wishes to study this question and get a report that will ha e impartial credibility behind it, they should contact one of the UNC system Public Administration programs, and enlist the university to allow a team of post grad students to take this on as an extension project. There are public administration departments at NC State, UNCP, UNC CH, and probably others, but a team of students from one of these programs will be a whole lot more likely to give us a real and unbiased study than this retread wheeler dealer.
This is another joke. He went in saying 'these are good guys' and that statement alone shows why he was hired for this.
If a nobody was hired to do this and showed us the facts and the numbers to support what they're stealing from us, well I wouldn't like it but I'd have to accept it until the next election. This really couldn't happen for a couple of reasons; #1 is that this thievery can NOT be justified by anyone and we all know it. and #2 The hiring of this guy proves they'll never get an unbiased person to study anything in this county.
Thank you to Mr. Douglas, Mr. Shiles, and to everyone at your organization because your ACTIONS demonstrate your concerns and respect for our citizens' well being that the Commissioner's long ago abused for their personal gains.
“It’s unfair to compare just the salaries of a certain office or job title,” Normand said. “As an example, you have to take into consideration the population and size of a county."
“Just answering the phone calls they get from constituents takes an enormous amount of time"
That second one made me laugh. Clearly, it's going to be up to us, we, the people, to vote these people out of office to get things corrected.
2) County business (going out to eat on the taxpayers funds)
3) Unfairly treated by The Robesonian - that's the set-up right there - this so-called study is a sham to make the issue go away.
4) Normand says he has no special interest - that's the first sign you look at and know that he does have a special interest - how did they find him and what are his expenses (we will probably never know)
5) 92 people in the county have been polled - who are the 92 - family/friends of the commissioners?
People, once again the commissioners are trying to provide a smokescreen so they can continue to reap the benefits of using our taxes to support their lifestyle. Why would Woods and Cummings, one retired from the school system and one currently working in the school system (who get state insurance benefits) need for the taxpayers to pay their insurance for them? Woods and his wife sold the property that now houses the Walmart in Pembroke - do you think he can't afford his free state insurance? As millionaires, do you think both he and his wife should get additional $$$ for health insurance? I can't speak to the others but I would be willing to be that they all have health insurance and probably pocket the extra cash to go along with their discretionary $$$. We can sit back and complain and watch another election cycle come and go with the same characters in office or we can vote them out!