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OBSERVATIONS
September 17, 2020 |
 |
 Wingate Lassiter |
School board ought to be hearing
those "public comments" in the flesh
At last week's monthly meeting of the Johnston County Board of Education, several students representing the SSS Robotics Team took turns addressing the board in person about their opportunity to build a "miniaturized satellite" that could be launched into space by NASA. Their presentation took just 15 minutes of the board's meeting that lasted almost five hours (including a one-hour closed session at the start).
Meanwhile, the board's "Public Comment" portion of the meeting was done in less than a minute, even though three parents had submitted written statements in advance complaining about their frustrations with stay-at-home remote learning.
They weren't allowed to appear before the board. Instead, their relatively brief comments were posted as attachments to the board's agenda available for the public's reading online.
What's wrong with that picture?
Yes, the school board as other local governing bodies has been required to limit attendance at its meetings because of coronavirus concerns. But, as those restrictions have been eased, it's the only local board that still doesn't allow folks who want to make public comments do so in person.
Both the Johnston County Board of Commissioners and the Smithfield Town Council have resumed the practice of in-person verbal complaints and requests from citizens. And neither of those boards enforce time limits on how long a citizen may speak as the school board has done.
If this sounds like a broken record, so be it: The school board's restrictions on "Public Comment" may save a few minutes in moving through lengthy agendas, but such rules do nothing to restore the people's trust in how the board conducts the people's business.
OPEN the agenda for last week's meeting for links to the Public Comments>
Most roadside campaign signs are lawful, if ...
A news release from the N.C.
Department of Transportation tells us something
perhaps we didn't know:
It's actually legal to place
political campaign signs in the rights of way of
state-maintained roads, so long as it's done no
more than 30 days before the start of early
voting. This year that's September 15 (this past
Tuesday) since early voting starts October 15
across North Carolina.
NCDOT does point out a few
restrictions regarding the signs:
• Whoever places the signs is
required to get permission from any
residential, business, or religious
institution property owner fronting the right
of way where a sign would be placed.
• No signs are permitted in the rights of
way of a highway with limited access such as
an Interstate.
• No sign can be closer than 3 feet from
the edge of the pavement.
• No sign can obscure motorist visibility
at an intersection.
If those rules are violated, NCDOT
has authority to remove offending signs.
But please: If you put out those
signs, come back and collect them after all the
voting is done.
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