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OBSERVATIONS
February 25, 2021 |
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Here's a screenshot from last week's "work session" held by County Commissioners in the auditorium of the Johnston County Agricultural Center. It's archived in several parts totaling about four and a half hours on the county's Facebook page>
 Wingate Lassiter |
County Commissioners wrestle with
strategies to manage suburban growth
The overriding theme of last Thursday's annual all-day "work session" was how to control the direction of Johnston County's exploding suburban growth and how to pay for the county's obligations resulting from it.
Commissioners appear to be in agreement that county development rules ought to steer more residential growth to undeveloped land in and around Johnston's municipalities and less in rural areas lacking infrastructure and other amenities our towns provide.
That's not what has been happening here since I-40 opened into western Johnston County 30 years ago. The county has permitted dense residential and commercial development in once-remote places like the highway interchange of I-40 and NC 42 in Cleveland Township --- accelerated by the county's willingness to provide not only water but also sewer service to those far-flung places.
That has already begun to change. The present Board of Commissioners has put the brakes on residential sewerage in remote areas, and recently turned down a couple of large Planned Unit Developments ("PUDs") that would have permitted hundreds of new houses on lots more suitable in size for densely settled urban communities than rural subdivisions "out in the country."
"We continue to build build main streets" in suburban areas "while our municipalities suffer," exclaimed Commissioner Larry Wood, expressing the frustration of many folks who don't like the rampant growth coming to rural Johnston. "I think it's time we helped our municipalities," which he said have vacant commercial buildings and underused parks while new development crops up elsewhere. "I like the rurality of Johnston County and I dislike empty storefronts," he stated.
But are the towns prepared for, or willing to accommodate, the thousands of new residents expected to keep moving into Johnston County in years just ahead?
That was on the minds of the commissioners during last week's discussion. "The question is whether the towns are going to make all the improvements in their infrastructure to handle the growth," said Commissioner Fred Smith.
Commissioner Butch Lawter, a former Clayton town councilman, suggested a countywide water and sewer authority to take over such responsibility. "We need full participation... from all our towns" in planning for future development, he said.
Immediate water and sewer needs
Chandra Farmer, the county's director of public utilities, gave the board a rundown of water and sewer projects her staff sees as necessities to meet growth already taking place plus what's expected to come our way. The price tag? Over the next 10 years an estimated $300 million.
Much of that expense will be borne by customers of the county's utility systems, with additional help from state and federal grants. Even then, the county ought to look at issuing revenue bonds to provide the funding without overburdening the water and sewer customers, advised a representative of the county's financial consultant, Davenport & Company, who played a major role in last week's discussions.
Fortunately, the County of Johnston is in excellent fiscal health and well positioned to finance water and sewer projects and also new schools. The General Fund Balance has been growing steadily in recent years, and the county's bond rating has climbed to a level one notch below the highest possible rating --- an achievement that enables the county borrow money at reduced interest expense.
What to do with the county's built-up cash
Even so, Commissioner Smith questioned the wisdom of building up the General Fund Balance at the expense of unmet infrastructure needs. "When government gets into the business of building wealth, it's missing what it needs to do for taxpayers," he declared.
Commissioner Ted Godwin agreed. "If we're trying to achieve a AAA (bond) rating just for a AAA rating (the highest level possible), we may be missing what we really need to be doing for our citizens," he said.
Last week's work session was a prelude to the board's upcoming deliberations toward adoption of the county's budget for Fiscal Year 2021-22, which starts July 1.
What more background information from last week's session?
VIEW the financial presentation from Davenport & Company>
VIEW the water and sewer utilities report from the county's staff>
More than an widely acclaimed mystery writer,
Margaret Maron was a Johnston County historian
I got the news on Wednesday
that Margaret Maron had passed away at 82 years young.I never got around to reading every one of her many mystery novels, but I read enough to appreciate her writing talent --- and in the end I realized that her works of fiction were a creative way to preserve the history and culture of the Johnston County many of us have known and loved, or at least endured.
I hadn't read any of her books until I got to know Margaret after she joined the Johnston County Heritage Commission while I was director of the Heritage Center a
decade ago. Of course, I
had to start with her award-winning Bootlegger's
Daughter that was based on our legendary Percy Flowers and
his friends and family (but certainly not literally
their story).Whatever region of North Carolina and other states she chose as settings for her books, Margaret spent time learning as much as she could about those places, making visits to interview folks and get the lay of the land, and subscribing to the local newspapers to get a fuller understanding of what those places were all about.
She was, in effect, a practitioner of historical research. And so, her novels used fictional characters to bring local history to life.
There's more culture in her books related to Johnston County than any place else, with settings we Johnstonians know very well.
I rate her novels up there with the great movies based on our history. Both draw us in as entertainment, then teach us a thing or two we might have missed in school.
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