Penny Rich is the current chair of the County Commission and is astute politically. We cannot support her for the next term because her priorities and views on education and transit do not align with ours. Penny was a strong supporter of the ill-fated Durham Orange Light Rail project which wasted over $150 million in taxpayer dollars ($30 million from Orange County). Over the course of several years, she ignored the early warning signals that the project was in trouble and routinely dismissed concerns raised by knowledgeable individuals. Also, she failed to provide important risk assessment information from her colleagues at a critical juncture in the process. At the recent PTSA forum said she would do it all again which runs contrary to the recent evaluation regarding GoTriangle staff’s capacity to run such a project and the board’s ability to oversee it.
In addition, Penny has not acknowledged the serious maintenance problems in our schools for which the Commission bears major responsibility. Most concerning is the disrespect and disdain with which Penny receives well-researched information from the public, when it does not agree with her views.
As the chair of the Board, Penny is in a position to promote good collegial relationships among her board colleagues and those in other cities and towns, but we are disappointed with her track record. Here are some examples where we would do better by electing mature and respectful elected officials.
During the last stages of the Light Rail cost over runs in 2019, Orange and Durham County elected officials planned to meet with staff to discuss the crisis and the meeting was placed on the County calendar. When increasingly concerned citizens asked Chair Rich to attend the briefing and discussion, Penny initially denied the meeting and then maintained the meeting was a closed session and barred citizens and the press from attending. After the meeting Penny did not share the meeting materials with her colleagues, which included critical risk assessment data; it was necessary for a citizen to make a public information request to supply her colleagues and the public that information!
Chair Rich sets the tone and the agenda for commissioner meetings. During the budget process, for a long time the public and some commissioners did not find out about budget amendments until the meeting instead of days in advance of a meeting that good protocol requires. Chair Rich did not respond to a commissioner request to correct it. The lapse was corrected and the practice of making amendments public available in advance again was restarted when the NAACP formally requested the notice.
The Greene Tract provides a test of collaboration among local officials. The Greene tract is jointly owned (by Chapel Hill, Carrboro and County) and offers an opportunity for a school, affordable housing, and conservation of some important natural areas. The Chapel Hill Town Council, as the responsible party, listened to the neighbors and the CHCCS schools and insisted on environmental studies before land was earmarked for uses. Instead of providing steady leadership, Penny attacked the Mayor and town council members who did not agree with her approach and then delayed bringing the needed joint action to the BOCC agenda that was required to move the project forward.
Penny initiated a pay increase for county commissioners — with the result that commissioners will be paid more than some county employees! At the same meeting the Board failed to meet the school funding needs to meet the continuation budget.
Finally there are two additional issues that concern Chair Rich and the entire Board. First worth mentioning is the millions of dollars that Orange County no longer gets from the impact fee that was earmarked for the schools. The extreme increase in this fee, by a majority of County Commissioners, so angered the affected parties that State Representative Sarah Stevens convinced the NC legislature to remove legislation that enabled the county to levy the fee. Now the County receives no such revenue for the schools. (This happened during the tenure of current commissioners Penny Rich, Mark Marcoplos, and Mark Dorosin with Commissioner Earl McKee arguing against taking this risky action. See https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article146511439.html )
As shown above, tax increases have serious impacts on our citizens and as such should receive careful consideration. Orange County is among the highest-taxed counties in North Carolina. Last minute budget amendments are a poor way to govern. The climate change tax proposed by Commissioner Marcoplos and Commissioner Dorosin’s proposal to eliminate the CHCCS special district tax were not presented to the public in advance of the meeting. Again a good public process would guarantee a well thought out, open, and transparent way of managing the county budget.