Last night I attended a social function and ran into Mayor Holliday and Councilman Robbie Perkins.  We briefly discussed an article that had just been published by the News & Record that states the City has so far run up a $300,000 deficit related to the controversial management of the Greensboro Generals hockey team.

Robbie felt that the N&R was a bit sensational in their reporting of the shortfall because the $300k includes all of the "start-up" costs that were incurred when the City first took over the management of the team.  Robbie contended that these costs are front loaded and will dissipate when amortized over the entire season.  It makes sense because any new business has to put up a bunch of one-time money just to get the doors open.

I went over to the Greensboro Sports Board to see what dyed-in-the-wool Generals fans were saying about the article.  One fan's comment was this, "With 12 home games to go and ONLY TWO OF THEM ON A WEEKEND NIGHT, you should expect more bad news."  There also is some discussion about ways to fill the stands that the City should heed.

I feel that Greensboro is in a similar situation with hockey as the U.S. is in with Iraq.  I wasn't for going in, but now that we're in we need to do the job right.

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So it's not just me who has has been noticing the trend towards the lessening of citizen involvement in Greensboro's governing processes.  This morning's N&R asks some good questions about how accountable our elected local government is.

Question: How much City Council oversight and control actually exists in the day-to-day operation of Greensboro City government.  Answer: Not much.

Question: How concerned is our City Council about this lack of oversight and control.  Answer: Not very

The answer to the second question alarms me more than the first.

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In the article , Councilwoman Florence Gatton cited both the problem and the solution by lamenting, "I wish I had more time to give to the issues,"  I couldn't agree more and have suggested that we get what we pay for from our City Council.   My take is this: "Although our Members of Council are well-intentioned and highly informed citizens, with an annual stipend of only $9,500, they simply can't afford to take the time required to get the information they need to make well-informed and independently arrived-at decisions." 

Other cities recognize that their elected officials work full time at what is supposed to be a part-time position.  Back in August during my bid for City Council, I looked into how Greensboro's Council and Mayor salaries stack up.  The positions are long overdue for a raise because it hasn't been changed since we adopted the district system for elections back in the late 1970's.

Since those sitting on Council might consider it to be political suicide to bring the subject up I will do it for them.  We need to offer more money to our elected officials so they can afford to spend the time needed to properly oversee Greensboro government.  Even with a City Manager as capable as Ed Kitchen, we need elected eyes watching over city operations.

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