Update: More coverage of last night's Commissioner meeting here (Hieb) and here (Capo) but not here (N&R - even though Mark Binker's excellent account is the B section headline)
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I just returned from the County Commissioner meeting... three words for you...
O H M Y G O D.
In the end, most everyone got what they were seeking: Daycares go to 15 charges per site, Sheriff Barnes gets to spend some money earned by county prisoners on things that have nothing to do with their welfare, GTCC ($47M) and Guilford County Parks & Rec ($20M) will get to pitch their respective cases to the voters for bond funding in November. But... O H M Y G O D it was messy.
The melay started because Commissioner Linda Shaw finger-fumbled and recorded a vote against a Sheriff Barnes funding request that was obviously a mistake... she admitted as much and expressed her wish to take it back... but nooo. Despite the fact that they have allowed such corrections in every other case of such an electronic voting mis-cast I have ever witnessed, and there have been many, some on the Board would not relent and let the meeting move forward.
The parliamentary wrangling that ensued would make Mr. Roberts of Rules fame twirl in his grave faster than Commissioner Mike Barber can say "move the question".
Vice-chairwoman Carolyn Coleman was running the meeting due to Chairman Bob Landreth's absence - she was not up for the job. Like a bunch of 2nd graders who sense when they are assigned a weak substitute teacher... the place fell absolutely apart under her non-existent gavel wielding.
At one point I left the chamber and saw my girl Mary Rakestraw in the lobby. She had apparently decided to sit the whole Sheriff Barnes thing out. Mary was watching the televised spectacle in an open-mouthed stupor. "Unbelievable", she said while watching her colleagues expend wasted words making assinign points of order of no consequence aimed at no one in particular. I congratulated her on her upcoming graduation from such mind-numbing grammer school antics.
I left right after an unholy alliance was forged between arch-enemies. Commissioners Yow (t-shirt-er) and Alston (t-shirt-ee) joined forces to be the lone votes against placing the $20M Parks & Rec bond before the voters. Both of them vowed to work their respective butts off to defeat the P&R bond in November because the bond proposals were not yet near specific enough to suit their sense of the way largess should be distributed. Capo and another guy sporting "Stop FTAA" buttons were the only two speakers against the P&R bond.
During the debate on the P&R bond, it felt to everyone watching like the vote was going to go against placing it before the voters. Commissioner Barber, who has worked mightily to get it passed, motioned for me to meet him in the lobby. He asked how I thought Rakestraw was going to vote on the issue. I told him I wasn't sure, but would try to find out through eye contact and hand signals.
After much signalling from my seat in the audience I finally got my silent question to be understood by Mary, she gave a thumbs up - I caught Mike's eye and gave the same signal. He smiled and relaxed a bit. People behind me must have thought I was swatting a bothersome insect.
The whole night was very entertaining and for the most part petty and disgusting. I don't think those are three adjectives most of the nation would use to describe a meeting of their elected leaders, but... here in Guilford County, NC we don't just like it... we vote for it.
11:47:03 PM 
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