• Recently Written

  • Q&A from a JDNews reader
  • Consolidation of Building Inspections
  • Management Reports
  • Candidates Forum
  • Candidate Profile at JDNews
  • Registering for the election
  • Forum Onslow questions
  • What do you think the toughest single issue will be for your community during your term and how would you address it?
  • What uniquely qualifies you or makes you a good candidate for the position?
  • Expanded Answer from JDNews Profile: Why are you running for this position?

• Categories

  • Campaign
  • Council Manager
  • Decisions
  • Filing
  • General Government
  • Open Government
  • Opinion
  • Technology
  • Uncategorized
  • Zoning and Land Use

• Archives

  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • July 2009

• Blogroll

• Admin

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Wordpress
  • XHTML

  Search

What do you think the toughest single issue will be for your community during your term and how would you address it? Selecting the next City Manager and negotiating their contract is the single most difficult and important task the new council will face.  The City Manager is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the [...]

What uniquely qualifies you or makes you a good candidate for the position? What makes a good candidate is hard to define because it truly relates more to the residents than the candidates themselves.  The residents of Jacksonville, I believe, are intelligent, conservative and family-oriented.  They want councilmembers who engage them as equals, honestly presenting [...]

Why are you running for this position? There is no one definitive answer, as the decision to run for office is both complex and personal. Mostly, I wanted to take a step towards more open and efficient government.  Even when I worked for Onslow County government I felt a disconnect to the candidates running for [...]

There isn’t much going on, but I have been invited to two events—both at the same time.  The Chamber is putting on their Forum Onslow on Tuesday October 13 at 6:00pm with a meet-the-candidates.  At the same time the Onslow County Home Builders Association is inviting candidates to a Political Appreciation Fish Fry. I’m figuring [...]

As a candidate, I was invited to today’s Forum Onslow put on by the Chamber and sponsored by Progress Energy and the Daily News.  I believe it’ll be on G10, but I don’t think it’ll be online–I could be wrong though. The panel discussion was on amenities to attract business, industry and people.  The predominant [...]

The Council voted to move forward with the city’s search for a new manager.  They will be doing the search ‘in-house.’  I understand this to mean that they’ll be doing the advertising and initial candidate culling themselves, rather than using a consultant.  They’ve appropriated $5,000 for advertising and directed staff efforts.  Using a consultant, they [...]

Once a candidate files, one of the first things to happen is that they get tons of junk mail. There are many companies that offer services to candidates.  The majority are for printed signs.  Other mailings are for robo-calls, mailing lists, post cards, and other similar services.  It looks like most services start at around [...]

The JDNews reported on the new City appointments to ONWASA. Mayor Phillips and Councilmember Lazarra were replaced by councilmembers Williams and Willingham. The question of ‘why the replacement’ was answered by Phillips and Sullivan. The mayor is quoted as saying it was “a little us versus them.” Councilmember Sullivan said it was because Williams and [...]

I think the JDNews did a great job by dedicating a series of articles on the Military Growth Task Force’s Draft Regional Growth Master Plan.  The plan may be viewed by going to the MGTF’s website, there are links in the lower right.  But 685 pages makes it no small feat to read. Most of [...]

The NYTimes has an article on the recent public corruption scandal in New Jersey.  It’s a good article and has some points that we can learn from. Lesson 1:  We ought to be thankful for our public servants who have not fell to the temptations of corruption.  The article outlines how tempting and easy it [...]