A troubling decision by the Chapel Hill Town Council

Thank you.

Let me put it differently.

Had the schedule progressed as planned, the staff would have done X amount of work by 25 November for a cost in staff time and overhead of Y. It seems to me that anything that the staff would have done by 25 November could be stretched out now to extend to the January meeting date.

With the decision yesterday, I believe that people at that meeting took the Council’s decision to mean that something MORE would be done between 25 November and the January meeting that would not otherwise have been done for the 25 November meeting.

If they are right, I want to know how much that additional work – including indirect costs, will cost the Town.

If there is to be no additional work done, I think PERRY will be surprised and I believe some in the Council chamber will be surprised too, including the Mayor.

Which is it?

From: Jason Damweber [mailto:jdamweber@townofchapelhill.org]
Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2013 2:43 PM
To: Terry MAGUIRE
Cc: Catherine Lazorko
Subject: RE: Petition approved

Mr. Maguire,

Again, thanks for sharing your thoughts. The staff work would be logistical in nature - determining potential dates for the public information sessions, Council Work sessions, Tech Team availability, etc. in phase 2, and the requirements of the developer for each session. We plan to treat this similarly to the Glen Lennox process and we’ve already done much of the leg work on that. Until Council makes a decision whether to proceed to phase 2, the only potential direct cost I believe the Town would incur would be to compensate a representative of the Technical Team to be present at the January Council meeting.

Jason

From: Terry MAGUIRE [mailto:tmaguire@newspaper.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2013 2:34 PM
To: Jason Damweber
Subject: RE: Petition approved

Dear Jason,

Thank you.

This is a better link for the video http://chapelhill.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=7&clip_id=1960

I am extremely troubled by the Council’s decision to move ahead with staff time and resources without making a decision.

Without a decision on the merits, there is simply no rationale on the record – printed or video – for telling the staff to work on this as though the Council had approved the next step on 25 Nov.

Therefore, I would like to know exactly how much (allocated cost of salaries, overhead, etc.) this post-Nov 25 work will cost the Town. Please provide this. It would be a serious lapse in budget management not to have a ready answer to that request.

This is no way to run a town, in my view. It looks like a pre-ordained decision in search of cover.

Cheers,

Terry

From: Jason Damweber [mailto:jdamweber@townofchapelhill.org]
Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2013 1:52 PM
To: Terry MAGUIRE
Subject: RE: Petition approved

You can find a written version here. He also petitioned in person. You can view/listen to those comments here.

Thanks,

Jason Damweber

Jason Damweber |  Assistant to the Town Manager |  Town of Chapel Hill Manager’s Office | 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. | Chapel Hill, NC 27514 (o) 919-968-2844 | (m) 919-259-2517 | (f) 919-969-2063

From: Terry MAGUIRE [mailto:tmaguire@newspaper.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2013 1:48 PM
To: Development Agreement
Subject: RE: Petition approved

Where can I find a copy of Roger PERRY’s petition?

From: Development Agreement [mailto:developmentagreement@townofchapelhill.org]
Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2013 12:17 PM
To: Development Agreement
Subject: FW: Petition approved

FYI, please see the email below sent to the Obey Creek Compass Committee regarding their petition to the Council to extend the deadline for their report.

From: Jason Damweber
Sent: Monday, November 11, 2013 7:53 PM
To: agerjohn@gmail.com; alanrimer@alumni.unc.edu; anelson@carolinachamber.org; bobby@downtownchapelhill.com; Broun, Ken <ksbroun@email.unc.edu>; cjpaul@gmail.com; David Bonk; Donna Bell ; dspurloc@live.unc.edu; Dwight Bassett; gkneeb@aol.com; Jason Damweber; kimberly.brewer@tetratech.com; Mary Jane Nirdlinger; pahc@earthlink.net; pazzochef@hotmail.com; projects; pvernon@unc.edu; Strauss, Robert A. (robert_strauss@med.unc.edu); susan.b.lindsay@gmail.com; Susana.dancy@gmail.com; tjcrayton@gmail.com; Will Clark (wbclark5@gmail.com) (wbclark5@gmail.com); yella_33@yahoo.com
Subject: Petition approved

Compass Committee,

FYI, at tonight’s business meeting the Town Council approved the petition Jeanne submitted on behalf of the Committee (copy below) to extend the deadline for your report to their first business meeting in January, which will be held on January 13.

They also approved a petition from Roger Perry to permit – strictly from a procedural standpoint – staff to begin working on logistics for phase 2 in the event that the decision is made in January to proceed, including collecting additional funds from the developer. The Council explicitly stated that approval of Roger Perry’s petition did not indicate that any decision had been made regarding proceeding to phase 2.

Jason

COPY OF PETITION

Dear Mayor Kleinschmidt and members of Town Council:

Based on unanimous consent of the Obey Creek Compass Committee, I am writing to request that council postpone presentations and discussion related to the Obey Creek Development Agreement from November 25 to one of your meetings in January 2014.

The committee is in the process of drafting and editing their report and has determined the need for two more committee meetings.  The first will include an extended public comment time to allow for public input into the report.  The second will be to finalize the report and will be held by December 15, 2013.

We appreciate your support of the Compass Committee as part of the Obey Creek process.

Sincerely,

Jeanne Brown

Jason Damweber |  Assistant to the Town Manager |  Town of Chapel Hill Manager’s Office | 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. | Chapel Hill, NC 27514 (o) 919-968-2844 | (m) 919-259-2517 | (f) 919-969-2063