Kindergartener Wins Meeting
Her comment just happened to follow the official presentation by Hyde County Schools superintendent Randolph Latimore and Hyde County Schools finance officer Ken Chilcoat, who were speaking on behalf of the Board of Education. Because of some small savings in the school district's budget, there's $30,342 just waiting to be allocated. The school board feels they should use that extra money to increase their pay from $42 a meeting (they average $120/month for a total expenditure of $7245 for all five of them) to $300 a month (for a total expenditure of ~$18,000).
No additional funds are being requested from the county for this; they just need the commissioners' approval to spend the 30K they have on raises for board members (whose salaries have not been increased in years.) They will look internally to find the extra money to continue funding the raises in years to come.
The vote about the raises was tabled until the February meeting, but not before Ocracoke's representative commissioner, John Fletcher, blasted Latimore's unfortunate word choice. "Did I just hear our superintendent of schools use the word 'irregardless'?" John asked, regardless of the issue at hand. "No wonder our schools are in trouble."*
Later in the meeting, John spoke up again about the school board's request for raises. He had just been made aware that the National School Boards Association states that 75% of small school districts don't pay their school board members anything at all. Nada. "Maybe we're overpaying the board," John suggested. "Maybe we're overpaying ourselves as well."
Also during the public comment period, Ocracoke resident Kelley Shinn told the board of commissioners that she was trying very hard to understand the budget choices made by the school board. She called it immoral and deplorable to remove art from the curriculum.
Other agenda items for the commissioners included a discussion of leash laws (find that here), a presentation about the possibility of merging the county health department and county department of social services, and a report from county planner Kris Noble about two projects in Swan Quarter that she hopes will help preserve the cultural history of the commercial fishing village and promote tourism.
The commissioners approved allocation of special request Ocracoke Occupancy Tax funds for Ocracoke Child Care and Ocracoke's community radio station, WOVV.
Bill Rich's county manager's report included an update about David's Trash Service ("big improvement, still a work in progress, they are making an effort and addressing delays"), the Blackbeard's/Back Road puddle project on Ocracoke (stuff will happen soon – stay tuned to the Current for more information), the possibility of passenger ferries as soon as this summer (come to the ferry division meeting on January 12th at 1pm at the Community Center to learn more, or stay home and let the Current report on it for you), and lifeguards (Rep. Walter B Jones's office says NPS is funding them completely this year and Bill hasn't heard any different). There was also a report from the county animal control officer who requested that his position needs to be part of the sheriff's department rather than the health department; further discussion was tabled until the February commissioners meeting.
John Fletcher asked the board to write a letter to the ferry division asking that the last ferry from Cedar Island run as late as possible. "Now it leaves at 4:00 and even 4:30 would be better," he said. Bill agreed to draft the letter.
Bill also officially recognized the fine efforts of the Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department for their quick response to the fire on December 27th. Applause ensued. Huzzah, OVFD!
*According to Merriam-Webster: "Irregardless originated in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century. Its fairly widespread use in speech called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently repeated remark about it is that “there is no such word.” There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead." The Oxford dictionary advises that irregardless "should be avoided by careful users of English."
