Mayor Murray Ends The Pappas Confusion
At the end of the March 11th meeting of the BOC, Mayor Murray clarified the facts regarding the plan to install the former mayor as Town Manager. Showing true leadership, he stepped out of his comfort zone to confront this recent source of division on the board. With grace and sincerity, but without avoiding the…
Commissioner Wedra Update #5
In response to yesterday’s post, the town released an announcement stating that no official moves had been made to appoint former mayor Ron Pappas to the position of Town Manager. This was an understandable attempt at reputational damage control for the town, but didn’t really tell us anything new. After all, the subject of yesterday’s…
From Landslide Loss to Backroom Deal
Town staff have received word from Commissioner Wesolek that reveals the board majority’s plan: they intend to install former mayor Ron Pappas in place of the current Interim Town Manager Richard Hicks. Staff, feeling duty-bound, informed our Mayor. This move, decided behind closed doors, is a blatant attempt to subvert the will of the voters…
Waxhaw’s Budget – Inflation, Population, or Imagination?
Fiscal Responsibility: Striking a Balance in Waxhaw’s Budget Fiscal responsibility is a cornerstone of good governance. In Waxhaw, a growing and vibrant community, managing financial resources efficiently is critical to supporting both present and future needs. However, recent budgetary trends raise important questions about whether we are aligning our spending growth with realistic and sustainable…
Continue Reading Waxhaw’s Budget – Inflation, Population, or Imagination?
Commissioner Wedra Update #3
Here’s an update from Commissioner Wedra regarding recent developments. https://youtu.be/u0TxzqU9Y1Q?si=_971Rv8uwj5P9fuE
Two by Two 101
What’s a “two by two”? It’s the name given to the practice of splitting the Waxhaw Board of Commissioners into groups of two so the town staff can meet with them away from the public eye. According to NC Open Meetings Law, the public must be invited when a majority of a legislative public body…
Your Vote Log
Here’s how you can keep track of how everyone is voting. It goes back about four years and will be kept up to date going forward. Most of the focus is on growth/development, but it also has a few other items of interest.
Social District Consensus
This wasn’t widely reported at the time, so it’s worth re-iterating even now. Back in January during their retreat, the Waxhaw Board of Commissioners were in agreement that the town should not move forward on Social Districts. This was not an official vote, but we achieved consensus during the discussion on this topic. For those…
2×2 Update from Commissioner Wedra
Since the majority of the Waxhaw BOC insist on continuing with “2×2” meetings which the public are not invited to, Commissioner Wedra has kindly provided a video report of the discussions. Multiple residential developments were presented, one of which was “pre-zoned” a few years ago. For a snapshot of what’s currently in the pipeline, refer…
Voting on the Board of Commissioners
In Waxhaw, we have six members on our Board of Commissioners, but only five of them vote regularly. Although he is a member of the board, our Mayor only votes if there is a need to break a tie. This scenario would only arise if one of the regular voting members was absent and there…
Transparency Rejected
In the March 12th meeting of the Waxhaw BOC, the three holdovers from the previous administration went back on their transparency agreement at the January retreat – reverting to the practice of private “two by two” meetings. The meetings will not be broadcast or recorded. The following video is queued up to the discussion: https://youtu.be/C55uMdXfo94?t=6609
How Waxhaw Works
Waxhaw has a Council-Manager form of government, in which the council/board hires a Town Manager to oversee the day-to-day operations of the town. The various department heads and their employees ultimately report to the Town Manager, who serves at the pleasure of the Waxhaw Board of Commissioners. You might think Waxhaw is a pretty small…
Transparency
On Friday the 26th we made a significant move towards greater transparency in Waxhaw. The BOC unanimously agreed to publicly broadcast the “two-by-two” meetings that are held preparatory to the regular meetings. Click the video to see the discussion. Below are my comments on this topic from the regular Tuesday meeting: Thank you to all…
Dark Money in Waxhaw Politics
A 501(c)4 named “Stand NC, Inc” has funded expensive mailers, text messaging, and robocalls on behalf of the incumbents in Waxhaw’s municipal election this year. This type of non-profit is under no legal obligation to disclose the identity of its donors. There’s no way to “follow the money” back to any particular individual – especially…
Waxhaw Parks & Rec
We love parks and green space, but what are the real needs of our community? The Town of Waxhaw is currently growing the Parks & Rec staff and budget by leaps and bounds in an effort to align with “benchmarks” from NRPA (a private nonprofit). Why the quotes around that word? Well, because the NRPA…
Waxhaw Wall 101
Why do we call ourselves a “Wall”? Not to keep people out or close ourselves off, but to separate the different motivations that tend to drive public and private institutions. Private institutions are profit-motivated, and public (government) institutions should be service-motivated. The profit motive usefully drives people to work hard, but our public institutions need…
Town Hall Debacle
When 150+ people showed up at the Waxhaw Town Hall Forum meeting to talk about the Adelina development, Mayor Pappas had the gall to tell them they had come to the wrong meeting, and that Adelina would not be discussed. This is typical of the disrespect that we the people get from the current administration.Make…
The Vicious Waxhaw Circle
As local property taxes go up, long-time residents with land may not be able to afford them. Over time they end up selling their land and moving away. This paves the way for higher-density development and higher population. The increased population boosts town revenues, and elected officials tend to find a way to spend it…