Serving as a Citizen Member of the H-D Editorial Board

My six-month term as a citizen member of The Huntington Herald-Dispatch Editorial Board just ended. I was privileged and honored to serve with the members of the H-D board and with the other citizen members. We participated in weekly discussions of community and area issues, and the exercise was a great civics lesson.

I want to thank Jim Ross, the Editorial Page Editor; Ed Dawson, the Executive Editor; the board members and the other citizen members, who all made the experience a memorable one.

"What we have here is failure to communicate"

I read some positive things about our city in the H-D this morning. One of them was the movement by the City of Huntington on planning that may lead to rectifying the problem of our worn out combined sewer system. According to the news story, 85% of our sewer system is a combined storm water and sanitary sewer.

I, for one, would have felt a lot more reassured if the City had kept us informed all during the year on this and other issues - instead of waiting until the last day of the year to let we citizens in on the "progress".

Be that as it may, good on the City!

Four Homeless People Received Community Service Award

(Note: I am not publishing the names of these folks out of concern for their right to privacy.)

Four homeless people, who are residents of Harmony House, operated by the Coalition for the Homeless, were recipients of the Neighborhood Institute's 2007 Community Service Award for their participation in the voluntary Adopt YOUR Block - Be a Litter-Gitter litter-abatement program. The Neighborhood Institute, made up of the current presidents of the thirteen-neighborhood associations active in community improvement, presents the awards each year.

John Mendez is the Executive Director of The Coalition, and he is working to assist the homeless to re-enter the areas work force. Homeless and formerly homeless folks get together every Wednesday morning at Harmony House, the day center serving the area’s homeless population, and spend the morning cleaning up the 600-Block of 4th Avenue.

A tip of my hat is offered to these folks.

Cabell County's Citizens are Apathetic and Disengaged

Our county's citizens are increasingly more apathetic and less engaged in the public sphere today than at any point in recent history. Civic and political participation is plummeting, as evidenced by the low voter turnout in past city elections.

Since we have retreated from political and civic life, our local governments have become increasingly dominated by a small, unrepresentative group of public officials who have chosen political careerism over public service. To ensure their political survival, our public officials entrench themselves in the system and reinforce barriers to citizen participation. Running for public office, the gold standard of active citizenry has become too costly for most citizens to undertake. Local candidates often spend thousands of dollars to run for mayoral, city council and county offices.

Citizen seats on boards, commissions and authorities, designed specifically for the public-at-large, are often not publicized or filled, further removing community residents from the decision-making processes that directly affect their lives. An example is the two current vacancies that exist on the City of Huntington Human Relations Commission, of which I am the chairperson.

The "good ole' boy" system is alive and well in Cabell County. Only citizens who register and vote can assure that "new blood" candidates are elected.

Register and vote in the 2008 elections, for the sake of our county. Get involved!

Negotiate this with the City's Unions?

The issue of the City of Huntington maintaining a self-insured employee health insurance program:

The City will take the projected expenditures for the 2008 self-insured employees health insurance program, 5.6 million dollars, and use those funds to up-grade all salaries and wages for all city employees, except department heads, who work at the pleasure of the Mayor, the Mayor and City Council members. In turn, the employee unions' members agree to pay monthly premiums for a group health insurance policy written, and bid upon, by local health insurance companies, and administered by whomever the unions choose. The level of benefits would be determined by a vote of the unions.

In short, the employees get raises and use some of that money to pay their own monthly premiums for the group health insurance. Of course, I don't have enough information to do the math, but the addition of $5,600,000. to the City's personnel expense line-item for salaries and wages should allow for a living wage for all workers covered under the new union contracts with the City.

The City of Huntington's employee pension plans:

Effective on June 1, 2008, all new-hires would be offered participation in a 401-K employees' retirement program. Contributions would be fully made by all employees hired after that date. All employees presently covered under the current pension plans would remain in those plans. However, the City of Huntington would cover the current unfunded-liability amount and keep pension plans properly funded. The unfunded liability will have to be covered by a creative financing plan that must be explored. Although it will take time, eventually the old pension plan will end, as attrition occurs. What do you think?
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Home Rule Application Should Proceed

The Huntington City Council held a public hearing on the "Home Rule" application that will be submitted to the West Virginia State Legislature, if the council approves the submission later this month. Good for them!

Any questions related to the concept of "home rule" and the state constitution will be resolved after applications are received. The application process should proceed - full speed ahead!

Latest Addition To City's Fire-Damaged Houses

If you get out and around our city much, you probably have driven by some of the numerous fire-damaged houses in various Huntington neighborhoods. The latest addition to the city's fire-damaged inventory is this house that burned the night of December 6th. It's located at 1669 11th Avenue. While talking with folks who live on that block, they mentioned that the home was uninsured. The house to the right is supposedly uninsured. It was scorched, but it did not catch fire.

These neighborhood fires are occurring more frequently lately. What is the answer to clearing our city of these burned-out structures?

Progress is Precious - Dilapidated House Is Gone!

The worst example of a dilapidated house in Huntington is now "Gone with the wind." The house was taken down during the last couple of weeks. It was at 1678 Charleston Avenue in the Fairfield West area of our city.

Progress is precious!

What Kind of City Councilperson Should We Elect?

My first requirement for any city council candidate is that they have a genuine desire to find solutions for our on-going city problems. I want someone who has a positive attitude, some one who can inspire hope and someone who is capable of working with others to build a consensus for how we proceed to solve short and long-term problems.

Of course, I will be looking for candidates, for all offices, who have a detailed understanding of the city's major issues: landfill; infrastructure, including our combined sewer system; self-insured employees' health insurance plan; under-funded pension funds and advance knowledge of the city's budget, as it relates to proper staffing levels and budget shortfalls.

We do have problems, but there are solutions. It will take years to correct some of these; others can be taken-on and resolved in the short-term. The key to the next four years of city government is a real desire on the part of officeholders to build a consensus regarding solutions. In short, stop the finger pointing, the "blame game" and the criticism and provide the leadership our city needs.

Candidates For Office, What About the Landfill?

This is the second issue that anyone running for office in the City of Huntington should be able to articulate.

What about the Deitz Hollow landfill?

Isn't the City required to have it closed down (environmentally) by 2017?

When was the order issued?

What environmental steps were outlined in the closure order?

Have any of these closure steps been completed?

What exact closure steps remain?

What is the projected cost for total closure of the landfill?

What about the WV State Landfill Closure Fund? Does Huntington qualify?

What will you do to move this process forward?

These questions should be answered by any serious candidate for Mayor or City Councilperson.

May we hear from you, candidates?

Candidates For Office, What In Your Opinion Needs Fixed?

During the next few days, I will be asking candidates for political office to visit our "Cabell County Neighborhood Issues" and interact with us regarding their vision and plans for our area. I do hope that citizens will participate in our discussion here. So, here we go for today.

“The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious, said John Sculley, former CEO of Pepsi and Apple Computer. To turn possibilities into reality requires a plan. The 2008 election will be critical to our city and county. Serious candidates for leadership positions will have in mind a strategic plan to discuss with the voters. As we explore the future for the city of Huntington and Cabell County, we have to be willing to do things differently, look at what we want to be and do in the future and then work on how to get there.

I am searching for a candidate with vision and the courage to identify the possibilities and to articulate them during the upcoming political campaign season. I challenge any of the candidates for political office to discuss the future “possibilities” for our city and/or county.

Let’s begin by asking each candidate to list the issues that need to be “fixed” in our city/county.

(Candidates, click on “Post Comments” at the end of this posting to comment. Although you may post comments anonymously, I am hopeful that candidates will clearly identify themselves)

The Next Step In Our Strategic Plan For Our Area

The "retreat" I have suggested above, the resulting white paper and the scheduling of monthly news conferences by the Mayor and County Commission Chairperson are only initial steps in the strategic plan I am putting forward here. Your input and ideas are important. Let us continue our strategic planning - systematically.

I suggest that the next step in the plan would be a second meeting of elected officials of Cabell and Kanawha counties. In attendance would be the following:

The Mayor of Huntington and City Council Members
The Chairperson of the Cabell County Commission and Commissioners
The Mayor of Charleston and Members of the Charleston City Council
The Chairperson and Members of the Kanawha County Commission
Members of the news media of each area and the public

The agenda for this extended work session would include a review of the current legislative efforts to revamp the states tax structure, a review of legislative efforts to establish "home rule" in the state, a review of severance taxes on natural resources and the potential for the consolidation of city and county public services.

The objective of this work session would be to determine how consolidation of services could reduce costs in each county, while providing a higher quality of service-delivery to citizens. Of course, the real value of this step in our strategy is to get political officeholders working together on statewide issues. What else should be on the agenda for this get-together?

Less Criticism - More Ideas for Solutions

The initial reaction of citizens is to criticize government when it fails to resolve problems. I, for one, will no longer "point fingers" and play the "blame game". Instead, I will engage you, who participate here; my family; friends; and associates; in conversation and debate to stimulate serious discussion about new and innovative steps that our Huntington and Cabell County governments might consider to resolve on-going public policy issues. We know the issues: shrinking population and tax base, lack of business development, out migration of young and talented college students, aging population, etc. Then, there are the infrastructure issues: the ordered closing of the Deitz Hollow Landfill and the lack of a replacement, the combined sewer system in Huntington, the City's self-insured employees' health insurance program and the under-funded pension funds, labor union issues, and others.

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The first suggestion I would like to put forward is that a multi-day "retreat" be scheduled, attended by the present Huntington City Council, Mayor David Felinton and his administrative department heads, along with members of the County's Legislative Delegation and members of thevCabell County Commission and the Commission's administrative department heads. During this proposed retreat, all public policy issues that are affect citizens in the city and county would be on an agenda for broad ranging review. The objective of the exercise, which would be open to the news media and citizens, would be the creation of a white paper report. The report would contain a section for each problem plaguing our area. Each issue-section would include:

(1) a history and description of the issue
(2) an itemized list of the date and detailed steps of any steps taken in the past to move the resolution of the issue forward.
(3) an itemized list of obstacles to moving forward
(4) costs associated with the solution of the issue
(5) projected time required to resolve the issue, if funding was available
(6) a list of known potential funding sources and a history of attempts to acquire funding
(7) a summary at the end would detail actions to be taken to discover funding and intermediate steps that might be take to reduce the effect of each issue.

That is step number one! In short, "you cannot manage it, if you cannot measure it!’"

The result of such an exercise would be that the citizens of Huntington and Cabell County would have a clear understanding of each issue and a better appreciation for the complexity of our problems and the difficulty associated with their solutions. In addition, our political leaders will have worked together to zero in on issues and potential solutions.

As for this citizen, no further criticism, and I am hopeful that all of the folks who participate here will add their ideas and solutions, along with their criticisms of our governments.

I am hopeful that together we will accomplish anything we can imagine!

Why a large number of our citizens do not vote

My wife and I talked last night about the low voter turnout in Huntington and Cabell County during the last general election in 2004. I was lamenting about the fact that it took only 3,500 votes to win the Democratic nomination for the office of Mayor of the City of Huntington, during that year's primary election. She listened politely while I lambasted the citizens of our city and county for not participating in our area's elections. She sat quietly while I voiced my disbelief that our citizens show a total lack of community spirit and independent responsibility by failing to stay informed about our areas problems and refusing to participate in elections. As always, she let me have my say.

Then, she asked me to consider this, "If you were living on a subsistence income, in sub-standard housing, were poorly educated and didn't even have enough to eat some days, and if you felt that no one with the government cared about your circumstances would you register to vote and vote? When you have witnessed election after election while nothing ever got better in your life, would you participate in elections?" She went on to enumerate reasons why many of our citizens are not motivated to participate in elections. To her, the bottom line is that people do not vote because they truly do not believe that it will make a difference.

If my wife is right, we are in big trouble. After much thought about what she said, I am convinced, more than ever, that we citizens who do vote have an even larger responsibility to choose our political leaders carefully. Why, you say? We are choosing for the citizens who feel isolated, forgotten, uncared for and helpless - those who feel that nothing will change for them, whether they vote, or not.