Our Moore County County Commissioners are trying to press their own priorities on Moore County. Public publicity and the ballot box will eventually fix things, but in the meantime a lot of long term damage will be done.
Ask the Moore County Board of Education about the long term consequences of short sighted decisions that have long term consequences. How are they going to take the capacity pressure off Pinecrest-there is a limit to modular classrooms and what are they going to do when the traffic around West Pine strangles both those going to work and those delivering their children to school. School officials did not do a professional traffic study when they chose the location for the new elementary school. Moore County resident will live with those decisions for forty or fifty years. It may not be politically correct to criticize those with whom we entrust our children, but honest analysis is always politically correct.
Anyone who has watched Tim Lea closely understands that he is a rigid person dedicated to the principal that unless it is his idea, the thinking is not good. He surrounds himself with people he can control and he stalks off in the wrong direction-insisting that is the correct decision. He still has his team of parrots that now call the Pilot blog home who proclaim the everyone else is out of step.
Folks are starting to wake up and smell the coffee and the Boles/Chamber effort to join the LRCOG team may be an initial step.
Ask the Moore County Board of Education about the long term consequences of short sighted decisions that have long term consequences. How are they going to take the capacity pressure off Pinecrest-there is a limit to modular classrooms and what are they going to do when the traffic around West Pine strangles both those going to work and those delivering their children to school. School officials did not do a professional traffic study when they chose the location for the new elementary school. Moore County resident will live with those decisions for forty or fifty years. It may not be politically correct to criticize those with whom we entrust our children, but honest analysis is always politically correct.
Anyone who has watched Tim Lea closely understands that he is a rigid person dedicated to the principal that unless it is his idea, the thinking is not good. He surrounds himself with people he can control and he stalks off in the wrong direction-insisting that is the correct decision. He still has his team of parrots that now call the Pilot blog home who proclaim the everyone else is out of step.
Folks are starting to wake up and smell the coffee and the Boles/Chamber effort to join the LRCOG team may be an initial step.
Editorial and Commentary
Page 2
Moore County Commissioners Are Told That 100 Year Old Water Pipes In Pinehurst Need To Be Replaced For Reasons of Public Safety
Statement to Moore County Commissioners by Walter B. Bull, Jr.
on April 15, 2010
on April 15, 2010
My name is Walter Bull and I am a resident of Pinehurst.
I believe that is my duty to present a matter to this group of elected officials that involves a serious matter of public safety in the section of Pinehurst known as Old Town.
The substance of this problem is quite simple. Water supply pipes in old town owned by Moore County Public Utilities have been servicing customers for over 100 years. This is well beyond the normal useful life for such a water distribution system.
These same pipes supply water to Village fire hydrants which the County is generously offering to replace in the current capital budget.
We are all aware that Pinehurst has been designated as a historical site and that the residents of these properties take special efforts and expense to maintain an outside appearance of their properties in order to preserve the character and charm of the Village.
The properties are quite valuable and date back to the days of the Pinehurst founder-James Walker Tufts.
Such buildings, constructed of wood in many cases, are highly susceptible to fire and fire damage. With the property spacing it is quite possible that fire in one building could spread to adjacent dwellings. This sort of an event would harm this area well beyond the mere dollars and cents. A fire such as this would destroy history.
In North Carolina the Department of Insurance has jurisdiction over fire safety ratings and the NFPA code that supervises fire department activities at all levels of government in this state. Those regulations require that fire hydrants should be tested twice a year to determine the water flow available to a fire department responding to a fire.
For several years Moore County Public Utilities refused to allow testing in Pinehurst. Just recently permission was given to test. The results throughout Old Town and in most places where the 100 year old pipes supply water to the hydrants revealed that the flow rates were so substandard that it gives an alarm to safety experts and gives great cause of concern to firefighters.
Village personnel have been advocating replacement of the water supply pipes at the same time that sewer rehabilitation is being performed. The suggestion has been repeatedly rejected by Moore County as being too expensive. That is an unacceptable response.
This is not a problem to be addressed quietly in a closed meeting. This is a need to know subject that will affect many Pinehurst residents, rate payers and taxpayers. It is a problem and the public wants to know what Moore County intends to do with it.
Thank you.
I believe that is my duty to present a matter to this group of elected officials that involves a serious matter of public safety in the section of Pinehurst known as Old Town.
The substance of this problem is quite simple. Water supply pipes in old town owned by Moore County Public Utilities have been servicing customers for over 100 years. This is well beyond the normal useful life for such a water distribution system.
These same pipes supply water to Village fire hydrants which the County is generously offering to replace in the current capital budget.
We are all aware that Pinehurst has been designated as a historical site and that the residents of these properties take special efforts and expense to maintain an outside appearance of their properties in order to preserve the character and charm of the Village.
The properties are quite valuable and date back to the days of the Pinehurst founder-James Walker Tufts.
Such buildings, constructed of wood in many cases, are highly susceptible to fire and fire damage. With the property spacing it is quite possible that fire in one building could spread to adjacent dwellings. This sort of an event would harm this area well beyond the mere dollars and cents. A fire such as this would destroy history.
In North Carolina the Department of Insurance has jurisdiction over fire safety ratings and the NFPA code that supervises fire department activities at all levels of government in this state. Those regulations require that fire hydrants should be tested twice a year to determine the water flow available to a fire department responding to a fire.
For several years Moore County Public Utilities refused to allow testing in Pinehurst. Just recently permission was given to test. The results throughout Old Town and in most places where the 100 year old pipes supply water to the hydrants revealed that the flow rates were so substandard that it gives an alarm to safety experts and gives great cause of concern to firefighters.
Village personnel have been advocating replacement of the water supply pipes at the same time that sewer rehabilitation is being performed. The suggestion has been repeatedly rejected by Moore County as being too expensive. That is an unacceptable response.
This is not a problem to be addressed quietly in a closed meeting. This is a need to know subject that will affect many Pinehurst residents, rate payers and taxpayers. It is a problem and the public wants to know what Moore County intends to do with it.
Thank you.
Moore County Public Utilities needs a long term plan, both in terms of upgraded service and a financial plan to serve long term needs of an expanding customer base. The County itself needs a plan modeled for future growth, but all planning is disconnected and driven by means of the squeaky wheel principal. Long range thinking just isn’t there. Look at all the flack the airport runs into as it tries to modernize. Water? The County can’t find $2500.00 to participate in a regional water study. The babble on our local newspaper’s blog is a disgrace, petty and darn near libelous as people hide behind a cloak of anonymity to call elected officials crooks.
What does small thinking cost this region? Plenty! Carolina Eye is a fine local business that would like to expand its operation. They do not have the needed flow of water for fire protection in a proposed new building. Trying to obtain the necessary water service, the operation turned to nearby Southern Pines whose lines are close by. A discussion was held with Moore County Public Utilities about the plan to buy water from Southern Pines and somehow that move was scuttled. Executives at Carolina Eye don’t want to talk about it.
We all know that the line connecting Pinehurst and Southern Pines is undersized and needs an upgrade. Water customers along Midland Road are familiar with the flow rates. They acknowledge a problem. Is MCPU promising Carolina Eye that the line will be upsized sometime soon? The public has no idea what upgrades are being considered and how long it will take to perform the capital maintenance The track record for these guys is not good. In an area that hosts many visitors, counts on upscale events and one that can afford better, it is a shame that those in control are such amateurs.
What does small thinking cost this region? Plenty! Carolina Eye is a fine local business that would like to expand its operation. They do not have the needed flow of water for fire protection in a proposed new building. Trying to obtain the necessary water service, the operation turned to nearby Southern Pines whose lines are close by. A discussion was held with Moore County Public Utilities about the plan to buy water from Southern Pines and somehow that move was scuttled. Executives at Carolina Eye don’t want to talk about it.
We all know that the line connecting Pinehurst and Southern Pines is undersized and needs an upgrade. Water customers along Midland Road are familiar with the flow rates. They acknowledge a problem. Is MCPU promising Carolina Eye that the line will be upsized sometime soon? The public has no idea what upgrades are being considered and how long it will take to perform the capital maintenance The track record for these guys is not good. In an area that hosts many visitors, counts on upscale events and one that can afford better, it is a shame that those in control are such amateurs.
Four Moore County Commissioners gathered for breakfast at the Track Restaurant in Pinehurst. Tim Lea, Larry Caddell, Jimmy Melton and Nick Picerno in the company of County Attorney Misty Leland, Clerk to the Board Laura Williams, Tax Collector Wayne Vest, Assistant County Manager Ken Larking and Public Utilities Director Dennis Brobst chatted about the things one talks about over breakfast. I was there to observe and was happy about the project of the day. The group was there to tour MCPU projects that were under way and see for themselves the ongoing progress.
It was a good feeling to see that earlier in the week sensibility prevailed and a 3-2 vote moved the financing for the detention center forward. There was a press note that 20% of the borrowings were going to be directed to utility work in Pinehurst. New water service pipes in Old Town-boy it’s about time.
Not having read the use of funds I assumed it was some new work. “How are you going to secure the loan,” I asked Dennis Brobst? There is enough equity in the other parts of the deal to provide the collateral was his answer and that made a lot of sense. The County was putting some of their assets at risk and intended to use water and sewer revenue dollars for debt service. Sound thinking, I thought, especially with the current interest rate levels. Maybe these guys were getting some religion about the real world operation of a public utility in Pinehurst.
When I had time to reflect on the matter and checked on the use of proceeds, the knot returned to my stomach. The projects were all old ones and the County was merely providing for a refinance of existing obligations. The nearly complete Pinehurst water tank had been on the books for several years and the sewer rehabilitation goes back at least three years. Radio meter readers- I had been hearing about their cost savings for some time now. The money was just a finance-what a blow.
It was a good feeling to see that earlier in the week sensibility prevailed and a 3-2 vote moved the financing for the detention center forward. There was a press note that 20% of the borrowings were going to be directed to utility work in Pinehurst. New water service pipes in Old Town-boy it’s about time.
Not having read the use of funds I assumed it was some new work. “How are you going to secure the loan,” I asked Dennis Brobst? There is enough equity in the other parts of the deal to provide the collateral was his answer and that made a lot of sense. The County was putting some of their assets at risk and intended to use water and sewer revenue dollars for debt service. Sound thinking, I thought, especially with the current interest rate levels. Maybe these guys were getting some religion about the real world operation of a public utility in Pinehurst.
When I had time to reflect on the matter and checked on the use of proceeds, the knot returned to my stomach. The projects were all old ones and the County was merely providing for a refinance of existing obligations. The nearly complete Pinehurst water tank had been on the books for several years and the sewer rehabilitation goes back at least three years. Radio meter readers- I had been hearing about their cost savings for some time now. The money was just a finance-what a blow.
Commissioners and Management Team from Moore County Tours Utility Construction Sites In Village of Pinehurst
Our Opinion: Long Term Problems Are Made by Short Term Conflict
Joint Meeting Moore Commissioners and Pinehurst Council
Five PM July 8, Village Hall
Five PM July 8, Village Hall