“He was against it before he was for it.”

Disclaimer: The following is a guest post. All posts are edited before being posted. Guest posts can remain anonymous at the request of the guest poster.

Dave McClure is a pundit and CEO of his own website (http://www.usiia.org/).

You can hire him to say anything you want. Six months ago Dave wrote an editorial in the Bangor Maine newspaper that said that Government should stay out of broadband construction and policy since private business does a better job (http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/133843.html):

Misguided politicians continue to take aim at one of the few bright spots on the job creation horizon — the construction and operation of broadband infrastructure. They wanted to slap government controls and mandates on how private broadband networks are managed. Even in good economic times, this is unwise and unnecessary; in this time of downturn, it is foolhardy and will cost jobs and investment.  –Bangor Daily News 1.1.10 (http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/133843.html)

But wait, isn’t Dave McClure now telling us that our government should go into the internet business?

Actually Tom Cardman began paying Dave McClure $1000 a week to be an “consultant” to Page County which he continues to get to this day. This is $4,000 a month!!! As a consultant, Dave writes articles in the Page News & Courier expressing why our county should use Federal dollars to build and operate a broadband network. Once this broadband network is built, they will spend Page County dollars to maintain the system. Doesn’t this sound like the landfill that costs us millions of dollars to upgrade regularly. Private companies like Century Link, Comcast, and HiSpeed Link are already spreading broadband in our county without government help. Cardman, the EDA, and McClure need to stop using our money to be failed venture capitalists.

But it gets worse. Tom Cardman wants to pay Dave McClure 60k to be our CTO (chief technology officer). In reality, all we need is someone who can update county computers and run some servers. It’d not clear if Dave knows how to do these simple tasks or if they would hire more consultants to do this work.

Let’s stop this problem before it begins. Let Dave keep bartending at the Moose Lounge and continue being a pundit. His opinions are harmless until we give him the purse strings (and credit card!) to our county.

Clover is Over!

More than 250 people crowded into the Circuit Court Room in Luray Courthouse last night.  Nearly 40 speakers gave what appeared to be a consensus opinion:  government funds schools, fire depts, emergency services, environmental programs.

At the end of the meeting tonight the BOS voted to end Clover. The Board of Supervisors passed a motion to take their 38 acres and walk away. Included in that motion — removal of the EDA budget from the county budget, except for the grant money already committed to EMCO and KVK. The EDA will still get money for tax rebates to current businesses that hire local people.

Who really runs Page County

I am really starting to feel sorry for the BoS. Why? Because now they are in the middle of a fight over a piece of land that was brought to their attention by a trusted group of individuals that is responsible with the economic development within the county and a group of citizens that have shown that the land is not worth it’s weight in gold. Now you have an acting County Administrator, whose real job is the economic development committee, has been eliminating departments and personnel within the government, to help make budget woes. He has yet to announce if he will sacrifice any part of his pay to help with the budget, let alone give up the company vehicle for personal use in another county.

A county administrator’s job is supposed to be responsible for the day to day operations of the county government, enforce any policies (good/bad/ugly) the BoS adopts or makes. In other words, if a bathroom needs toilet paper, the CA has to order it, or make sure it does get ordered.

The BoS, as we all know, does what it needs to do to run the county. Hire, fire, make sure that those in key positions are doing their jobs, make the budget, etc. If a member of the board makes what one may think is a bad decision, then that board member has the luxury of listening to the complaints.

If the citizens of Page County are unanimous (or majorically so) of a decision that is potentially harmful to our way of life, then the BoS knows not to go against the grain. If the public strongly voice their opinions that something is costing too much, then the BoS can take appropriate actions to rectify the situations and should not be threaten by both sides of a lawsuit, especially when it comes from a part of the government or the part of the government that is representing the landowner. They just need to do their job and do what the board tells them to do.

The citizens want to help. We now have the technology to be able to help out with decision making. Occasionally, one citizen will go above and beyond to make an impact. Perhaps the letter from Rainwater’s lawyer should not have mentioned anything about a lawsuit, but at least it presented legal options that the citizens felt that the BoS may have not been receiving properly.

If the two groups can work with each other instead of trying to out do each other, without the one group trying to hide the truth from the public, Page County can have a bright future.

 

Who is Lowell Baughn?

Below is a letter published in this weeks Page News written by Jay Dedman. Lowell’s involvement in the Project Clover deal has cause some concern among the county residents.

Last week I opened paper to see a man’s face on front page. Lowell Baughn. I see his name in the paper connected with so many county dealings. Who is this man? I don’t remember voting for him or hearing he was elected.

A friend told me he’s been head of the EDA for 30 years.  He seems to have the ability to spend taxpayer money without direct citizen input. Why? Is this some kind of untouchable second leadership?

Let’s just be clear. Mr. Baughn wants to spend $7.5-million for 210 acres of  farmland. The county is already struggling to balance it’s budget for this year. Remember the landfill fiasco that we’re still paying for? Clover will be like the new landfill if we allow it to be purchased. Everyone gets rich but the Page County taxpayers who will pay for the next 40-years.

So let’s default. We don;t need to borrow more money. Each of us must live within our means and so should we as a county. We’re cutting the school budget to the bone as well as other necessary services. There are already too many empty industrial parks along I-81. Let’s not add another one.

A friend told me that Lowell’s father was part of the “Byrd Machine“, when VA politics was run by a tight group of insiders. As a member of the new generation, those days of crony politics are over. Mr. Baughn says we can’t default on this proposed loan to Rebecca Graves Hudson. But we only default if Mrs. Hudson sues. As a citizen who’s family has lived here for generations, she could also realize this purchase is a bad deal for the community. She could be a hero. As is, Rebecca will still be paid over $1-million for 38 acres of farmland. Do the math. She’s no victim.

We elect leaders. They make the decisions for us. If I don’t like their decision, I help vote them out of office. So who is Lowell Baughn? I can’t vote him out of office because he’s never been elected. Lowell simply has power to spend $7.5-million of taxpayer money that nobody wants.

Jay Dedman, Rileyville

The Loan is Coming (just read between the lines)

Why would someone need about 3/4 of a newspaper page to tell the citizens of Page County that if we do not pay on a loan that is not the responsibility of the citizens in the first place. Instead of saying how Clover will help the community, there was talk that if we defaulted, it would ruin the county’s reputation. It may be possible that any lender that would deal with the county in the future would find their ending this deal to be a sign of good fiscal responsibility, given all the facts and today’s economic conditions. It may be possible. The cost to each  homeowner of paying Rebecca is $17 per $100,000 of assessed value of your home, per year, for the next forty years. If the EDA does get the loan, we will owe the USDA. The fact is, if we DON’T ruin our credit by defaulting, we will ruin our credit by being “sufficiently obligated”.

A letter to the EDA from Rebecca Graves Hudson’s lawyer states that if the County would to default on the loan that the federal officials would see it as default by the county and would make statewide news. The letter also states that any other business that wanted to settle in the county may think that Page County will not live up to its obligations and it would be a waste of time for such an investment.

Making statewide news, or national even, is nothing new to Page County. At least this time, Page County will be able to show how they were able to not make the mistakes like they have in the past. What will be shown statewide is that our very own EDA had exploited a loop hole that allow them to obtain land with taxpayers money without a public referendum. What will be shown is that a member of the EDA and the seller of the land are close personal friends. What will be shown is that a company, PTS, is promised 15 acres of the land to build a data center, with support from the Governor’s Opportunity Development Fund and the Region’s Economic Development partners, will invest $16.5 million in creating a data center and office complex in Page County, creating 96 new jobs in addition to their current staff, offering salaries double the County’s average per capita income but now they cannot because the company is broke, installed a sup par phone system for the county and then threaten to leave the county because they say we are “business unfriendly”.

Back to the article. If the USDA loan does come through, after Ms. Hudson is paid off, will there be enough to develop the land to be used as a business park? No one has yet to discuss this, but it may take another 10 to 12 million dollars to develop the land to be used as a business park. Any ideas where that money may come from?

EDA: Tenant or procurer of Businesses

The EDA is giving away free land. Of course we all know that PTS is getting 15 acres to build on IF they ever secure a loan that they had been pursuing for a couple of years. Now, there is a home that is being lived in, on industrial property, that needs a furnace because it is failing.

At the 3-18-2010 EDA meeting: 

Chairman Baughan reported that the furnace at the residence owned by the EDA at Project Clover is failing. He has received one estimate and will getting other prices after speaking with the tenant as to the extent of the problem.

What this means is that we, the taxpayers, will be footing the bill for that furnace, since the original agreement allows Ms. Hudson to have living rights to the property.

This could be the bargaining tool that the BoS could use to get the loan refinanced. The land has been rezoned industrial. So how can there be a residence on it? Why is the EDA just “free spending” the taxpayers money?

There is not enough of our money to fully fund our schools, what does the EDA think that there is enough money for a furnace in a house that isn’t supposed to be there anyway?

Page County EDA

“Cabin” Jim Turner is planning on a weekly segment about the Page County EDA and see where they went off track. Visit Hawksbill Cabin website for the story. My question(s) up for discussion is this. Since there is a “rush” into making payments, do you think that this will now “impair” the EDA’s judgments? Also, do you think that when (a) business(es) see a piece of undeveloped “business park”, do you think they are still going to want to settle here?

OOOPSSS!!! They Did It Again?

OK… this is getting ridiculous… In the agreement of the Clover Project, it is stated that the EDA is responsible for the payments. In the paper, Lowell Baughn said the County is resposible because they “pledge” in good faith. He also wrote: “The failure of Page County to honor its publicly stated good faith intentions to make support payments to the EDA in connection with the Clover Project should never be viewed lightly, by the county or any of its citizens. ” Then he goes on to say that if the county failed to meet this obligation, it is equivilant as not paying you home loan or any loan for that matter. If this is all true and Alice was given the wrong information via the VOIA, then I say we got shafted, again, if this deals falls through like the other past deals. This time it is done by our own. But as far as the rest of the article goes, the tax part is stated in the contract, but Baughn said there isn’t any. Someone is either lying or we are not getting the whole story. I do not remember ever the county asking the citizens for support in this venture because that would be big news for this newspaper and everyone would have known about it before all this had ever happended. What were the other 6 areas that was looked at? Is this going to add more strain to the Town of Stanley on the sewar and water? PTS wasn’t mentioned by Baughn.