Monday, November 16, 2009
Commissioners to meet on protest petition Thursday morning
Durham County Commissioner Becky Heron said today that commissioners are scheduled to meet with the planning department and county attorney at 10 a.m. Thursday to hear a report on the status of the Jordan Lake rezoning protest petition.
Heron said the board will discuss the issue in closed session. The Acting Clerk to the Board of Commssioners wasn't available this afternoon to confirm the meeting, but her assistant did confirm a meeting has been scheduled. Heron said commissioners communicated over the weekend to schedule it.
It's unclear whether the planning department or county attorney have anything new to add to a Nov. 5 announcement by County Attorney Lowell Siler that the petition was invalid. The Indy has several calls out to public officials, and will update accordingly.
UPDATE, 3:15 p.m. - County Manager Mike Ruffin received a memo late Friday from planning Director Steve Medlin regarding the Jordan Lake protest petition, Ruffin said, but Siler has advised the county that the memo isn't public because it contains confidential information protected by state law. It's unclear whether this is relative to a pending lawsuit against the county.
Ruffin also said the County Attorney has advised members of the planning department not to speak about the protest petition, and that he knows of no plans on the part of any county department to publicly outline the county's findings on the protest petition, but that county commissioners have the power to order the county to make the protest petition findings public after consulting with Siler on any legal ramifications.
Ruffin also said he couldn't confirm why commissioners are meeting Thursday, just that they're meeting in a closed session.
Comments (7)
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It seems to me that what's really going on is that Michael Paige, Joe Bowser, and Brenda Howerton (in absentia) are looking to closed session as a CYA move and an attempt to avoid having to face the public and defend their votes. Just MHO.
I have asked the County Attorney's office for a copy of the memo from the planning department to the board of commissioners. The attorney's office has acknowledged that such a memo exists, but they have not agreed to release it to me. They assert that they have the right to take a day or more to study the memo to determine whether there is some basis in law to avoid giving me a copy. The Public Records Act declares that county government records belong to the people and that the county must make its records available for public inspection within a reasonable time, but nevertheless as soon as possible. Since they have identified the record in question, they cannot claim that delay is necessary to perform a search or copying. There is no exemption in the public records law for memos between the planning department and the board of commissioners. Even if the memo relates to real or possible litigation, such a memo is not protected. It is not a written communication from the board's attorney to the commissioners or to a county agency. Those communications are protected. Written communications from the county planning staff to the manager or the board about a protest petition do not come under the limited attorney-client protections reposed in the law. To take more than a day to determine whether a single identified memo is covered or exempt from the requirements of the public records laws doesn't seem reasonable to me. In the meantime, I'm still waiting....
Frank, I agree with Melissa that Steve Medlin's admission of previous error was a courageous decision, one that may well earn him only slings and arrows. I also agree that the County's remarkable lack of transparency in this process is appalling. Seems like plain English to me, not GlennBeckian at all. We all know that while civil discourse may be our ideal, heated language is not the province of either side in this debate. I'm surprised that an old policy wonk like you would advance the notion that if the County emerges "unscathed" from this legal process, they'll somehow behave better in the future. Their inaction and secrecy surrounding this valid protest petition set a terrible precedent.
I support the efforts to keep dense development away from our drinking reservoirs and will be happy to see the rezoning vote overturned. Medlin and Siler are both damn good civil servants. And reasonable people of good will can disagree. I also have to say that language by activists that makes every official you agree with into a hero ("honesty, integrity, bravery") and every official you disagree with into some monster ("lack of transparency...appalling") to be at best childish and at worst Glen Beckian. County government isn't only dealing with an issue of clean water vs. development. If it was, these votes would have been settled counter to the developers interests months ago. County government is also in the courtroom of a judge who hasn't looked favorably upon the county's earlier process. There's a hellish price to pay whichever way the county goes. If the county can get out of the legal woods unscathed, they'll have much more room to maneuver on the issue of development. Frank Hyman
I have had it from multiple, reliable sources that Steve Medlin has ruled the protest petition valid as well. Why then has the county attorney silenced the planning department and all involved in order to keep the public in the dark about this? I certainly hope there are no thoughts about negating or reversing the planning director's decision. Looks like County Atty Siler made a similar mistake to Atty General Nifong -- declaring something is wrong (in this case, the protest petition) before having definitive proof to back up his claims. Once again, the recurring and persistent lack of transparency on the part of our gov't officials and employees is appalling. I wonder how much more K&L gates (attorneys for the developers) know about this than the public... Kudos to Steve Medlin for doing the right thing, despite the apparent pressure on him from the county attorney, and no doubt other gov't entities, to maintain the invalidity of the protest petition at all costs. We should all write the city council and demand that they support Medlin in his independent decision. This is a planning director with honesty, integrity and bravery. This is a planning director that is GOOD for Durham, even in the long run.
On Friday, the Planning Department director, Steve Medlin, found that the Jordan Lake Protest Petition was VALID, after 40 days of secret deliberation. Medlin sent an email to the County Commissioners, the County Attorney and County Manager to that effect. Yes, folks, the petition is valid, despite statements to the contrary by County Attorney Lowell Siler, the architect of this absurd veil of secrecy. You might expect that the County would own up to its mistake, but no, they are holding yet another secret meeting to discuss the valid petition. Delay, delay, delay, seems to be Siler's sole strategy. Isn't it time for the County to tell the truth at last?
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