Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC)- Part 1

BRAC Regional Task Force Website

The past few days have witnessed a rapid-fire sequence of important activity related to Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) and its potential impact on Lee County.  On Thursday afternoon, the Lee County Board of Commissioners (BOC) unexpectedly took up the discussion of BRAC Marketing during its budget deliberation.  Our BOC debated the merits of sustaining involvement of BRAC marketing along with the other 10 tier one counties and seemed tready to terminate the three-year marketing commitment without public comment and without even having the marketing plan in front of them for review.  It was a classic case of the "blind leading the blind."  Fortunately, no vote was taken and discussions were tabled for continuance at the following (June 7) regular meeting of the BOC.

The next day, a number of Lee County local merchants, realtors, schools and agencies hosted a BRAC regional fair at the Atlanta Airport's Marriott Hotel.  Commendations are in order for the Sanford Herald's coverage of the Atlanta event, where Lee and Moore Counties conducted the joint regional fair  See this link for Editor Billy Liggett's coverage: Sanford Herald's Coverage of the BRAC Regional Fair . 

The event was  reasonably well attended despite its limited publicity among the soldiers and civilians at Forces Command (FORSCOM) and U.S. Army Reserve Command (USARC), the two commands moving thousands into our region beginning late this year.  All totaled, more than 100 soldiers and Department of the Army civilians came to visit our booths at the Marriott.  Most of them expressed distinct interest in relocating to Lee County.  It's encouraging to witness this level of interest in our small county, knowing fewer than 10% of the soldiers and civilians from the relocating commands received advanced notice about the event.  Apparently, there was no official support or promotion of this event allowed at Fort McPherson, GA, where the commands are located.  So, those that attended found out through the 'grapevine' of local papers and internet resources.  (Hopefully, we can find a way of securing official notice and support for future such events.)

I spoke to a number of the officers and civilians who came to our event and shared with them the  rationale I used in choosing Sanford and Lee County over other possible places to live when my family moved here from Ft Lewis, WA in 1999.  It was reassuring to hear many of them share the same thought process.  These professional families-- many of them dual income --are looking for a strategically smart, affordable, and safe location to transplant their families to.  Most want a place they can fancy as a permanent home.  Sanford provides all of that, and more.  All of us in attendance at the Atlanta event took pride in sharing the many advantages of Lee County over the surrounding locales; and by all accounts, our message resonated.

I was particularly encouraged with the preparation that several of our local realtors and mortgage lenders had made and with the manner in which they promoted Lee County in Atlanta.  Kudos to the Carolina Trace team that did a superb job of presenting its many amenities.  As the first significant feature most prospective new residents notice as they travel north into Lee County along Highway 87, the importance of Trace as a Lee County attraction cannot be over-stated!

After returning from Atlanta, I was compelled to contact Mr. John Harbison, Director of the BRAC Regional Task Force (RTF), and I shared with him my concerns with Lee County possibly pulling out of the joint marketing effort.  Today, June 7, Mr Harbison sent me a lengthy email reminding me of the many ongoing benefits we receive from BRAC marketing, as well as the likely future pay-out for being a part of the tier-one counties.  He had no indication Lee County was considering a withdrawl (which was further evidence our BOC had not carefully contemplated or coordinated such a change).      

It appears the message got through to the BOC before this afternoon's budget deliberations.  The Board elected not to vote on making BRAC Marketing a 'billpayer' for other budget items.  Let's all hope and pray the BOC will have the good sense to stay the course as important BRAC opportunities develop in the coming months.  I promise my blog followers to be vigilant in ensuring we continue to promote Lee County to prospective businesses and residents, and to help identify and advertise job opportunities for Lee County citizens at Ft Bragg as they emerge in the coming months.

2010-2011 Budget Cycle

It’s budget time again—for both the City of Sanford and for Lee County. The County and City Managers have presented their budgets and deliberations are underway. Tonight the Sanford City Council pondered Hal Hegwer’s revised budget submission (http://www.sanfordnc.net/Proposed%20Budget%2010-11.PDF) along with a motion and discussion from Council regarding a possible tax rate reduction and the possible set-aside of $75,000 in new funding for non-profits. Councilman Sam Gaskins had previously conceived of the notion to reduce municipal property taxes by a penny per hundred, a novel and commendable gesture that would provide movement in the right direction from our high existing tax rate. Tonight, Councilman Mike Stone made the motion to get the process rolling for a tax rate reduction and to alert the community of an unexpected $75K windfall of funds emanating from the ABC accounts. Mr. Stone motioned these funds be set aside as a means of support for the non-profits of the community, as has been recently requested.  There seemed to be a good deal of support among council members for this initiative. 

Not everyone agrees with the City getting involved in funding non-profits with precious tax resources. This debate is as hotly contested as the debate about whether to use tax revenues to fund incentives and grants for new and existing corporate development in the county.  It should be noted the City of Sanford has been funding non-profits for over a decade. Hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars have been used in the past to fund the Temple Theater, Lee County Industries, and the Railroad House Museum, all non-profits. The Boys and Girls Club -- a magnificent local charity – recently petitioned the Council for funding assistance, which caused a good bit of discussion and debate, culminating in tonight’s marathon Council Meeting. Many of the local non-profits stood tonight, in public comment, to share the purpose and scope of their organizations and to outline the value they add to the local community. As the Council noted, all are worthy contributors to the quality of life in Sanford.

In the end, Mike Stone’s motion to reduce taxes and to set aside some funds for non-profits was tabled for further analysis and impact. But it was still refreshing to see just how passionate citizens are about our non-profit agencies. I anticipate the Council will find a way to develop a suitable funding policy, then to find a way of brokering those funds equitably through the United Way or other such agency. I was proud to see Council embrace the public comments and I pray Mr. Stone’s motion for the tax rate reduction and the funding set-aside for non-profits will be passed this month.

For the record:  I advocated tonight for the Bread of Life Ministries (BOLM) and the Sanford Outreach Mission (OM), both of which my family and church support with prayer, volunteer time, and money.     In a future blog column I will highlight the roles of these and other non-profits in elevating the quality of life here, and in helping those less fortunate persevere these tough economic conditions.