It felt absolutely appropriate to kick off my 100th day as mayor by attending a 90th birthday party for one of the many inspiring, interesting Jamestowners I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know over the past 100 colorful, sometimes challenging, always fascinating … days. Here’s a round-up of the highlights and lowlights – stay tuned as we head into budget planning season. Happy Spring!
MOST FRUSTRATING: North Carolina’s “Open Meetings Law,” which restricts Council members from meeting in groups of more than two (and from using group emails) to discuss town business. It’s way harder than you’d think.
BEST MOMENT: Watching thousands of people from Jamestown (and beyond) line Vickery Chapel Road and Grandover Parkway to see the venerable monks’ Walk for Peace, fall silent as the monks passed by, then quietly go home.
LOW: Guilford County’s hefty property tax revaluations.
HIGH: Watching Councilman Westmoreland double down on his campaign promise to target our too-high property taxes.
LOW: The lack of information we have about new and withdrawn building projects, environmental (and Brownfield) assessments, pretreatment reports and water violations (Eastside).
HIGH: Getting Council’s consensus to sign a retainer agreement with one of the country’s best enviromental lawyers (to assess our eligibility for PFAS and forever chemical claims).
LOW: The impatience and disinterest shown by the D.R. Horton representative who spoke on behalf of his company at the March 12th information session.
HIGH: Making a surprise visit to the D.R. Horton development with Mayor Pro Tem Burgess, touring the model home, and finding it to be nicer than I expected.
LOW: Getting an earful from primary election poll workers and voters about how dirty and in need of repairs our Civic Center is.
HIGH: Having the candidates in one of the most closely-watched races in the country show up at our January Council meeting (Phil Berger and Sam Page).
LOW: Not hearing enough about plans for a concrete plant and rail transport facility in the middle of the Adams Farm/Gate City Blvd/Mackay Road residential and commercial center.
HIGH: The two-day Essentials of Municipal Government class (UNC School of Government/NC League of Municipalities) the town manager sent “the Jims” (Gibson & Westmoreland) and me to. One of the best learning events I’ve ever attended.
LOW: The lack of access to public records and minutes of town meetings prior to 2014.
HIGH: Council and manager agreeing we need a public information/communications officer.
LOW: Getting calls on my personal phone about icy roads because the phone message portal at Town Hall was full.
HIGH: Last summer’s grass clippings were finally picked up along East Main St. (It looked so much cleaner, I thought the curbs had been power-washed.)
LOW: The lack of zoning and “permitted uses table” revisions, minutes, amendments and accessible archives.
HIGH: Will Ragsdale and Jay McQuillan’s very impressive vision and plans for Mendenhall Homeplace and Historic Jamestown Society 2.0.
LOW: The town manager and attorney advising me to stop encouraging residents to attach a Flume water-usage monitoring device to their town-owned water meters.
HIGH: The town manager’s March 19th proposal to provide Jamestown water customers with digital “smart” meters and customer portals that track real-time water usage, detect leaks, and help manage consumption.
LOW: Not seeing enough local coverage of Jamestown’s outstanding restaurants, coffee shops, stores, entertainment/live music, and free parking.
HIGH: That awesome profile of Jamestown in O’Henry magazine’s January issue.
LOW: The number of people who tell me they’ve sent an email or left a phone message that I never saw or received.
BREAKING NEWS! I just set up a new email account so I’ll have access 24/7: mayorsusandickenson@gmail.com (keep in mind that everything we discuss will be archived for the public record)
LOW: Showing my mother-in-law the Town of Jamestown Youtube video of my husband holding the Bible while I was sworn into office. It was the last real conversation we had with her before she died on December 26th.
HIGH: Attending the 47th annual Saint Patrick’s Tea at Pennybyrn with my mother, and hanging out with her good friend Linda, who happens to be Public Services Director Paul Blanchard’s aunt.