482-4418
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Schools
hit AYP
targets
State retests figure into
equation for first time;
Hohnes did not pass
By Earline White
Managing Editor a :
Three out of four Edenton
Chowan Schools made ad
equate yearly progress (AYP)
in 2008-2009.
D.F. Walker and Chowan
Middle met 21 of 21 target
goals. White Oak, a feeder
school for Walker, therefore
also made AYP.
Holmes did not make AYP
due to reading and math end
of-course testing.
The year prior, none of E-C
schools made AYP.
Willie Koonce, director of
testing for the E-C school sys
tem feels that the state’s re
consideration of retest scores
for grades 3-8 helped many
schools statewide meet the
target.
Initially retest scores were
set ih place to gauge student
accountability in the gateway
years (3,5,8). But the scores
have never been utilized out
side of local systems before
now, Superintendent Allan
Smith said Monday.
Next year the state plans to
count retesting scores at the
high school level as well.
According to Koonce, re
testing is more common in
the lower grades — approxi
mately 20 8th grade students
retest compared to 65 at the
lower levels.
If the same local schools
make AYP next year, the 20
percent of Title One funding
used strictly for supplemen
tal education services could
• be eliminated and used else
where within the system.
IN RELATED NEWS
Money will not be provided
from central office for school
field trips in the coming year.
Board of education mem
bers will received zero com
pensation.
School employee salaries
will take a two percent cut.
Class size is up two students
per grade, but still within
state guidelines.
The system is down 26 posi
tions from last year. However,
two teachers assistants, one
bus mechanic and four teach
ing positions were able to be
saved due to state funding.
Smith plans to have a bud
get for board approval at the
E-C Board of Education’s Au
gust meeting, pending state
budget approval.
Council tells Knighton ‘no’ to power agency’s request for debt restructuring
By Rebecca Bunch
Staff Writer
The Edenton Town Council
has given manager Anne-Ma
rie Knighton her marching
orders—vote “no” on a power
agency plan to restructure its
debt.
Knighton, a director on the
board of the N.C. Municipal
Power Agency, will be cast
ing a vote on the plan during
a meeting scheduled to take
place Wednesday (today) in
Wilson.
The agency supplies elec
©2009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
Edenton 9-10 year-old Little League Allstars beat Wiiliamston Allstars Wednesday night 3 to 1 to become the Tarheel District 7,9-10 Little League Champions for 2009.
The team competes in the state tournament this weekend in Ervin, N.C.
The 9-10 year-old Edenton Allstar team is from left, front, Nathaniel Stallings, Hunter Bass, Hunter Berryman, Braeden Macintosh, William High, Jaden Bobitt, and Ben
Ward; second row, Daniel Jones, Matthew Benfield, Scottie White, Cole Turner, Patrick Downun, Khalil Blount; row three, Coach Eathan Benfield, Coach Hackney High, Coach
John Downum and Coach Jim Macintosh.
FEUSABASS
THEY’VE GOT THEIR GAME ON
To make sure each child can participate in the state tournament, donations are welcome. Call 482-8595 to learn how.
Chowan should seek $259K spent without approval
Report finds fault with the
county commissioners for
putting too much trust in the
former county manager
By Dee Langston
Correspondent
Although a report issued Friday by
the State Auditor’s office finds no evi
dence of embezzlement or other crim
inal activity in last summer’s finan
cial crisis in Chowan County, it does
point to nine findings of wrongdoing
in the way the county’s business has
been conducted over a period of sev
eral years.
The report was only a preliminary
investigation into the county’s near
financial meltdown last summer; its
findings have been forwarded to the
district attorney’s office and State
Bureau of Investigation, which will
continue the investigation.
The report finds fault with the
county Board of Commissioners for
tricity to Edenton and other
member communities.
In a memo to the council,
prior to their monthly meet
-ing last Tuesday, Knighton
explained the various refund
ing or restructuring options
being considered, and asked
for their input.
“It appears to me the most
beneficial option is the mod
est restructuring model,” she
said.
That option would yield less
than one percent annual cost
savings but would help the
agency increase its working
capital. That, in turn, could
help stabilize its rates,
CUSTOMERS FORGOTTEN
The mayor and councilmen
expressed disappointment
with the idea and said that
they felt the burden citizens
putting too much trust in the former
county manager, leading to poor fi
nancial oversight, but the other eight
findings point directly to Copeland.
The report makes several recom
mendations for the commissioners,
including the suggesting that the
county try to recoup $259,493 paid to a
Raleigh-based communications firm,
Capstrat, hired by the former county
manager, unless there is evidence
that the county benefitted from the
association.
Eddy Goodwin, chairman of the
Chowan County Board of Commis
sioners, said that’s what the board
intends to do.
“We’re going to explore all possibil
ities that are available to us,” he said.
“We will seek any remedy we can.”
Other commissioners were a little
more reserved, however.
Louis Belfield, a commissioner who
served on the board during Copeland’s
tenure, said Tuesday he wasn’t ready
to comment on the auditor’s report.
“I just haven’t had an opportunity
to access anything yet. I’m not pre
are already bearing due to
high utility bills should be the
agency’s first priority.
Councilman Jerry Parks
said he was uncomfortable
with the fact that the agency
performed the analysis itself.
"You lose credibility when
you perform your own analy
sis,” he said.
He also questioned the re
port’s findings.
“When you amortize a debt,
it doesn’t at sortie time begin
costing you more,” Parks said.
“I’m a simple man, as I’ve told
you a lot of times. In my sim
ple world, that doesn’t make
sense.”
And Councilman Steve
Biggs suggested that some
belt-tightening needed to be
taking place at the power
agency
“That’s just one man’s opin
ion,” he said, “but I haven’t
pared to make a
statement „ about
that, not now,” he
said. “When I say
something, I want
it to be factual, not
emotional. I like
mine to be based
on fact.”
Commissioner
Copeland Jimmy Alligood,
. who also served on
the board during part of Copeland’s
30-year stint as county manager, de
clined to comment as well.
“I have looked over it,” he said of
the report, “but I’d just rather hold
my comments at this time. ”
The money is part of more than a
half-million dollars that was spent
without the approval of the Chowan
County Board of Commissioners,
which means the expenditures were
invalid.
Under these circumstances, the
county may be able to hold Copeland
liable for the disbursements.
The funds paid to Capstrat were
seen any signs of that hap
pening."
ABOUT PLAN
In Knighton’s memo, she of
fered some history of the debt
in question.
“(The) analysis took into
consideration the fact .that in
2006 the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission extended the li
censing permits for the Bruns
wick Nuclear Plant from 2016
to 2036 and issued an exten
sion in December 2008 for the
Harris Nuclear Plant from
2026 to 2046,” she wrote.
“The current debt will to
tally be paid off in 2026 and
we begin to see modest debt
relief around 2012 gradually
decreasing every year down
to 2026. The (power agency)
board was hopeful that per
haps the license extensions
S >1 .
just part of the problems that lead to
the county’s financial crisis, Goodwin
pointed out. Last summer, county of
ficials learned that the county’s bud
get for 2008-2009 was out of balance by
nearly $4 million.
ADDITIONAL FINDINGS
• The commissioners repeatedly
failed to heed the written concerns
of the Local Government Commis
sion. The (LGC) sent an annual writ
ten report to the, board chairman,
and warned in 2003, 2005, 2006 and
2007 that there was the potential for
cash flow. No significant decrease in
expenditures or increase in revenues
occurred during those years.
• The former county manager failed
to see that orders, ordinances, reso
lutions and regulations of the Board
of Commissioners were faithfully ex
ecuted.
• Repayment of funds borrowed
from the county’s reserve fund from
the sale of the hospital never oc
See AUDITOR on Page 2A
“If we were to restructure now,
we would see marginal cost sav
ings immediately but in the year
2023 the costs would be almost
20 percent higher for the next 13
years.”
Edenton Town Manager,
Anne Marie Knighton
would provide an opportunity
to restructure and extend debt
over longer plant life. ”
The board has learned from
its finance officer that the ma
jority of the power agency’s
debt, about 70 percent, cannot
be refinanced on a tax-exempt
basis due to federal law re
strictions.
Restructuring would also
present difficulties, Knighton
said.
“If we were to restructure
now, we would see marginal
♦
cost savings immediately
but in the year 2023 the costs
would be almost 20 percent
higher for the next 13 years,”
she said.
Knighton said if the plan [-M
were to be approved, “I’m sure
they would use it (increase in
working capital) for rate sta
bilization.”
But after hearing the opin
ions voiced Tuesday night,
she said, “I hear you. I will
vote ‘no’ and I will tell them r
why.”