482-4418
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
50*
Decision
2012
Regional candidates
for federal, state
and local offices
PAGE 3A
Study: employees ‘frustrated’ over pay
Workers paid below
regional averages
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
A much-awaited study
revealed that 43.5 percent
of Chowan County’s em
ployees are paid below the
minimum of a proposed
salary range consistent
with the region.
FINDING the LIGHT 1
STAFF PHOTO BY RITCHIE STARNES
A crew with Waff Contracting uses a crane on a barge to install pilings in preparation of moving the 1886 Roanoke River
Lighthouse over the water. The Lighthouse sits in the background. '
Funds found for Lighthouse completion
Public will
• have access
By REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
Less than a week after it was
announced that a lack of
funds would prohibit pub
lic access to the renovated 1886
Roanoke River Lighthouse, funds
have been identified to complete
the project.
By mid-May state officials
expect to have sufficient funds
in hand to complete work on
the Lighthouse on the down
town Edenton waterfront. Mark
Cooney, director of capital
projects for the N.C. Depart
ment of Cultural Resources, said
Thursday that on March 6 the
Joint Legislative Committee for
Government Operations approved
a proposal from the state Office
Three more local sterilization victims are identified
Perdue urges victims
to come forward
From staff, wire reports
North Carolina officials
have verified more vic
tims of the state’s now dis
0
©2009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
American legion post 40 BBQ Chicken Plate
Friday, March 23,2012 $8.oo donation
CaU 252-482-4057 to purchase tickets pfate ^
Nearly one year after
the Board of Commission
ers hired Virginia-based
Springsted to conduct a sal
ary study for its employees,
the firm presented its find
ings Monday morning that
included a recommenda
tion for changes within the
county’s pay structure. It
offered two options to rem
edy the problem, including
one that would costs tax
payers $521,409.
of Budget and Management to
fund $62,250,000 worth of repair
and renovation projects for state
agencies.
“The Roanoke River Light
house, specifically, phase II, in the
amount of $454,000, was included
.in their proposal,” Cooney said.
He added that he too was sur
prised of the funding develop
ments.
Cooney said the funding would
allow for the completion of the
restoration of the three-story,
2,000-square-foot lighthouse to its
original condition.
Cooney said that the scope of
phase II would include restora
tion of the interior spaces of the
lighthouse, access structures, new
HVAC systems, new fire/smoke
detection systems, hazardous
material testing and abatement,
and lighthouse lens and lens base
restoration.
“We plan to work closely with
graced forced-sterilization
program, including three
more from Albemarle area
counties.
To date, the N.C. Justice
for* Sterilization Victims
Foundation has verified
111 people who were steril
ized in 48 counties through
a program operated from
1929 to 1974 by the former
N.C. Eugenics Board.
Two of those victims
have been verified as Per
quimans County residents.
Another has been veri
“Because salaries are be
low average market rates,
the County experiences dif
ficulty hiring and retaining
employees in certain posi
tions,” the report stated.
“The County also experi
ences turnover in many
positions that are paid at a
higher rate by comparable
organizations with which
the County competes for
employees.”
County leaders did not
fled as a Camden County
resident. A fourth has
been verified as a Chowan
County resident.
Jill Lucas, a spokes
woman for Gov. Bev Per
due, declined to provide
the names of the four veri
fied victims in local coun
ties, citing confidentiality
concerns.
However, Elaine Riddick
of Hertford is apparently
one of the Perquimans
victims. Riddick, who was
sterilized by the Eugen
seem surprised Dy me nna
mgs.
“It was
what I
was ex
pecting,”
said Keith
Nixon,
commis
sioners’
vice chair
Nixon
man. Most ot the time
when they do these studies,
they comeback with some
the Edenton Historical Commis
sion and the state Historic Sites
curators to furnish the interior
spaces and provide interpretive
exhibits based on a period from
1886-1900,” Cooney said.
Cooney said that at this point in
the process a completion date for
this final phase of the project has
not been determined. However,
he said that, “upon completion of
the phase II restoration project,
interior furnishings and exhibits,
the Lighthouse will be open to the
public.” V
Original estimates called for
$709,000 to complete phase II.
Cooney said Monday that the
lighthouse restoration “is not
your typical project” and that in
giving the estimate the depart
ment aimed high. He said that
labor and materials costs would
not be as high as the department
See LIGHTHOUSE, 2A
ics Board in the 1960s af
ter giving birth to a child
at age 14,
has been
an outspo
ken public
advocate
for the
program’s
victims.
Accord
ing to the
Riddick
foundation, Lenoir coun
ty has the highest number
of procedure-to-victim
matches with 18. Meek
tning inte tnis. it concerns
me though that we weren’t
competitive.”
County Manager Zee
Lamb said he too was not
surprised.
“Anytime you have one
of these studies, you have
compression issues,” re
ferring to the logjam of
employees below the firm’s
salary expectations.
Nha5n said, however, that
Chowan does hot suffer
Library could
be forced to
reduce days
Funding remains down, use up
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
Supporters
of the Shepa
rd-Pruden Me
morial Library
warn that if
the county
again fails to
fully fund the
facility, the li
brary will be
forced to close
another day a
week.
tAs Chowan
ounty depart
lent heads
prepare their
annual bud
gets for the
2012-13 fiscal
year, Friends
of the Library
are also gear
ing up a cam
paign to bring
awareness to
the library’s financial plight and its value to
the community. Already closed on weekends,
See LIBRARY, 4A
VC loss to
get review
Subcommittee to examine findings
By REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
A proposal to close the Edenton Visitor Center
two days a week may be getting a second look.
A subcommittee named last month to study a
report that contained that recommendation as
well as other state cost savings on attractions
it funds declined to support the proposal that
would close the local Visitor Center on Sun
days and Mondays. Another recommendation
to close the Museum of the Albemarle in Eliza
beth City was also put on hold.
See VC, 4A
leriburg, which had the
highest number of proce
dures of any North Caro
lina comity, follows with
10 verifications. However,
Buncombe, Scotland and
Hertford counties ranked
in the Top 10 for number
of procedures but have no
matches.
Locally, Pasquotank.
County had the highest
number of procedures
—39 — but no verified
matches. Perquimans had
the second-highest num
from high employee turn
over nor does it have trou
ble recruiting employees.
He attributed the county’s
retirement systenr as most
appealing to employees.
Nixon also questioned
whether the more affluent
Currituck County, one of
the counties part of the
study comparison, was a
fair inclusion.
Se6 SALARY, 4A
By the
Numbers
Annual budget costs for
Pettigrew Libraries: |
CHOWAN
Cost of Materials: $500 f
Total cost: $142,076
J PERQUIMANS
Cost of Materials:
$13,787 *
Total cost: $144,256
I TYRRELL [
-4 Cost of Materials: i
$6,779 . \
Total cost: $90,000
WASHINGTON
Cost of Materials:
$16,100 ;
Total cost: $150,000
ber of procedures — 36
— with two matches. Gates
County had the third-high
est number of procedures
— 41 — but no verified
matches. Chowan had
23 procedures with one
match; Camden had 17 pro
cedures with one match;
Dare had nine procedures
and no matches; and Cur
rituck had six procedures
and no matches.
Perdue said in a news
See EUGENICS, 7A