ECC Weekly Information Bulletin
June 12, 2015
Quote: There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never
were, and ask why not? Robert F. Kennedy
Play together construction grant—accessible playgrounds & equipment
East Carolina Behavioral Health is proud to announce to City and/or County Recreation and Park
Departments in Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Craven, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Hertford, Hyde,
Jones, Martin, Northampton, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Pitt, Tyrrell and Washington counties,
the opportunity to apply for the Play Together Construction Grant for Accessible Playgrounds. Play
Together Construction Grant Information Letter & Application
SOG Coates' Canons 'Transferring Money from an Enterprise Fund: Authority, Limitations, and
Consequences'
As local governments finalize their budgets, many governing boards are wrestling with difficult decisions
over how to raise sufficient revenues to cover estimated expenses during the upcoming fiscal year. G.S.
159-8 requires a governing board to adopt a balanced budget ordinance, whereby estimated revenues
plus appropriated fund balances equal appropriations. This balanced budget requirement applies to the
general fund and to each of the unit’s enterprise funds. G.S. 159-13(b)(16). Governing boards are often
reluctant to raise property tax rates to balance the general fund if there are any other available revenue
sources. Units sometimes look to transfer excess revenues from an enterprise fund to the general fund
in order to balance the latter. North Carolina local governments are authorized to make such transfers,
but there are certain limitations and potential consequences of which local officials should be
aware. This post defines what it means to “transfer” money from one fund to another and reviews the
legal authority to make a transfer from an enterprise fund in North Carolina. It then discusses the
potential negative effects of making such a transfer. You may view the latest post at
http://canons.sog.unc.edu/?p=8124
NADO Research Foundation and RUPRI Release Tool to Calculate Local Government Preparedness for
Disasters
The NADO Research Foundation and the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) have released a national
spreadsheet tool to supplement their publication, “Financial Planning for Disasters: A Workbook for
Local Governments and Regions.” The workbook and the spreadsheet are designed to help local
governments and regions understand their financial vulnerabilities to natural disasters, evaluate their
financial capacity to cover the costs of those disasters, identify strategies to close the gap between
financial vulnerability and capacity, and identify and address the spillover effects of neighboring local
governments’ financial vulnerabilities to disasters. The spreadsheet tool provides formulas to assist with
some of the calculations in the workbook’s module worksheets, making it easier to complete them on a
computer. The spreadsheet tool was developed through a technical assistance project for the
Northwest Georgia Regional Commission and with support from the U.S. Economic Development
Administration. Click here to download the workbook and the spreadsheet. Contact Matthew Fannin of
RUPRI at mfannin@agcenter.lsu.edu with any questions.
Police parking lots become safe zones for Craigslist deals
U.S. police departments, including those in Hartford, Conn., and Boca Raton, Fla., are setting up safe
zones in their parking lots for Craigslist transactions. "If it's gonna prevent a robbery, if it's gonna
prevent a homicide, if it's gonna make our citizens feel safe ... we can live with it," Hartford Chief of
Detectives Brian Foley said. "We don't want it to become a flea market out there, but certainly it hasn't
been a problem." WNPR (Connecticut)
NC Forest Service BMP Newsletter
The April-May-June edition of the NC Forest Service BMP Newsletter is posted and available from the
agency's website as a PDF file (2MB) from this
link: http://ncforestservice.gov/water_quality/bmp_newsletter.htm This edition highlights 2015 as the
International Year of Soil.
Annual NC Local Government Survey
Last year, many of you responded to the Public Policy Institute at Western Carolina University’s Annual
Local Government Survey (LoGoS) which concerned personnel issues in NC local governments. The link
to the analysis and the report is below.. It includes trends in hiring, turnover, retirements, and tools
used for hiring and retention. The results are based on survey responses from NC city and county
managers and human resource officers from across the state. While some of these findings may be selfevident, they hope that seeing the overall opinions of your colleagues may be helpful in your
organization. http://www.wcu.edu/about-wcu/centers-institutes-affiliates/public-policy-institute/localgovernment-survey-logos.asp
ULI releases new toolkit: Strategies to Enhance Health Outcomes
The Urban Land Institute has released a new toolkit, Building Healthy Places Toolkit: Strategies for
Enhancing Health in the Built Environment, that outlines 21 practical, evidence-based recommendations
that the development community can use to promote health at the building or project scale. The
recommendations, based on the latest documentation of the need for and impact of building for health,
were formulated to help developers, owners, property managers, designers, and investors understand
opportunities to integrate health promoting practices into real estate development. The release of the
report is in response to declining health trends in the United States and other countries around the
world, with many of the conditions linked to past land use decisions that limited options for healthy,
active living environments. Click here to download the report. Click here to download a poster with a
summary of the 21 recommendations.
Police parking lots become safe zones for Craigslist deals
U.S. police departments, including those in Hartford, Conn., and Boca Raton, Fla., are setting up safe
zones in their parking lots for Craigslist transactions. "If it's gonna prevent a robbery, if it's gonna
prevent a homicide, if it's gonna make our citizens feel safe ... we can live with it," Hartford Chief of
Detectives Brian Foley said. "We don't want it to become a flea market out there, but certainly it hasn't
been a problem." WNPR (Connecticut)
Child Opportunity Index
Brandeis University’s Heller School of Social Policy and Management and the Kirwan Institute for the
Study of Race and Ethnicity recently developed the Child Opportunity Index to evaluate neighborhoods
across the county on their ability to provide resources for families and children. The interactive tool
ranks neighborhoods based no how healthy they are for childhood development to assist families when
they move to new areas. To determine a neighborhood’s overall ranking, researchers
examined: Educational opportunities, Health and environmental opportunities, and Social and
economic opportunities. According to the Child Opportunity Index data, many communities in the U.S.
fail to provide residents with the appropriate tools to raise healthy and successful children. For example,
many children do not live near outdoor playgrounds that encourage physical activity. When
neighborhoods lack these essential childhood development resources, it is more difficult to attract
young families to the area.
SOG Coates’ Canons: Using Private Email for Public Business: Is it Illegal in North Carolina?
News about Hillary Clinton’s exclusive use of private emails and a “homebrew” server raised both
political and legal issues. I’ll leave the political issues to the pundits, and I’m not an expert in federal
records retention requirements. But I thought our readers might be interested in how these issues
would play out under North Carolina’s public records law. http://canons.sog.unc.edu/?p=8033
Death in America—what are the options?
For most people in this country, there are two options after death: You are buried or you are burned.
The costs, both environmental and financial, are significant, but we accept these options because they
are all that we know. One Seattle architect wants to change this, to develop a form of body disposal that
will both cost little and actually improve the environment. But before we get to that, let’s look at the
current state of death in America. Read more…
SOG publication: Contracting: quick reference and related statutes
North Carolina Local Government Contracting: Quick Reference and Related Statutes, by Norma R.
Houston, is now available at http://bit.ly/12jvSoq. This publication is a quick reference for the
contracting, bidding, and property disposal requirements for North Carolina local governments. It
provides general guidance to public officials and other interested in the public contracting process. This
edition includes selected North Carolina General Statutes governing contracting and
bidding. Title: North Carolina Local Government Contracting: Quick Reference and Related Statutes By
R. Houston, Lecturer in Public Law and Government. November 2014. No. of pages: 150. Price: $30.00
Community Health Status Indicators (CHSI)
Interactive web-based tool for viewing county-level health information. Offers comparisons to peer
counties for key indicators related to healthcare access and quality, health behaviors, health outcomes,
and other factors that impact health. Click here.
SOG Coates' Canons 'Conveyance of Local Government Property to Nonprofit EDC for Industrial Park'
Ray Kinsella leads the nonprofit economic development corporation (the “EDC”) that was jointly formed
by the county and its largest city in the early 2000s, and that is now governed by an independent board
of directors. Ray has heard some optimistic forecasts of “re-shoring” of manufacturing facilities to the
United States, and he has a plan to take advantage of the possible trend. He proposes for the EDC to
build a new industrial park with the help of the county and city. Upon completion of the park, Ray
believes the available land with new infrastructure will attract manufacturing facilities to the local
area. The EDC hasn’t amassed enough privately-raised capital to undertake the project on its own, and
private developers and investors don’t have an appetite for the project, so Ray’s plan depends on direct
local government support. Ray proposes for the county to contribute the land for the park by conveying
a 500-acre tract of land, which the county already owns, to the EDC for one dollar. The tract lies outside
of city limits, but Ray thinks he can convince the city to provide water and sewer. Ray plans to market
the tract to manufacturing companies, and when a company decides to locate in the park, the EDC will
sell the required land to the company. Ray hopes the EDC can keep the proceeds from any sale, and
then the EDC would use those retained proceeds for future economic development activities. Is the
EDC’s proposed structure allowable? In a word, no. View the post: http://canons.sog.unc.edu/?p=8037
Housing assistance to underserved communities
Housing Fund, a Nashville community development financial institution that provides housing assistance
to underserved communities, recently received a $200,000 grant to help low- and middle-income artists
buy, rehabilitate and construct affordable living and studio space. The money was awarded by the
Kresge and Surdna Foundations and will fuel the Housing Fund’s Make A Mark Loan Program. The two
national foundations awarded seven community lenders across the country with housing grants. The
Housing Fund’s Make A Mark Loan Program will provide financing specifically to artists and the creative
community. The goal is to help the artistic community secure an affordable stake in the key
neighborhoods. The Housing Fund provides underserved markets with resources and creative
leadership to help communities build and maintain affordable housing options. The Housing Fund has
lent more than $67 million to struggling populations, resulting in the construction of 4,500 housing units
and community development projects in Nashville and Davidson County.
Next wave of financial transparency
The next wave of the open data movement is all about financial transparency. But, what does it mean to
provide financial transparency, exactly? Socrata’s whitepaper, “5 Things You Need to Know About
Financial Transparency,” provides a deeper understanding of why making financial information open
and available online needs to be the public sector's next open data goal. In this whitepaper, you will
learn: What it means to provide financial transparency; Why your organization should prioritize
financial transparency; and Who benefits when your organization opens up financial data. Download the
whitepaper today and start your journey towards improving your organization’s transparency goals.
Click here…
ECC offers a number of services at reduced cost for member governments. Contact ECC if you need a
price for these services for your FY 15/16 budget. pflanagan@eccog.org
• Asset mapping to meet grantor requirements for infrastructure funding
• Maps (all sizes);
• Special studies (e.g., pay classification);
• Staffing for planning and zoning boards;
• GPS services;
• GIS mapping services;
• Mapping water, sewer and stormwater systems
• Map scanning (will make that ratty looking map look almost new and give you a digital copy);
• Surveys (citizen, special issue, employee, P&R);
• Various types of plans (P&R, revitalization, redevelopment, business development, etc.);
• Interim help (finance, planning);
• Staff training (communication, customer service, team building, managing employees, grant
writing, grant management, etc.)
• Executive Searches (managers, executive directors, police chiefs, etc.)
Workshops/Meetings/Events/Deadlines coming up soon
6/11
ECC General Meeting Board 6 PM ECC office, 2nd floor Conf. Rm. eccadmin@eccog.org
6/12
EDA applications due for public works projects jhills@eccog.org
6/17
SOG course: Essentials of Economic Development –Rocky Mount-- www.sog.unc.edu/node/1197
7/3
ECC office closed for Independence Day Holiday
7/9
ECC Executive Committee Meeting 6 PM ECC office, 2nd floor Conf. Rm. eccadmin@eccog.org
7/13-17 SOG Public Executive Leadership Academy at UNC-CH www.pela.unc.edu
7/16
ECRPO meeting at Train Station in Mount Olive 9:30 to 11 AM rwill@eccog.org
7/21
DERPO TCC meeting at Human Services Building in Alliance 10-11:30 AM pflanagan@eccog.org
7/28
DERPO TAC meeting at O. Marks Building in New Bern 10-11:30 AM pflanagan@eccog.org
8/3-7 SOG Public Executive Leadership Academy at UNC-CH www.pela.unc.edu
Note: The material contained in this bulletin is a compilation from a number of electronic and print
sources.
Eastern Carolina Council P0 Box 1717 New Bern, NC 28563-1717
Phone 252.638.3185 Ext. 3005 Fax 252.638.3187 Web http://www.eccog.org email jhills@eccog.org