Or at least made a valiant effort to do so.
At their last meeting, Davidson County commissioners placed an item accepting a grant from the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund on the consent agenda, which is where public officials spend money without anyone noticing. But they sold watchdog Barney Hill short:
The item, originally placed on the board’s consent agenda, was pulled off for further discussion after Thomasville resident Barney Hill criticized the board in a public address for not discussing the grant further. Commissioners talked about the grant at length Thursday, hearing from Davidson County Planing Director Guy Cornman and Cy Stober, water resources manager for the Piedmont Triad Council of Government.
“What is the greenway project doing on the consent agenda,” Hill questioned. “According to what I read in the newspaper, Mr. Cornman told you we have to get it locked in. I’m afraid the legislature is going to get in there and start cutting everything. That’s exactly what the legislature ought to be doing. If the legislature can’t cut something like this greenway project, what can they cut?”
A couple of issues needed to be settled. First, who would maintain the greenway —-the county or the City of Lexington? Second, exactly how much would maintenance add to the cost of the greenway, which is “conservatively” estimated to be $800k-plus for the 1.5-mile stretch.
