The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1959-05-08
COUNTY
REPORT
DAVID STICK
Dore County Commissioner.
Ailontie township

This report did not appear last
week because l was attending the
school for newly elected County
Commissioners conducted by the
Institute of Government in Chapel
Hill.
The Institute of Government
building in Chapel Hill was made
possible by a half million dollar
gift from the foundation founded
by the late Joseph P. Knapp, who
was well known to many Dare
County people. The Institute it
self is financed by the State of
North Carolina as means of in
forming local and State officials
of the duties and obligations of
their offices, and though the
school for County Commissioners
has been in operation for more
than 20 years this was the first
time Dare County had been repre-
sented.
For the better part of three days
new commissioners from approx
mately half of the counties in the
State received detailed instruction
on their legal responsibilities in
all phases of county government.
The classes started at $3.50 am.
and lasted until 1920 pm, and
there was ample opportunity to
ask specific questions and to par
ticipate in localized discussions
with the thoroughly trained in
structors on the staff, and to COM
pare notes with county commits
sioners, county attorneys and
county managers from all over the
State.
In future columns I intend to
report in detail on what l learned
at the school, but l might as we'll
admit right now that long before
the course was ended it had be-
come clear that Dare County af-
fairs have been conducted with
less regard for the laws of the
State than probably any other
county in North Carolina. It
reached a point where l was en-
barrassed to ask questions be-
cause time after time it developed
that we were doing things in di-
rect violation of the law, or were
failing to follow the procedures
the law requires commissioners to
follow.
l have heard Dare County Off
Gals ridicule the instructors on
the staff of the Institute of Gov
eminent as a bunch of professors
with no practical experience, and
the handbooks the Institute pre-
pares as worthless junk. But if
the officials doing the criticizing
had bothered to attend an Insti-
tute school when they were first
elected they could have learned
the proper and legal way to con-
duct their offices, and could have
corrected many of the mistakes
which plague us today.
Certainly if Commissioners had
been fully aware that in many in
stances they can be forced to reim
burse the county out of their own
pockets for the type of tax refunds
and releases which have been
granted regularly as matter of
course, the county would be better
off financially than it is today.
And certainly, too, if all Dare
County Commissioners had fully
understood the legal limitations
on their activities in appropliating
and spending money, under the
County Fiscal Control Act, there
would have been none of the bor-
rowing and exchanging between
funds which has resulted in terrif-
fic shortages on the books today.
The only promise l made during
my campaign for office was that
l would work steadily to try to
secure the bridging of Oregon In
let. Though my efforts have borne
no fruit l have kept that promise,
and on my return from Chapel
Hill for example | spent most of
a day pressing the subject with
State officials in Raleigh. AS of
today, however, will make Sec
ond promise. l will work steadily
during the remainder of my two
year term of office to try to influ-
ence the office holders and en-
sployees of Dare County to stop do
ing things they are not allowed by
law to do, and to conduct their af-
fairs in the manner the Constitu-
ton and the State Legislature
have prescribed.
This may not have been impor-
tant in the early days of the
county when Roanoke Island, Hat
teras Island, the mainland and the
North Banks We're all isolated by
water, and when county business
was small operation and the only
people concerned were those who
lived here permanently. Today,
however, the State requires each
county to supply large sums of
money to supplement the expanded
school and welfare programs, and
to conduct numerous other activi-