The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1959-04-10
COUNTY
REPORT
DAVID STICK
Dcre County Commissioner,
Atlontic township


ers has made a number of changes
in established county procedures
and is in the process of making
others. We expected a certain
amount of confusion as a result OF
these departures from long estab-
lished custom, and l for one have
had difficulty curbing my impa-
thence when county employees have
been slow to put the changes into
effect.
Unexpectedly, however, I have
been caught up in one of the
changes myself, a circumstance
I'm sure will please some of the
individuals I've been pressing
hardest. Here's what happened:
When Dare County was estab-
lished in 1870 the only means OF
transportation from Hatteras Is
land, the mainland, and the North
Banks to the county seat on Roa-
noke Island-it hadn't yet beer
named Manteo, Observation-Disclosures
by boat.
The trip from the more distant
sections of the county took the
better part of a day, which meant
the County Commissioners had to
leave home the day before meet
ing, and would not get back again
until the day after a meeting
Since many of the more devout
politicians rebelled at the idea OF
travelling on Sunday, it was
agreed that they would make the
trip to the county seat on Monday
have their meeting on Tuesday
and return home Wednesday.
Thus, for as long as anybody
seems to be able to remember, the
Dare County Board of Commits.
sioners has been meeting on the
Tuesday after the first Monday in
each month. In recent years al
least, it appears that Dare was the
only county in the State with such
an arrangement, all 80 of the
others having their meetings or
the first Monday in the month.
With the modern roads, bridges
and ferries which have been built
since World War Two, it is now
possible for a commissioner from
any part of the county to leave
home at a respectable hour in the
early morning, be at the county
seat in Manteo by 9 am, remain
there at least until A pm, and
still get home that evening. With
this in mind our Board voted at
the March meeting to get Dare in
line with the other SO North Caro-
lima counties by changing the
meeting date to the first Monday
in the month.
Monday of this week was the
first such meeting, and at least
one county department head failed
to take the change into considera-
ton and set aside Monday for the
preparation of the monthly report,
rather than for its actual presen-
tation to the Board. Which brings
us to my personal problem.
l have been in the habit since
starting these county reports of
getting them off Monday, but the
change to a Monday meeting got
me all mixed up, and here it is
practically deadline time, and no
report yet written. About all l can
do is to make brief mention of
several items which come to mind,
instead of reporting in more detail
on a specific phase of government
but l guarantee won't get caught
like this again.
This is the tenth of these re-
ports. They were started as a
means of passing on to anyone who
is interested, the information a
new county commissioner learns
about the inner workings of our
county government. 1t takes me
several hours to assemble the ma
terial and actually write each re-
port, and I wonder sometimes if
Pm wasting my time. In order to
determine whether to continue the
reports l need to find out whether
people throughout the county are
getting anything out of them, and
about the only way that can be
handled is by mail. If you would
like to see the column continued
please drop me a postcard, adj
dressed to David Stick, Kitty
Hawk.
Back to the subject of changes
S ONE county employees have
seemed reluctant to go along with
what our new Board is trying to
do, while others have been very
cooperative. Some of the more
important changes, and some in.
volving the most work, have been
concerned with the county account
ing methods, and / would be re-
miss if l did not publicly ack-
nowledpe the fine spirit of cooper-