The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1959-06-05
ECONOMY RESISTERS STILL
HOPE TO DEFEAT PROGRESS
BY STIRRING DISSENSION
Effort Always To Divide Board Amonq Them
selves. Whereby Some Members Get limo
Gently Taken In Before Thinking; Two Members
EhasfIse Dare Chairman Tuesday; Division
Hoped For While Budget Is Beino Made.


and more day to hold unneces-
sary meetings of the Board of
Commissioners" said the Chair
man, Victor Meekins, this week.
when | consider it important
enough, will call special meet
lngs, provided as many as three
other members have Indicated to
me IN writing they wish to have
such meeting, except in emergen-
cies."
Meekins' remarks were made aft
er commissioner David Stick had
read off to the Board a diatribe
severely critical of the chairman
Tor refusing to hold extra meet
lngs in June, and after Stick had
held an assembly some weeks ago
OF other Board members, to tell
them Meekins was taking too
much on himself in certain mat
tiers recently acted on in the dis
cretion of the chairman.
| Meekins said that he considered
the county too far in debt to af-
ford series of expensive meet
lngs merely for the purpose of one
or more members wasting the time
OF the Board to sound off, but ac-
comprising no work.
Actually there had been no bust
ness which was out of order trans
acted, Meekins claimed, when all
his actions were boiled down. He
did, he said, ask a couple of large
taxpayers who always pay in June,
to pay few weeks ahead of time.
whereby the county was able to
meet its debt service obligations
IN New York on time.
The Chairman said he Thought
this action was something he
and other good citizens should
be tickled about, and that he was
happy in having rendered the peo-
pie this service, one which no one
else had thought of.
There have, been number of
actions taken by the Chairman.
which were not specifically author
lied by the Board, but which have
resulted to the profit of Dare
County. Meekins discovered that
. various county departments have
been paying Federal phone tax for
which the county is not liable,
and after putting in a claim, re-
covered more than $3.50 for the
past three years. He warned
against excessive long distance
calls for private business charged
to public phones, and phone bills
have been dropping. He took the
initiative in order to meet crit
ical deadline set by the Board of
Engineers, and to save the harbor
project for Wanchese, set up the
means whereby a public landing
place was paid for by donations,
and decided to the county.
Meekins' knowledge of the court
house has made it easy for the
Board to learn of several things
that had escaned it's attention. One
was the discovery of $4,000 in one
department improperly spent. An
other was the discovery of over
$4,000 in tax refunds unpaid since
Sentember of 1868, and never
brought to the attention of the
Board.
Meekins said this week that he
had spent over $500 out of his
nocket in pursuit of effort toward
the progress of Dare County, and
that for every day at the court
house, two more are required in
receiving citizens who insist on
bringing problems to his attention.
The lob that needs to be done. he
said, can in the long run benefit
all Of Dare County.
81 do not recall that anyone in
Board meeting has ever expressed
appreciation for any of these
things" he says, "and do not ex-
pect appreciation. got into this
job in the hope that something
could be done to relieve the criti-
cal financial situation of the coun-
ty, the waste that has gone on so
long, the hog-wild tendency to kill
the goose that lays the golden egg,
and discourage and drive away
those people who are responsible
for giving us three fourths of all
the taxes we get.
81 knew, or course, that we
would find resistance all along to
any effort by us that might pull
the public tit out from under many
of those have enjoyed it so long.
/ knew of course they would make
every effort to create dissension in
the Board in hope of rendering it
Intellectual for the purpose for
which the people elected ii. This
effort was made long before the
Board took office, they hepped up
one member with the crave to be
chairman, but it was manifest To
the other members that the public
| at large thought / had more
See BOARD Page Five