Memos at Random


	A potpourri of miscellaneous news SCRIBBLED IN A REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK

The Gordon administration will ask the General Assembly to make the New Castle County auditor an elected position in order to remove any question about his or her independence.

Sherry Freebery, the county's chief administrative officer, surprised County Council's executive committee by announcing that the county Law Department had drafted legislation to accomplish that. County Executive Tom Gordon said later that he does not yet have a sponsor for it, but intends to press the issue. The draft calls for the auditor to serve a four-year term. Freebery's announcement came after the committee, on Jan. 20, authorized the present auditor, Robert Hicks, to accept an invitation to testify before an Assembly committee on pending state legislation to redefine the county position.

Council members were agreed to ask that the state legislation be put on hold until they have had time to follow through on a plan to establish an audit committee and to make other changes affecting the auditor. Council president Christopher Coons noted that many jurisdictions, including Delaware, have elected auditors, but Councilman Robert Weiner claimed that would "politicize" the position and result in less qualified persons holding it. Councilwoman Patty Powell, however, noted that voters are trusted enough to permit them to elect a President of the United States.

Councilman Penrose Hollins said that making the position elective would eliminate "anyone who looks like Mr. Hicks" despite having highly regarded credentials -- as Hicks does. Hicks is African American.

CLAYMONT ACTIVIST DIES: Evelyn Tryon, a school teacher who devoted her retirement years to a eclectic variety of activities ranging from joining the Peace Corps to preserving Claymont High's historic role in advancing civil rights, died on Jan. 16 at her daughter Virginia Smilack's home in New Jersey. She retired as a mathematics teacher at Dickinson High in 1975 and soon after left with her husband, Sager, to teach for two years in Fiji. After returning home, she was involved in the unsuccessful effort to keep Claymont High open and the successful one to preserve the Claymont Stone School.

The activity closest to her heart in recent years centered on memorializing racial integration of the high school. That culminated in establishment of a history room in the original school building, which now houses the Claymont Community Center, and erection of an historic marker out front. Sager, who predeceased her, was instrumental in assuring that the school admitted black students, when so directed by Chancellor Collins Seitz, without waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide an appeal. Seitz's ruling was the only one upheld in the historic Brown v. Board decision 50 years ago come May.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Jan. 31 in United Methodist Church of the Atonement in Claymont, preceded by a half hour of some of Mrs. Tryon's favorite music.

William Marino, president of the Glenville Civic Association, said he put up signs like this one on several properties in the Christiana Hundred community ravished by the nor'easter storm and hurricane last September as a way to call attention to the joint effort by state and county governments to buy damaged houses no longer suited to habitation. Actual purchases are expected to begin in early February. (CLICK HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)

BATTLE WON; WAR LOST: County Council and several civic associations won a pyrrhic victory on Jan. 20 when the state House of Representatives approved a bill previously passed by the Senate that would have restored a seven-member Council after the 2004 election. Governor Ruth Ann Minner immediately said she will veto the measure, allowing the present law expanding Council to 13 members to stand. Sources say there is neither the will nor the votes to override her veto. Brandywine Hundred representatives Wayne Smith and David Ennis were recorded as not voting; the others voted 'aye'. (CLICK here to read previous Delaforum article.)

McDONALD'S MAKEOVER: The plan to replace the McDonald's fast-food restaurant in Claymont is back -- this time with a couple of major differences. Unlike two years ago, it apparently has support from the Claymont Renaissance. That is largely because the plan now calls for putting up a relatively conservative brick structure rather than a throwback 1950s-style drive-in. Mike Carr, project director, told the Renaissance committee on Jan. 15 that the company will soon file a redevelopment plan with the county and is hopeful it can have the new establishment up and running by the end of the year.

New Castle County government came through the annual outside audit of its financial books covering the fiscal year ended June 30, 2003, with flying colors.

Steve Baloga, a partner in the auditing firm of Ernst & Young, told County Council's executive committee on Jan. 13 that the county in being run by "financially savvy people." That is especially significant, he said, at a time when an apparent preponderance of state and local governments around the nation have found themselves in trouble as a result of the economic slump. New Castle County, on the other hand, finished the year with a $240 million surplus and substantial cash reserves, retained its triple-A bond rating and boasted one of the lowest tax rates of any comparable jurisdiction.

Checking the books for the first time, Ernst & Young found nothing to complain about, Baloga said. The firm issued a 'clean', or unqualified, opinion on the county's financial report. Although it said internal budget controls are effective, the firm did endorse the idea, which Council is now considering, of establishing an independent audit committee. In response, the administration questioned the value of spending the money necessary to expand the internal auditing function when "the county has [had] such proven and widely lauded financial management and reporting practices" over a span of several years.

"We're getting so used to [meeting] these high expectations that we take them for granted," said Councilman Robert Woods, former chair of Council's finance committee.

Councilman Robert Weiner charged that County Executive Tom Gordon is using the community planning grants program "to improperly reward friends ... and punish enemies."

He said the recently announced $20,000 grant to the Claymont Community Coalition in support of the Claymont Renaissance was not a grant at all, but money promised a year ago to reimburse a payment to town planning consultant Thomas Comitta. The coalition, one of three sponsoring organizations, had asked for and, he claimed, been "promised" $49,900 to continue Renaissance planning. Weiner, who helped instigate the movement and has been closely identified with it, has been at political loggerheads with Gordon and chief administrative officer Sherry Freebery for more than a year.

The councilman said that the Renaissance steering committee had agreed to drop coming up with a preliminary redevelopment plan for Brookview Apartments because Gordon objected to using public money to support what is intended to eventually aid a private developer. Weiner recently told the committee that he agreed with that position. Now, it is "time to re-evaluate our dependence on Tom Gordon's financial assistance," Weiner said. "There are too many strings attached to the community grant program as administered by Gordon and Freebery." [CLICK HERE to read previous Delaforum article.]

TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS: A $1 million project to improve safety and capacity of the Interstate 95 interchange with Marsh Road, construction of a new headquarters for Delaware Transit Corp. and a bridge over the Christina River to link the Riverfront stores with South Market Street are among the new projects listed in this year's edition of the long-range Transportation Improvement Program. A draft of the plan presented at a public Wilmington Area Planning Council 'workshop' on Jan. 12 lists anticipated highway spending through the 2007 fiscal year.

Topping the list by a large margin is construction of a new link between I-95 and Delaware 1 and widening of the Delaware Turnpike from the Maryland line to Bain Road. Projected spending on that project is $165 million. Continued work on roads in the Blue Ball area and improvements to several streets in downtown Wilmington are listed. The plan calls for construction of a $40 million Tyler McConnell Bridge replacement in fiscal 2006 and lists the Federal Highway Administration as provider of 80% of that money despite questions raised about the project's eligibility for federal financing.

REFORM STILL SOUGHT: Daniel Bockover, president of the Council of Civic Associations of Brandywine Hundred, said he still advocates fundamental changes in the way school boards are elected despite the council's membership having rejected a proposed resolution to that end at a recent meeting. "Reform is still needed," he told officers of area-wide civic associations, indicating that he will press for it. Specifically, he said, school board elections should be held in November during the general election, and members should represent designated areas within school districts and serve two-year terms.