GEORGE PROTO: Why I’m Running for Mayor
By GEORGE PROTO
April 27, 2014
Cape Charles is a remarkable little town and has come a long way since my wife and I first visited it and purchased property in 2000. At the same time it also has its problems. Some of these problems are faced by towns all over the country. For example, how do we manage our finances wisely so as to keep the town growing without unduly burdening our residents and businesses? How do we maintain and improve our infrastructure for the benefit of all?
Others are more a product of frustration over disagreement with the process for making decisions or with the decisions themselves. Disagreement and healthy debate are a good thing in any government, but at some point people need to find a way to compromise and go forward without contentiousness and bitterness. We need to set aside our emotions and address the problems themselves rather than speaking from anger, however much we may feel that anger is justified.
I am running for Mayor for two reasons, first because I believe that we should give back to society for the good lives we’ve been given, and second because I feel I have developed the skills necessary to help bring this town together over a lifetime of experience and therefore can make a difference.
Over the years I’ve lived and worked in many places and with many different types of people, often leading teams to solve some pretty tough problems. I can use this background to help diminish the discontent we live with now and let Cape Charles reach its fullest potential.
The best way to accomplish this is through open communications, following the processes that are in place and making sure to the best of my ability that all the factors in making a decision are out on the table. This means not only explaining clearly the situation and the facts behind it, but listening with an open mind to what the people of the town have to say. There is no way that any one person can do this alone – it requires us all working together – but I can help make this happen. [Read more…]
BENDER: Wake Up and Trim the Fat, Cape Charles!
EDITOR’S NOTE: One year ago this month, Deborah Bender wrote the following article for the Wave, which went on to become the most-read commentary of the past 12 months. Seven months after this article was published, Cape Charles Town Council voted to borrow an additional $1 million, and now plans to further increase the number of full-time town employees. With town elections on Tuesday, we are reprinting the Bender commentary for voters’ consideration.
By DEBORAH BENDER
May 3, 2014 (Reprinted from May 17, 2013)
It has come to my attention that the Town of Cape Charles is having budget problems. There is not enough money and too many expenses. In order to help, I did a little homework. And after speaking with the Town of Onancock’s administrative assistant, I have some advice: Trim the fat, Cape Charles.
According to the 2010 census, Cape Charles has 1,009 full-time residents. The town of Onancock has 1,263 full-time residents.
The Town of Cape Charles has 10 employees in the administrative offices at a salary cost of $509,875. The town of Onancock has 3 employees in the town office for a total of $195,000 in salaries. That is $314,875 less spent on employees in Onancock than in Cape Charles.
How does Onancock manage with such a small staff? For starters, the two people who work in the office do all the billing, accounting, customer service, and take turns taking minutes at the town meetings. They run the entire town office with just three employees! Onancock does not have a town planner, a treasurer, an accountant, a building code enforcer, a community recreation activities director, or an assistant clerk. Onancock does just fine without all the excess baggage. All the employees in Onancock wear many hats.
I called the town offices for Onancock, Parksley, Exmore, and Chincoteague, and all were answered by a real person, not some machine. All the people who answered the phone were courteous, friendly, and forthcoming with answers.
The town of Cape Charles has 13 employees that I know of doing all the public works jobs. The total cost in salaries and benefits is $595,526. The town of Onancock has 7 public works employees at a total cost in salaries and benefits of $350,000. That is a difference of $295,526. [Read more…]
Candidates Speak 7 P.M. Tonight at Palace Theatre
CAPE CHARLES WAVE
April 29, 2014
Candidates for Cape Charles mayor and Town Council will speak 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 29, at the Palace Theatre on Mason Avenue. The forum will be conducted by Citizens for a Better Eastern Shore. CBES has been sponsoring Meet the Candidates Forums for all county-wide elections in both Accomack and Northampton for 15 years, but the Cape Charles forum is the first that CBES has conducted for a town election.
Over the years, CBES has developed a forum agenda designed to give each candidate a fair opportunity to make his or her best case for being elected. Candidates are sent several questions in advance to provide an opportunity to prepare their responses. After each candidate has made a brief introductory statement, they are asked to answer those questions. After that, members of the audience are invited to submit written questions. The questions are screened by several CBES members for appropriateness and significance, and those deemed most useful are posed to the candidates by the moderator. The forum concludes with each candidate making a summation of his positions and an appeal for the citizens’ votes.
The moderator of the forum will be Wayne Bell, and Margaret Van Clief is in charge of arrangements. The free event is open to the public and the press. A second forum sponsored by Cape Charles Rotary Club is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday, May 4, also at the Palace Theatre.
There are two candidates for mayor and six candidates for the three positions open on Town Council.
MAYOR’S RACE
George Proto, 69, and his wife Nancy moved to town in 2011 from Poughkeepsie, NY, built a house near the water in the Historic District, and started making “Sweet Annie’s” chocolates, sold in local gourmet food stores. This is Proto’s first foray into local politics: he has never run for office and never served on a town board or commission. However, he was elected president of the Cape Charles Business Association following the resignation of Dave Burden.
Frank Wendell, 56, was born in Cape Charles, and other than time away for college has lived here ever since. He is president of Wendell Distributing Co., Inc., the town’s second-largest business. Wendell is a sitting member of Town Council, where he was elected in 2012 following a 12-year hiatus from town politics. Before that, he served six consecutive terms as a town councilman, from 1988-2000. He has observed that when he joined Town Council in 1988 he was the youngest member, and 26 years later he remains the youngest member. Wendell has one daughter, a town resident who will attend Virginia Tech in the fall. [Read more…]
Candidate Forum 7 P.M. Tuesday at Palace Theatre
Candidates for Cape Charles mayor and Town Council will speak 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 29, at the Palace Theatre on Mason Avenue. The forum will be conducted by Citizens for a Better Eastern Shore.
CBES has been sponsoring Meet the Candidates Forums for all county-wide elections in both Accomack and Northampton for 15 years, but the Cape Charles forum is the first that CBES has conducted for a town election.
Over the years, CBES has developed a forum agenda designed to give each candidate a fair opportunity to make his or her best case for being elected. Candidates are sent several questions in advance to provide an opportunity to prepare their responses. After each candidate has made a brief introductory statement, they are asked to answer those questions. After that, members of the audience are invited to submit written questions. The questions are screened by several CBES members for appropriateness and significance, and those deemed most useful are posed to the candidates by the moderator. The forum concludes with each candidate making a summation of his positions and an appeal for the citizens’ votes. [Read more…]
EXTRA! Gazette Omits Lenora Mitchell’s Candidacy
Click on image above to enlarge
CAPE CHARLES WAVE
April 14, 2014
Attention Cape Charles voters: Lenora Mitchell-Fields has NOT withdrawn her candidacy for Town Council in the May 6 elections.
The town’s official publication, Cape Charles Gazette, inexplicably omitted Mitchell’s name in its April 14 edition headlined “2014 Is An Election Year!”
The story states that “five candidates are running for Council,” and then lists five names. But in fact, SIX candidates are running for Council.
Reached at her store, Mitchell was asked by the Wave to guess which candidate the Gazette had left off its list. Her first guess was Deborah Bender, who was once referred to by Mayor Sullivan as the “Barking Bender,” perhaps due to her history of public comments at Town Council meetings. But Bender’s name was not the one omitted from the Gazette.
Lenora Mitchell has her own history of criticizing the Town when an official injustice has been committed. When the town sold the basketball court, parking lot, and old school to a developer for conversion into apartments, it stipulated that the property could not be made available to low-income residents — despite the developer’s intention to receive over $1 million in state and federal assistance for renovating the building. [Read more…]
EXTRA: Eight Candidates File for Town Elections May 6
CAPE CHARLES WAVE
March 6, 2014
Cape Charles voters will have a choice for each of the four offices to be filled in the May 6 elections: there are two candidates for mayor and 6 candidates for the three positions open on Town Council. [Read more…]
TUESDAY: Special Election for House of Delegates
Voters in the 100th District, which includes Northampton and Accomack counties, are reminded of the Tuesday, February 25, Special Election for House of Delegates.
The Democratic candidate is Willie C. Randall, and the Republican candidate is Robert S. Bloxom, Jr.
Voting will be at the polling place listed on voter registration cards — NOT where the recent primary elections were held.
Vote February 25 for State House Special Election
Voters in the 100th District, which includes Northampton and Accomack counties, are reminded of the Tuesday, February 25, Special Election for House of Delegates. [Read more…]
