DEBORAH BENDER: Why I’m Running for Town Council
By DEBORAH BENDER
May 1, 2014
I am running for Town Council because I think it is time for a different approach to governance in Cape Charles. I became politically active during the past three years when I felt there was complete disregard by Town Council for my concerns about what happens here. After seeing the way citizens are treated at Council meetings, I decided to run for Town Council. My goal is to have a fiscally responsible, open government where all people are treated equally and fairly.
We have seen Cape Charles in the years of decline and are glad to see it coming back up. But much still needs to be done. I want to work to improve our water quality. Paying for water that you cannot drink is unacceptable. I intend to be a problem-solver, a listener, who is interested in the concerns of all the residents of Cape Charles.
I have lived in the Cape Charles area for 20 years, and in the Town of Cape Charles for the past eight years. My husband, Don, has lived here his whole life. I operated a very successful dress shop on Mason Avenue, Scarlett’s Closet, for three years. I sold my shop just after the birth of my first grandson so that I could care for him when my daughter returned to work.
Regrettably, I feel the need to mention that as a result of my candidacy, my husband and I have been the targets of a smear campaign intended to discredit me. Unable to respond to my call for lower taxes, lower water bills, and lower spending, my enemies have circulated lies about my husband, claiming that he is a gay-basher and a violent, dangerous man. It is sad that anyone could stoop so low as to spread these lies, but perhaps even sadder that some people who don’t know my husband seem ready to believe them. First, as I said, my husband Don has lived here all his life, and has never committed a violent act. Second, Don and I have for years had a number of gay friends. They visit us in our home, and we are completely accepting of each other. We recognize that this is a diverse community and a diverse world, and we are comfortable with that. [Read more…]
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…]
Zoning, Health Care Big Issues at Town Hall Meeting
County Supervisor Granville Hogg meets with constituents at Cape Charles Museum. (Wave photo)
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
April 28, 2014
County residents filled the seating at the Cape Charles Museum April 23 for a Town Hall meeting hosted by Northampton County Supervisor Granville Hogg – the second since his election in November. The hot-button issues were county rezoning and diminishing health care.
David Boyd asked why the Board of Supervisors seemed to have thrown out the Comprehensive Plan and come up with totally different zoning that has no input from all of the meetings and effort that had been put into the Comprehensive Plan six years ago. Hogg responded, “I can’t answer that.”
Hogg said he had read many negative comments about the proposed zoning changes, and was disappointed that Board of Supervisors chairman Larry LeMond insisted that “we are moving forward and this is what we’re going to do.” Peg Volk asked, “Mr. Hogg, what is our recourse here? We’re talking recall.” Another attendee echoed, “recall.”
George Southern asked Hogg if he were willing to make a motion to withdraw the zoning amendment proposals to give the Planning Commission more time to review the changes. Hogg said that he would make the motion, and the room erupted in applause.
David Kabler said that he met with Supervisor Rick Hubbard the previous evening and asked him to back Hogg in withdrawing the zoning proposals, but received no assurance from Hubbard. Kabler said he had also asked Chairman LeMond to stop the zoning changes, but to no avail.
Kabler emphasized that a town meeting should be where citizens do the talking and their elected representatives listen. Hogg proceeded to listen as Kabler said he told LeMond that the Supervisors have two options: “One, they pass the zoning as adjusted by the Planning Commission, or two, they withdraw it. Option A is going to be a war. Option B is going to be placating things. Peace will come here. And they can act on the school and the hospital and all that.”
Hogg responded, “I guarantee you that there will be discussions going on after this evening’s meeting. I’m taking the velvet off of the hammer.” [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…]
Old Library Now Cape Charles Civic Center
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
April 28, 2014
Cape Charles Town Council voted April 24 to rename the former library at 500 Tazewell Avenue the Cape Charles Civic Center. Mayor Dora Sullivan and Councilman Frank Wendell favored the name Cape Charles Meeting Hall, but Councilman Steve Bennett proposed Cape Charles Civic Center, which won by majority vote.
The former library building was built in 1901 by the First Presbyterian Church. In 1926 the church built the large stone building on the corner of Strawberry and Tazewell now housing the Cape Charles Christian School, and the old church building was sold to the Northampton County Memorial Library for $5,000. The library opened in October 1926 in honor of World War Veterans. It was eventually turned over to the Friends of the Cape Charles library and the property was given to the town. In December 2012, the Cape Charles Memorial Library moved to the former Bank of America building on Mason Avenue.
The former library building will be used for Council meetings and work sessions; board and commission meetings; recreational programs, community events, civic engagement activities, and outreach programs.
In other business, Town Council voted to raise the lodging tax on short-term rentals by 23 percent and to remove the 1 percent funding for the ESVA Tourism Commission. Council will decide later how much to contribute to the Tourism Commission.
During a public hearing preceding the regular meeting, speakers pointed out that the vacation rental season has already begun and that changing the tax rate now would create a hardship for owners. As a result, Council made the new rate effective January 1, 2015, instead of July 1, 2014. The ordinance removes all references to the Annexation Agreement between the Town and Northampton County that was the authority for collection of transient occupancy tax by the county within Cape Charles, as well as references to state code authorizing the imposition of the tax.
Town Planner Robert Testerman reported that the Planning Commission sent its proposals for the Town Edge Overlay District to Northampton County but has not yet received a reply. The new zoning ordinance proposed by the County does away with the Town Edge Districts. That proposal elicited a strongly worded resolution from Exmore Town Council (CLICK). During discussion whether Cape Charles should pass a similar resolution, Councilman Bennett said he thought that the Exmore resolution was too strongly worded. Mayor Sullivan agreed. Councilman Wendell again raised concerns about encouraging commercial development on Route 13 and failing to see the need for the Town Edge District to protect the town and its businesses. [Read more…]
COMMENTARY: Town Is a Financial Success Story
By PATRICIA A. BUCKLEY
April 28, 2014
Despite frequent alarms from a small but vocal group of town citizens in the last year or so, a systematic review of financial performance over the last decade shows that Cape Charles is financially healthy. Visitors today see an up and coming coastal town blessed with historic charm and abundant natural features that attract nature lovers and sports enthusiasts. While the changes in the physical attributes over the last decade are easy to see, less visible is the remarkable fiscal turn-around .
In 2004 when I first assumed the position of Treasurer, the town was practically on life support financially. Few funds were available for hiring competent staff or performing basic maintenance. Systems were antiquated and equipment was barely functional. Our infrastructure was crumbling from years of neglect.
Recently, I revisited the town’s financial health, doing a comparative analysis of the annual financial audit reports that are conveniently on the town’s web page and 2013 financial statements. As anyone who cares to check the record will see the improvement in the fiscal health of Cape Charles is truly remarkable. From 2004 to 2013, I found the following:
- The town’s total general government average revenues from 2005 to 2013 are up a stunning 150% over 2004;
- Real estate tax rates adjusted for assessments have increased only 15% through 2014 while consumer prices have increased 26%;
- A home assessed in 2004 at $150,000 with a tax bill of $705 is now assessed at $296,000 with a tax bill of $817;
- 50% of the real estate tax revenue now comes from the value of physical improvements to properties not present in 2004 such as new structures or renovations like the Wilson building;
- Tourist-related tax revenues (transient occupancy, meals, admissions) have increased 516%;
- Total town net worth has increased from $6.8 million in 2004 to $25.6 million in 2012. This is net value after subtracting all liabilities, including debt. Debt had increased from $1.8 million in 2004 to $9.1 million in 2012.
What this means is that we borrowed $7.3 million but got $26.1 million in assets, increasing our net worth by $18.8 million! [Read more…]
