As this is my last regular Board of Supervisor’s meeting, I’d like to leave sharing a few personal observations.

Nature of the community:
We all live in and make Northumberland County our home; With it’s Norman Rockwell charms and small town simplicity. From the first day upon my appointment, I have been met by absolutely wonderful people; Helpful, kind and pleasant. Compared to the cold realities of larger communities, this is a breath of fresh air. And worth the effort to keep it that way. But…

The down side:

There is a down side to Norman Rockwell’s small town living. As in other small communities, as anyone that has lived in Northumberland County knows that there is a small handful of family names that you can hear mentioned anywhere. There are ”Born here’s” and there are “Come here’s.” The Born here’s grow up and potentially work together so it’s hard to imagine there’s no impact to operations from potential nepotism. This is ripe for what I call process decay over time. Or, “The way we’ve always done things.”

There are Budget concerns
For several years, the people of the county have rightfully had questions. Questions motivated by the sudden and unrelenting spikes that started a few years ago in the overall county budget. Many of the questions have gone unanswered for as many years. It is not my belief that this is because anyone is deliberately hiding anything. Several months before being appointed as an interim Supervisor I started to notice a few subtleties in the information being provided to the Board of Supervisors. Reports that had to be printed from one system, scanned to pdf file and then posted, or hand delivering of other information via what I call the shoe leather express between the schools and the county admin building. In my professional life, these are all indicators of process decay and an apparent breakdown of processes, training and tools. All a consequence of “That’s the way we’ve always done it” over an extended period of time. To be sure, the schools and the county, from a technical perspective, don’t speak in the same language or are even on the same planet and there is little if any purpose driven integration of core operations. This area leans heavy on policy and technical infrastructure where the consequence is budgetary in nature.

I pick on the schools for no other reason than they are the biggest fish in the pond from a budgetary stand point. But what I see there, I see across the county. And it has impacts; not the least of which is inadvertent obfuscation of details and lack of answers.

But there is good news for the budget processes. Both the Board of Supervisors and the School Board have agreed to form and maintain a Joint Financial Committee. The benefits of which are already visible. After only a couple of sessions, it is visible, at least to myself, that people are becoming more aware of the purpose and need for attention to specific details in their tasks. Without going into excruciating details here, I can see that folks are looking at things more deeply and with greater purpose and concern.

It is my hope that this trend continues and that the Joint Finance Committee establishes a longer term set of operational goals beyond just the closest alligator to the boat – the current budget cycle. The trend toward cost savings and greater efficiencies translate to getting more for the tax payers money, benefiting all programs across the county and, in general, better economic health.

Economic concerns
Over the course of the last year or so, I’ve had the opportunity to be exposed to some eye opening realities; some more obvious than others.

In early September, I was at a local tire shop getting tires put on my lawnmower rims. While there, I heard people, customers, talking. One woman, there with her daughter was faced with tires or food for her kids and working to find some way to meet both needs. Without a functioning car, her world and that of her kids was not looking good.

An elderly man was trying to replace the used tires he purchased elsewhere that failed him a day after his purchase. His wife had recently suffered a heart attack and was in a hospital in Mechanicsville; a tear in his eye, worried about being able to visit.

Then there were a couple of younger individuals each seeking work outside the county because little or none exists here, none that offers growth, and they had to have rubber in order to search. Yup… they plan to leave. The older man with wife in the hospital made the comment; “We’re all in this together.” in response to the younger men’s comments about local job prospects. In all cases, the local economy was the problem. We have very limited job offerings because we don’t seem to be able to attract employers of above minimum wage or career path jobs. But there’s another side that’s equally distressing.

In speaking with employers, it turns out that we also don’t have a robust work force. One employer flat out said that the kids coming out of the high-school don’t understand basic concepts needed to be employable. Those that do have or will leave Northumberland County for college or career paths elsewhere. They don’t come back. True, there are programs, but those are also in other counties working with their businesses. Where do you think those young people in those programs are looking for work?

The county’s population has been shrinking. Depending on who you ask, by as much as 12% since2010. This, in spite of a near continuous stream of incoming retirement aged people. Conclusion? Our labor pool is critically low and shrinking fast and this needs to be addressed aggressively. So the problem is multi-fold; we lack an employment pool because HS grads don’t stay and we can’t attract businesses that would encourage a local career path because we have little or no labor pool and the labor pool we have is shrinking. This is a circular problem that resembles a bathtub drain.

The fix is going to require investments using money that the county, given recent trends, can’t afford unless there are changes in economic priorities – RE: comments in my discussion of Budget. We’ll need to adjust how we go about encouraging businesses to come to the area AND… We need to have our committees work more closely.

Specifically, the Economic Development Committee and the Planning Commission, representing right and left arms of the same body, need to establish regular joint and collaborative working sessions. Five year plans need to be reviewed and updated on a near continuous basis and with input from more areas than is currently achieved. Economic growth needs to be front and center for the foreseeable future and prioritized in budgeting decisions. This requires both the economic and planning legs of the county be engaged on a common goal. Without action, I fear there is an invisible line that will be crossed. When crossed, the earth won’t shake, but there will be no way back and we can’t let that happen. The way we’ve always done it is not longer supportable.

In my world, EMS is comprised of Law enforcement, Fire and Medical Nationwide, most EMS organizations have a shorter average response time than is currently achievable here in Northumberland County. In a previous life, I was a Paramedic and response times were at 2 minutes in that community. This is an area that truly needs resources that aren’t currently afforded to support a robust EMS system; one complete with paid professional positions – perhaps some contracted. Currently, what I see is a system that is being held together by the heroic efforts of good leaders in need of greater support. This county needs an appropriately funded and professional EMS system not one that sits on the budget chopping block. This spans all three segments of an EMS system and needs to happen sooner rather than later.

What I hope I never see again
For the last several years, funding has been spread in an uneven fashion to the benefit of one area at the expense of all others. Last year, after the June 1st meeting, the Board of Supervisors called upon all areas of the County to seek and find budget cuts. They found a total of approximately 2.1 Million Dollars. Of that 2.1 million dollars, something over $100,000 went back to the Sheriffs budget that was originally cut in error and 1.8 million of it went to the Schools, where no cuts had been made.

Sheriff Beauchamp made a presentation to the Board showing his current staffing levels. I was jaw dropped. There are 2 deputies available for patrol per shift. There is no hard and fast rule, but by my estimation, he needs 4 to 6. In separate discussion, I learned that even if the money was available, there isn’t a local and sufficient hiring pool to glean more help. Both the Sheriff and the EMS chief need to be better resourced. They shouldn’t be cutting budgets.

As mentioned, things happen in Smallville that shouldn’t, but it comes with the package. One such item is the practice of re-purposing existing forms and processes. The appearance is that there is little thought given to the effected citizens and it appears there are occasions of little to no review for the Board before publishing. It’s easy to understand how such a practice gets started, but it needs to be avoided. This is a sloppy and lazy practice. The county is owned by its citizens and THAT should be in everyone’s mind at all times. Due diligence includes making the citizen’s needs part of
the process.

The Board of Supervisors serves at the pleasure of their constituents. Likewise, many in the county serve at the pleasure of the Board. When the Board recently voted unanimously to pursue a forensic audit, several members of staff openly displayed a reluctance. I’ve only served for three months, but I have to assume this wasn’t the first instance of resistance to the will of the Board. This cannot be. Ultimately, the function of county administration at all levels must pursue, with all due haste, the will of the Board; Independent of any personal feelings

What I hope will start and/or carry on well into the future
Before anyone takes away the incorrect notion that Northumberland County has more wrong than right, I’d like to point out a few things that I hope will continue well into the future. I have been witness to significant changes recently in general attitudes and motivations. Good changes. Changes that acknowledge that throwing money at a problem isn’t always the best solution; especially if the problem is sourced from the bureaucratic nature of government. To that end, we have a tremendous talent pool in the citizens of Northumberland County. Though mostly retired, numerous individuals are willing to step up and help where they can; and we need more of this. From standing membership on a committees to accepting short term project tasks, it is my hope that more people will make themselves available to help the county to achieve significant goals in line with that great Norman Rockwell culture we have.

Editor’s note and personal feelings….this is more about whether or not county officials avail themselves of local talent. Many people have volunteered, but how many of our officials have followed up with the volunteers, let alone tasked them with a project?

For several years now, the Board has supported Holiday festivities here in town. Special events centered not just on friends and family but also, whether intended or not, maintaining that image of small town USA as part of local culture. It’s always the approach that seems to make it that way. It is rare that I come across someone that isn’t in appreciation of the nature of our community. I hope this never changes.

The people that serve on this Board are some of the best I’ve had the pleasure to encounter since my wife and I decided to move here. They’re dedicated, hard working people of conscience and we are all fortunate to have them. But I worry about what happens when one is no longer around or worse, when nobody wants to run for local office when a true need arises. While I would like to see members of the board continue on, they can’t go on for ever.

When the Board put out the call for an interim Supervisor, to my dismay, I was the only legitimate applicant. I had hoped for at least a little competition. It’s our county. It does requires care and
feeding.

I’d like to see more people take a more positive interest in the local government. More than just showing up to say how much they don’t want some permit approved. I know there are several members out in the community that interact with the Board on a regular basis. But I ask; how often do folks show up to express a positive position on an issue before the Board? My point? If, as a community, we are focused exclusively on prevention of that which we don’t want, how will we focus or even notice something we need to support in a positive way? Will it pass us by without notice?

Final Word
There are many things that need to be updated or corrected in this county, but those items are more likely common among similar towns and counties than not. As I mentioned, it kinda comes with the territory. In all cases, the good far outweighs the bad and the bad is worth putting in effort toward improvements.

So, as I wind up my short service, I have to say, it’s been a pleasure and an honor to serve. In serving, as one might think, I’ve found some areas I’m willing to work toward. It is a fair statement to say, as I hand off the comfort of this chair to Chip Williams, the guy that was elected, I fully expect that I will be back in some form or another.

Maurice Johnson