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Statesville 101 off to good start
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Published: September 19, 2008
Better late than never when going back to school.
Last night kicked off the first of my schooling on Statesville through the city's "Statesville 101" program.
The description seemed enticing: learn how the city runs, go on tours and meet the key players.
From the sound of things last night this class is the first of its kind for Statesville.
The participants were mostly middle-aged or older citizens, most of whom had been in the area for years, if not decades. Then there were the transplants: me, the 20-something new media nerd; a 20-something man who commutes to work; and the mother of a Mitchell College faculty member who retired, moved here and started classes at UNC Charlotte.
The first class was an overview.
Our icebreaker included a Statesville factoid quiz, where there were no losers and winners got city lapel pins. I'll post the quiz on statesville.com, for those interested.
City Manager Rob Hites described how a town/city/village gets its charter, establishes laws and develops its management. An interesting thing to note: Hites said Charlotte's mayor is the only one in North Carolina with veto power (although limited) and Statesville's mayor is N.C.'s only mayor who directly influences the City Council's agenda items.
Just when it started getting a little too ninth-grade ELPSA class for me, we moved on to Lynn Smith – the city's risk management guru.
While human resources and insurance are fascinating topics, the information I'm most likely to remember is that city residents should call her department first for most complaints: potholes, broken sidewalks, low power lines, speeding city vehicles or other potential hazard. See city workers hanging out on the tailgate of a truck chatting? Yes, they are doing their job – safety debriefing to be exact.
Local historian O.C. Stonestreet wrapped up the first night with some great tidbits from Statesville's past. You can get a peek at some of this knowledge on this site (http://www2.statesville.com/content/list/community...), where Stonestreet has a weekly column.
Next week we tour the Statesville Regional Airport.
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