Author: Scott D. Yost

Guilford County Manager Marty Lawing presented his fiscal 2020-2021 budget recommendation to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners on Thursday, May 21.

The purse strings are very tight in Guilford County government – the tax rate isn’t going up and the pandemic has taken a big bite out of county revenue – and Guilford County Schools are feeling that pinch.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners broke out into an all out verbal war before the board voted to approve a motion to start the process to place a school bond referendum of up to $300 million on the ballot in November.

Oak Ridge Town Manager Bill Bruce has presented his recommended budget for the upcoming fiscal year of 2020-2021.

You might think that the pandemic would mean that the United Way of Greater Greensboro couldn’t hold its three-part Lunch and Learn Series this year, but you’d be mistaken.

Just like art galleries, Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA) likes, from time to time, to change up the scenery, and this week PTIA officials are asking area residents to help them out in a new quest to provide travelers and others with an interesting visual experience as they pass through the airport.

When it comes to deadly global pandemics – and many other things as well – knowledge is power, and the NC Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) announced on Wednesday, May 20 a new tool available to anyone who wants to better track the spread and effects of COVID-19 in North Carolina. The department unveiled its new “COVID-19 Dashboard” information tracker.

On Tuesday, May 19, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners was in a work session discussing how to address the massive hit of the coronavirus pandemic.

The State of North Carolina may be opening up when it comes to many things, but there are still a lot of future events that the pandemic is preventing or delaying – and the opening of the pools run by Guilford County is one of those things.

The biblical dictum of ask and ye shall receive doesn’t always work perfectly, however, in the case of the cities of Greensboro and High Point, and Guilford County’s towns, the asks did get answered.

Former Greensboro City Attorney Tom Carruthers – who’s also now a former assistant Guilford County attorney – is taking a new job in the state’s capital. Carruthers, who’s been working in the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department for almost exactly a year, has taken a job with the NC League of Municipalities, a 110-year-old organization that works for the betterment of its more than 500 member cities.

Like elsewhere in the country, those who live in long-term care facilities in North Carolina face tremendous risk from the coronavirus, and now state health officials are taking new steps to protect that vulnerable population.

There have been a lot of questions in the past two months as to how public bodies should treat members of the media given the state’s “open” meetings law and the fact that there’s a pandemic going on.

On Tuesday afternoon, May 19, the Guilford County Board of Elections is going to meet – well, meet virtually, that is – and engage in the long process of figuring out how to hold a huge election in the year of the coronavirus pandemic, which may still be raging in November as the election takes place.

The state of North Carolina is slowly getting back up to speed and, every so often you hear in the news of a summer event that’s still going to take place.

In late February, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners made Dr. Iulia Vann the interim director of the Guilford County Department of Public Health.

For weeks and weeks, Guilford County officials have been disparaging the lack of adequate COVID-19 testing – and that shortage finally seems to be getting better with tests now being provided locally by everyone from the Guilford County Department of Public Health to Harris Teeter.

People unable to make their rent or mortgage payments got another extension late on Thursday, May 14, when the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department – the ones who conduct evictions in the county – announced that the current moratorium on tenant evictions is being extended from Friday, May 15 until midnight on Thursday, May 28.

The next time you get pulled over by a Guilford County Sheriff’s Department deputy, you might notice that the officer’s ride is a little extra shiny. That’s because the Guilford County Board of Commissioners just approved the purchase – at $1 million and change – of 22 new department vehicles, including pickup trucks, pursuit vehicles and utility vehicles.

Drastic times call for drastic changes, and given the coronavirus pandemic, the need to act quickly and the large amount of federal funds coming into Guilford County government, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners has granted County Manager Marty Lawing the right to spend more than 10 times the amount he usually can without approval from the county commissioners.

On Tuesday afternoon, May 19, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners will be getting down to the business of determining how to spend the first tranche of $94 million in federal money that’s been given to the county as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act – better known as the CARES Act.

The Guilford County Animal Shelter has suspended adoptions until further notice to protect the staff and public after at least one employee at the shelter tested positive for COVID-19.

If Guilford County makes it through the November 2020 election without any major problems, Guilford County Board of Elections Director Charlie Collicutt and his staff deserve a very big raise.

With local government sales tax revenues taking an unprecedented dive due to the coronavirus pandemic, and with counties across North Carolina suffering financially and wondering what they’re going to do, the NC Association of County Commissioners (NCACC) is continuing to use its connections, lobbying might and other influence to make the case that both the state and the federal government need to come to the aid of the counties in a very significant way.

The state of North Carolina – and states around the country – may have started opening back up after the initial coronavirus hit, however, that doesn’t mean counties, towns and cities are throwing caution to the wind.

Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Jeff Phillips and Commissioner Skip Alston should keep six feet of distance between them because of the virus of course – but, after comments by Alston at a recent board meeting and a response from Phillips, there may be another good reason for the two to keep their distance.

Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA) is implementing a new program – “PTI Prepared” – to protect flyers and those who work at the airport from the spread of COVID-19.

On Thursday, May 7, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners held a special work session to deal with perhaps the most enjoyable subject the board has ever addressed – how to quickly spend $93.7 million dollars.

It’s funny that not long ago it was illegal in some places in the country to walk into a bank with a mask on but soon it might be against the law not to wear one when going into a bank. 

Guilford County commissioners and staff are well aware that they’re opening a can of worms, but they all seem to feel it’s necessary to open the can nonetheless. 

The coronavirus mostly brings terrible news, but one thing it has done is loosen significantly the purse strings of the federal government, which has been helping out not only individuals and businesses but also airports – including Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA).

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Department announced on Monday, May 6 that it has joined “Neighbors,” a free app from the home security products company Ring – best known for its Ring Video Doorbell product line.

You don’t see big gatherings to celebrate construction milestones on major construction projects anymore.

Many government offices and businesses are quickly implementing new ways of delivering their services in light of the current coronavirus pandemic, and the Guilford County Family Justice Center is no exception.

Guilford County Interim Health Director Dr. Iulia Vann announced on Monday, May 4 that the county is undertaking a new “prioritized COVID-19 community testing campaign” for those at the highest risk from the disease.

If you’re one of these conspiracy theorists who thinks the government is messing with the water supply and that’s why High Point tap water smells funny – well, this time you’re correct.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners has just named two new members to the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority – the seven-member board that oversees operations at Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA).

Guilford County government was going to have a tight budget even before the coronavirus hit.

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Department has a murder investigation on its hands and it’s asking the public for help.

Just because baseball games are banned by law and the Atlantic League baseball season didn’t get off to its planned start this month doesn’t mean the High Point Rockers aren’t engaging in a competition with its scheduled opponent.

If you live in Guilford County, you may have to worry about catching the coronavirus, but one thing you don’t have to worry about – at least not for a while longer – is being evicted.

There’s usually not much going on at 5 a.m. on a Wednesday morning in Greensboro.

Earlier this year it looked dead certain that the Guilford County Board of Commissioners was going to put a school bond referendum on the ballot in November of 2020.

If a cat or dog with no place to stay happens to wander by the Guilford County Animal Shelter, well, that animal is in luck.

Everybody knows the things that are hard to get in the days of the coronavirus – a few of those precious items are toilet paper, hand sanitizer and high-quality protective masks.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners held its first budget work session of 2020 on Tuesday, April 28, and the picture that Guilford County’s outgoing Budget Director Michael Halford painted was not a pretty one at all.

Earlier this year, when the Rhino Times reported that Guilford County had made Dr. Iulia Vann the interim county health director at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the Rhino stated that she had been given a “baptism by fire.”

It’s sad to realize that the City of High Point just built a beautiful new downtown ballpark and opened it one year before a virus pandemic kept that stadium idle on beautiful spring days – but the High Point Rockers team is still using the facility to contribute to the community.

At a Tuesday morning, April 28 meeting of staff with four commissioners, Guilford County Commissioner Alan Branson underwent an interrogation by other commissioners when they noticed at the meeting that he had a very fine-looking freshly-cut head of hair, while county citizens, by law, haven’t been allowed to go to a barbershop in over a month.