Author: Scott D. Yost

The Guilford County elections department has just held a major election and now all those machines the county’s voters used have to be sold off or scrapped – and the county must buy new machines at an estimated cost of $7 million.

A planned regional DNA lab in Guilford County is now dead in the water according to Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes.

The Old Guilford County Court House is ready for it’s close up.

More details are emerging about Guilford County’s new $14.5 million mental health services building that the county is planning to build on Third Street in Greensboro near the intersection of East Wendover Avenue and Summit Avenue.

It’s official.

The Guilford County commissioners had their first meeting with new Sheriff-elect Danny Rogers and his input could be a factor in a potential big change in the county’s plans.

Guilford County is planning to build a $14.5 million mental health facility near the Guilford County Health and Human Services office to replace the downtown Greensboro mental health services building that the county agreed to sell to the City of Greensboro in September. The new building, which will house mental health administrative services and have a 16-bed unit for mental health patients, is expected to open in about two years.

Brother can you spare a dime?

When it comes to audits of $600 million budgets, no news is good news – and that’s exactly what Guilford County government officials got in the results of the audit of the Guilford County 2017-2018 fiscal year.

  The graduates in the 2018 class of the Guilford County Citizens’ Academy were honored by...

  New Guilford County Sheriff-elect Danny Rogers will be sworn in on Monday, Dec. 3, but he’s...

  Sparks flew at a Thursday, Nov. 15 work session of the Guilford County Board of...

Many people in Guilford County were stunned when 24-year Republican Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes was defeated by Democratic challenger Danny Rogers, and the shockwaves of that election continue to rumble through Guilford County government.

One election is over and now it’s time for another one. The Guilford County Board of Commissioners is set – meet the new board same as the old board – and now the commissioners must, as they do each year, select a chairman. That vote will take place in early December but talks are already underway.

Guilford County held a very successful celebration honoring the American flag and fallen heroes at the Old Guilford County Court House last week and now county officials say they want to begin mass flag disposal ceremonies to help raise the awareness of veterans and their service throughout the community.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners plans to honor the life of one of the county’s best loved broadcasters: Lee Kinard. At the board’s Thursday, Nov. 15 meeting the commissioners will adopt a resolution honoring the newscaster.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners is going to remain exactly like it is now – with five Republicans and four Democrats. However, for much of election night, it sure didn’t look that way. When the early voting totals were released on Tuesday, Nov. 6, the two Republican commissioners up for reelection to the board – Justin Conrad and Alan Perdue – both found themselves in real jeopardy.

There’s a new sheriff in town. In the political race that stunned many across the county, Democrat Danny Rogers upset longtime Republican Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes by pulling in 104,243 for 53 percent of the vote to Barnes’ 94,010 for 47 percent.

There’s a right way and a wrong way to dispose of the American flag and a new program offered by Guilford County is going to help residents do it the right way.   Guilford County is installing flag disposal boxes at the Guilford County Register of Deeds offices in Greensboro and High Point, and anyone who puts a flag into those boxes can be assured the flags will be disposed of properly.

With the election on Tuesday night, Nov. 6, everyone got to see a large number of candidates who were eager to participate in government. However, there are a host of other far less glamorous government positions – seats on Guilford County’s many boards and commissions – that aren’t seeing the same demand. A lack of interest among citizens is making it harder and harder for the county commissioners to fill those positions.

When Guilford County voters go into the voting booth and pick a Guilford County commissioner this year, they’re doing a lot more than voting for one commissioner candidate over another – they are casting a vote to keep, or completely reshape, Guilford County government.

Guilford County is constructing a new Emergency Services communication tower, but first the county must get approval from Indian tribes who have to sign off on the project.

The Guilford County Division of Public Health is venturing out well beyond the borders of the...

Guilford County is hitting hard against one of the county’s biggest problems – opioid addiction – and a new $100,000 federal and state grant will allow the Guilford County Division of Public Health and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) to take that battle into Guilford County’s jails.

As if the citizens of the Town of Summerfield didn’t already have enough to fight about these days, now they’re engaged in a bitter battle over public records held by Summerfield Mayor Gail Dunham in a private email account.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has appointed 2018 Guilford County Superior Court Judge candidate Lora Cubbage to serve the remaining term of Judge Patrice Hinnant, a former Guilford County Superior Court judge who retired in August.

With the economy improving, everyone expects to see some prices going up, but many residents in Summerfield are doing a double take – and asking a lot of questions – due to the astronomical prices that citizens are being charged for their public records requests.

The talks over whether to create a new $50 million municipal water system to serve northwest Guilford County are gaining steam. Recently, Guilford County Manager Marty Lawing met with the town managers of the three towns that could get a new water system – Summerfield, Stokesdale and Oak Ridge – to discuss the next move for the proposed project.

Early voting is proving to be a big hit this year with county voters and,
by Friday, Oct. 19, after three days of it, more than 18,000 citizens had
already cast their votes for the November election. That’s about 2,000 more
than voted in the first three days of early voting in the 2014 midterm
election – and, since there are 50 percent more days of early voting this
year, some election officials think those initial numbers could be a sign
of very strong turnout for the 2018 election.

Hurricane Michael has come and gone but Guilford County’s recovery is far from over.  In a report to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners at the board’s Thursday, Oct. 18 meeting, County Manager Marty Lawing said the preliminary costs associated with the storm for the county, cities and nonprofits was estimated to be about $1.5 million.

Two years might seem like a long time to make plans, but when it involves constructing a new building and moving the county’s mental health services to a new location, it means starting to look for a new location right away. That’s is why Guilford County commissioners and county staff, behind the scenes, are looking at big plans for mental health services in the county two years from now.

Sometimes the Guilford County commissioners get treated like VIPs, but recently some of them have clearly felt like second-class citizens when it comes to a major new school facilities study.

Several commissioners said that, even though Guilford County paid for half of the study from Tallahassee-based MGT Consulting Group, the county commissioners haven’t been granted the same access to the results as school officials.

Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes isn’t only in a campaign to win reelection – he’s now also in campaign to save an old jail renovation project he wants badly. This week, Barnes has been trying to get the nine Guilford County commissioners to proceed with a $17.3 million renovation of the old jail in downtown Greensboro in order to move his administrative offices into the revamped building.