Four annexations and original zoning requests are on the agenda for the Tuesday, Jan. 19 Greensboro City Council meeting.
Requests for annexation and original zoning are almost always approved by the City Council, although it did take the City Council a couple of extra months to approve a request for a charter school.
And it is almost always the case that these requests are made because Greensboro currently requires a property to be annexed before it will provide city water and sewer service. By state law it is currently extremely difficult for a city to annex property if the property owner opposes it.
Four requests for annexation and original zoning is an unusual number for a City Council meeting, and it raises an interesting issue.
Each request is considered individually and for each request there is a statement from the city staff stating that city services can be provided. The number one priority is providing water and sewer service, but that is not the only service that the city is required to provide.
In 2019, all of the annexation requests amounted to 319 acres added to Greensboro and, unlike in the past when the city would annex large parcels of land, these were individual annexation requests meaning that they are spread out all over the place and some are not contiguous to the city.
Police Chief Brian James was asked at a council work session if these spread out annexations presented a problem for the Police Department and he said that it could. If an officer had to answer a call at one end of the district and had to travel all the way across the district for another call, it took more that officer more time.
The real problem seems to be that the annexations are individual requests and the reports on them are done on an individual basis, not considering the cumulative effect of the annexation requests.
James also has also noted when speaking to the City Council that the last time the City Council authorized more officers for the Police Department was 2011.
City Councilmember Justin Outling said that a police staffing study such as the one that was supposed to be done last March, should take into account the amount of land that has been annexed and if additional police officers are needed simply to cover the territory that has been added to the city in addition to the other needs of the city.
Councilmember Marikay Abuzuaiter said, “I’m always concerned, can we provide fire, can we provide police and can we provide bus transportation.
She said, “It’s problem when people will be paying for those services and we can’t provide those services in a timely manner. It adds up.”
She added, “You’ve heard me harp about it. We need more police officers.”
“2011 was last authorization for more officers” Wow. Now everyone can plainly see how little our Mandate Mayor and her long serving conciliatory members care about their constituents. How many years in a row does the murder rate continue to sKY rocket before safety is a priority not Performing Arts Centers for well to do “stakeholders” and ordinances that restrict and close business. For shame . Our Mandate Mayor refuses staffing police and is fiddling while Rome burns around her.
Well they are budgeted for like 674 and have like 612 officers (per a previous Horny Pachyderm article). So why would we authorize more if they aren’t using their fully allocated budget? If they can’t get qualified recruits, then what would be the point of authorizing hiring even more officers if those will be filled with unqualified or otherwise unacceptable candidates?
I think the bigger issue here is really thinking about the land acquisition process and how this doesn’t necessarily result in the most holistically considered options. It’s time to start accepting that small-town government and politics doesn’t work for a city (or really a burgeoning metropolis). A better move would be to consolidate GCSO and GPD or consider other restructurings to have the appropriate coverage throughout the county.
Combine the Sheriff and Police? The Sheriff is a public office, and governed by the NC general statutes which is entirely different from the police chief. My suggestion is to leave them separate. Maybe the police department needs to be under the Sheriff? That, of course, will happen when the world stops spinning.
You can’t change the duties and responsibilities of the Sheriff, unless you do so by getting the General Assembly to change their laws. A Police Chief is much different, but the Sheriff’s duties are outlined in the NC General Statutes which can be found at:
https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/ByChapter/Chapter_162.html
Merging the Sheriff and municipal police may sound good, but it all depends on the General Assembly.
Why would anyone want to be annexed to this City? All you would get is more taxes, which is what they really want. I can’t imagine how you would benefit.
Even more reason to move out of the county.
Why do we need more police officers when we have councilwoman Johnson leading the way with “Cure for Violence”? Our tax dollars of 900K that was so freely given and not required accountability to our citizens. Cure for Violence has proven their cost? Murder rate is the highest in the state and climbing. Think of how many police officers the city could have hired with the 900K- Our anti- police council and mayor are a disgrace to Greensboro.