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led to Wilson
resignation
With the resignation of planning board member Ivan Wilson and pending resignation of County Planner Stevie Cox, the county’s planning efforts are in shambles.
Wilson’s resignation letter says it all: “It is apparent that the commissioners do not want a planning board that is independent and creative but supports only the views of the commissioners and all their biases.”
Wilson’s frustrations stem from a number of dubious interventions by some commissioners into planning board matters over time, the most recent of which was the commissioners’ unexplainable vote to nullify a simple conflict of interest statement that planning board members had signed. The commissioners’ actions essentially send the message that conflicts of interest are O.K.
But isn’t that the way it’s been for too long?
One problem is that some commissioners can’t keep from meddling into the affairs of its appointed boards if decisions don’t go their way, or the way of some of their constituents.
For example, the planning board worked for two years to enact a subdivision ordinance that was badly needed to get some semblance of control over fly-by-night subdivisions and mobile home parks. While some revisions were necessary, the ordinance wasn’t just watered down, it was hosed down by the commissioners after pressure was brought to bear by their developer-constituents.
Cox resigned to be the new town manager of Chadbourn. He was constantly asked to bend the rules as county planner, so the Chadbourn job is an opportune career move for him from what had become a no-win situation as county planner.
But Wilson’s resignation is what should send the biggest message to county residents. The county needs more volunteer board members like Wilson, a retired Federal Paper/International Paper executive who has a worldly view on matters and who is also the mayor of Lake Waccamaw. He came to the planning board with no axes to grind, owed no one any favors and understood the concepts of conflict of interest and being fair.
Eventually, the politics of power beat him down, and the conflict of interest revocation was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
The county needs more people like him on boards, but the message has been sent that they aren’t needed or wanted.