Were you at the forum? I did not see you! Sorry I missed you. Was that not a pitiful performance by Smola or what?

I was there, with my husband. Sorry I missed you too. Great forum. It was well organized and informative. About Smola? Awful.

Matthews and Nasciaceno (that is the best I can do in spelling it) were totally Amos supporters. What did you think?

Was there anyone that said they would get rid of Barry?? No. Interesting was the 7 different ways that the same question about Barry was asked concerning getting "rid" of him. I saw many people doing the worm in regard to the answer of the petition that is going around. I almost felt like I was sitting in a council meeting instead of a debate about Tyrone and it's improvement. I have heard the same question asked 7 different ways by council members during a meeting. . Do not get me wrong the paper did a great job but, it was sad that no one asked questions about Tyrone's quality of life. It was a BArry debate instead. The religous question was not appropriate no matter who set the stage. great question from Tammy Bbock.
Jondough, I tried to figure out who you were so I could introduce myself but had no luck. Were you a tee shirt wearer supporting a candidate? Just so you know....the people around me were trying to make up their mind on whom to vote. I think my opinion, and theirs, was made up with the responses that were given.

You are right. No one did say that they would get rid of Barry, which just proves that unlike Smola's set up they have class. They did speak loud and clear on making the town administration accountable for their actions. As one candidate stated, make them go above and beyond what is required of them. Maybe when some new blood gets in there, it won't be necessary to get rid of B&V, just make them do their job and quit all the hanky panky. I agree with you, I did not like the Barry debate. There are alot of pressing issues facing our town and that did not come out last night. But what did concern me was Barry's exorbanate salary. I did not realize we were paying him that much. If we were a small town with alot of services and had the tax base, I could see paying a salary that high, but we aren't . We don't have the tax base and currently we are losing our businesses. As I understand it, Barry no longer performs those duties that he was initially hired to do, i.e. engineering, planning, etc. We farm those out now. I would like his job description as well as his duties reviewed and if indeed he is deserving fine, but I have a hard time believing that he and Valerie are deserving of such large salaries. Maybe it should be considered that we keep one of them and hire more administrative support.

Cecedupree, good question and idea about reviewing Barry's job description and duties, except that no one including Councilwomen Caldwell & Furr knows his duties etc. Apparently, its a great secret or he has none. Ordinance #381 passed March 2, 2000 sets out the Tyrone government operation. Section 61(b) says: Hereby is created the Office of Town Manager. The manager shall perform those duties assigned to him by Mayor & Council. That's all anyone knows. Section 62-77 is more specific about the Town Clerk's duties as follows: Take an oath, be bonded, attend Council meetings, take minutes, communicate to Council all applicable information to make decisions, be in charge of all records & filing system, issue all notices, certification of documents, keep official books of all monetary transactions, collect all taxes and other revenue, record expenses, be the financial and budget officer, deposit all monies, keep official bank books with detailed entries and cross references, preserve and cancel all city bonds, make a monthly report to the Town Manager of all transactions for reporting to Council and all other duties required by state law or the Town Manager. Valerie was the Town clerk, but her job title is now Assistant Manager.

Section-78 Assistant Town Manager - Valerie: duties are designed by Town Manager, Mayor and Council. These duties are unknown.

Zoning Administrator - Valerie: duties are prescribed by Ordinance 454 and include standards for determining permitted business uses and issuing Occupational Tax Certificates.

Valerie's salary for 2007-08 is $58,000, Barry's salary for 2007-08 is $97,000. but what's left for Barry to do? Well, for one thing, he submits his yearly salary increases to Council for their approval. His submission for 2006-07 was a 15% increase. The Council granted 8%. For 2007-2008 he budgeted a 3.5% increase. His justification for the increases was to bring his salary more in line with similar Town Managers. HaHaHa!!!. Oh, Barry also has a company car, plus hospitalization, plus lucrative retirement benefits and an insurance policy in case he's sued. The manager could eat no fat. His Assistant could eat no lean. Therefore, betwix them both they licked the taxpayer's platter clean. HaHaHaHa!

Are you serious? It is bad enough that he is there at all, but to be paid that much as a small town manager. That job is worth $60,000 tops with a part-time assistant making $9 per hour. Get rid of them both ASAP.

I completely agree with you!!

The person who deserves a high salary is Dee Baker. She's a hardworker, very helpful and very pleasant to deal with.

Our country is currently full of over-paid people. We ran out of manufacturing jobs and are busily creating more well-paying jobs to take their place.
These are the jobs that will disappear when we hit hard times--like now!
How much do you make???? For what????

So what are the great Councilwomen doing about their problem of job descriptions. It seems to me that they should step up and make the people accountable for their salaries. It is interesting that you seem to know the amount of money that the employees make. The councils granted BA's raise. They must think he is doing something right. I think some of you should review what other town managers make and what they are given. I do not think that it is far different from any other city/town manager. This seems to be the Barry debate instead of what the candidates will do to help our town.

Actually, the town council has been taken over by Amos and through Smola & Latourneau, Amos gets what he wants. Grace & Gloria vote no and Smola and Latourneau vote yes, creating a tie that the puppet Mayor Lee then votes to break and she has always voted on Barry's side. That is all about to change though. After the election, Barry will have a hard time keeping control of everything!! Sorry Barry but you deserve it!! Just like you can't stop growth, you can't stop change either and the citizens want a change, that is obvious. No more will Barry run over people's rights like he has been doing all these years. I am glad that someone has finally stood up against Smola & Amos, it is about time!! Good luck Mr. Shelley!! We are all rooting for you!

SmartyPants, You have a lot of opportunities to submit your questions on line and during the forum. You were there at the forum, why didn't you ask them?

I was remiss in submitting a question. You are correct in that statement. I though that there would be more question asked other than the Valerie and Barry show. Listening to the answer to the questions that were asked gave a clear indication of hw I intend to vote. After the gentleman stood from the floor and made his statement I had planned to stand and ask a question but the forum ws closed. My bad because I wanted to ask the candidates the following " what woul you say is the most pressing concern that the town is now experiencing and how would you correct it. I am concerned about the lack of sewer in the city and how it will effect any business that wants to establish in this town. Without our business area and an increase in residential will cause the town to raise taxes. There were many great questions asked at the forum. Some of them, including the religious question were inappropriate.

At a town council meeting not too long ago - around the middle of August, Grace Caldwell announced that the town of Tyrone was only using about 20-25% of the sewer provided in the Tyrone-Fairburn sewer contract. She then went on to ask Barry Amos why we needed more sewer if we weren't even using all that was provided under the current contract. Caldwell then accused Amos of misrepresenting the town's sewer needs......Furthermore, we should focus on protecting the downtown businesses we have at present!! Instead, Barry and Smola want to get rid of all the downtown businesses so that they can control the development. What is going to cause taxes to be raised is all of the lawsuits that stem directly from the actions of Amos, Caldwell, Smola & Latourneau!! That is what I am concerned about!

It is my understanding is there is very limited sewage downtown and that there needs to be better sewage lines. What is the truth?
At the town council meeting I get frustrated with Grace and Gloria asking the same question 7 different ways. An example: new lawnmower. How hard is it to understand that the lawnmower in question had been repaired so many times that the money spent on repairs could buy another mower. The girls just did not get it. I wished that the employee sitting in the rear of the building would have stood up and brought the broken parts in so they could understand. I also question some things that were said about the cemetary roadway. The councilwoman kept calling one of the roads an un-named road. I went there to find out what the fuss was about and found that the road had a name. Going to a council meeting I like sitting at a tennis match. The ball gets lobbed back and forth and off the court much like many of the meetings there.