Time For Citizens To Weigh in

A very dangerous ruling by the Southport Board of Aldermen took place last night at the budget workshop. If you are concerned about this issue it is critically important that you let the city officials know your feelings.

The issue: a request by the Southport Rescue Squad to purchase a new primary response vehicle. The current one is a repair sinkhole, has been in an accident, has logged more time in the shop than on the road, and is currently inoperable and awaiting a mechanic's ruling on whether or not it is even repairable.

The request was to reserve $20,000 for the budget year 2012-2013 and each year for 5-7 years to pay for the vehicle. This portion of the request resulted in "Nay" votes by 3 of your aldermen and the mayor (he broke the tie of 3-3). For the record, I voted in favor of purchasing the vehicle.

The mayor, aldermen and city manager need to hear how you feel about refusing to support our rescue squad. The board voted to retain the rescue squad in May, and many citizens spoke of the vital need for Southport to retain our own squad rather than turn that service over to the county.

The Southport Rescue Squad has taken no taxpayer money over the past 2 years, as well as in the 2011-2012 budget. A previous board voted to fund the construction of a new fire house to the tune of $5.5 million, but $140k over the next 5-7 years is found to be impossible. In the budget year that is about to end your tax money paid $245,000 on the loan for the fire house, and $0.00 (zero) for the rescue squad. Does this seem out of proportion to you?

Here's what you need to do:

• Put the following e-mail edresses into your address book, or create a group for "Southport Govt."
• Robert Howard, Mayor - robertdhoward@bizec.rr.com
• Nelson Adams, Alderman - no e-mail but you may call him at 910-457-6557
• Ed Boguskie, Alderman - Eddiebog1@aol.com
• Jwantana Frink, Alderman - jfrink@ec.rr.com
• Ken Karn, Alderman - alderrmanken@bellsouth.net
• Mary Ellen Poole, Alderman - mssouthport@aol.com
• Vickie Potter, Alderman - vwpotter@yahoo.com
• Regina Alexander, Interim City Manager - regina_alexander@southportnc.org
• Send an e-mail to an official of your choice, but C.C. to everybody on the list above.
• State in a thorough manner how you feel about supporting the Southport Rescue Squad and purchasing a badly needed vehicle for them.

This will literally send a message to the board, the mayor and city staff. Unless we receive enough input from you the issue will fade away and the rescue squad will have one less vehicle--which is its most important one.

I also encourage you to follow the above noted procedure for any issue that you'd like to weigh in on. Thanks for reading and hope to hear from you.