Wake Conservation Supervisor Race

[TreeGuy]

I am seeking events where candidates for Soil & Water Conservation candidates can present their platforms.

We in New Hill have learned how town governments manage natural resources--by not managing them at all, but dumping their waste on the next guy. The race for Conservation Supervisor carries special interest this year, given the sewage spills and chemical fires in the news recently.

Conservation of our natural resources is essential to our quality of life, and our property values. Here is a snapshot of one campaign--please seek information on all candidates, so you can make an informed vote!

VOTE MEILLEUR for CONSERVATION

Improving Wake County’s Natural Resources: Good for Growth!

Wake County is a great place to live, but our families, businesses and schools rely on sustainable natural resources – like clean air and water – for continued healthy growth. If we safeguard these assets, we will not have barren, polluted cities, like those many of us left behind. A vote for Meilleur (may-er’) is a vote for a Conservation Supervisor who will work hard to protect the natural wealth that makes Wake County such a great place to live.

NCGS 139: “Soil and Water Conservation Districts are authorized for the purpose of exercising public powers for the conservation, protection and development of land, water, air, forest, wildlife and related resources.”

Development can build our economic base while sustaining our natural resources. If we conserve as we grow, our property values will grow, and we will leave a better place for our children. Good growth is compatible with clean air and water.

If elected, I will harness public and private resources and modern science to conserve not just soil & water but all of our natural treasures. I am uniquely qualified to be your Wake County Soil & Water Conservation District Supervisor because of my experience:

 20 years as a consulting arborist in Wake County, working toward reasonable regulation and compassionate conservation of Wake County’s soil, water and trees
 Instructor, Ecology and Urban Forestry courses, Duke and NCSU
 ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, retired Certified Master Gardener
 Educator, teaching Junior Achievement and planting trees at 67 Wake County schools
 North Carolina Field Representative, American Forests organization
 Curator at NCSU’s Raulston Arboretum, Former Staff Arborist at UNC

As a small businessperson, I find ways to get work done with limited resources.
As a conservation professional for all my working life, I know the issues.
As a parent, I want to leave this county better than I found it, for our children.


My website is www.BetterTreeCare.com. If elected, I will work with all Wake County citizens to retain and increase our “natural capital”. Find me at the very end of the ballot – if you don’t vote for Guy Meilleur, please get out there and vote anyway!

Guy Meilleur for Wake County Soil & Water Conservation District Supervisor

[DarylB]

The N&O Readers Corner blog posted a spot on this race, to which I replied. The exchange is as follows:



Tuesday, October 31, 2006The dirt on Soil & Water
Arlene Summers of Raleigh wants to be a conscientious voter. So as she prepared to vote early, she printed out a copy of the Wake County ballot and found eight candidates for two seats on the Wake Soil and Water Conservation Board.

"Problem is, we don’t have a clue what this board does nor do we know anything about the people named," Summers said.

She went to The N&O Voters Guide online, only to find no coverage of that board or the candidates. What, she asks, is a voter to do?

She will find a brief rundown on that race in the print edition of the Voters Guide that comes out this Saturday. But not much, says Holly Stepp, The N&O's Wake County editor. The paper just doesn't have the resources to give much attention to such an obscure race.

I understand, but I also sympathize with Ms. Summers and our readers. What does the S&W board do? What are the issues in the campaign? Why do eight people want to join it? Why has one person (Joe Phelps Jr.) been on the board for 26 years, after his father was a member before him? (he's not up for election). And why the heck do voters choose members of this board anyway?

Posted at 03:20 pm by Ted Vaden in Readers' Corner
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Comment from: Daryl Baker [Visitor]
10/31/06 at 16:22
What it IS is a holdover from the agrarian days of Wake county.

What it SHOULD BE and CAN BE is a board protecting us from environmental impacts due to the unrestrained growth of builders and Wake municipal governements that are driving that growth. It should be concerned about runoff from construction, and about runoff of stormwater from the huge addition to roadwork that's taking place in our county.

Such impacts as erosion and waste spills should be of top concern, especially when our lakes were closed, and will often be closed now, due to the ongoing effects of bacterial inputs from sewage spills. Saying "No fish were killed" is not good enough, and this board needs to be the advocate for environmental resources involving soil and water damage. This board should also be championing protection from chemicals and other agents, in our soil, air and water, something that could have helped in the Apex chemical fire. They should worry themselves about density development, since that carries with it environmental issues that we need to hear about. And it should be asking questions about such things as not just whether we CAN build a sewage line across great stretches of the county, and whether we CAN build a treatment plant in New Hill to process it, this board really needs to open the discussion as to whether we SHOULD, and to offer viable alternative solutions. (ie smaller processing plants closer to the source, and pumping processed effluents to the outfalls).

It's my concerted opinion that we are in danger of many such environmental disasters as those that have befallen us of late if we only react and don't plan. While this board has done such things as supporting Voluntary Agricultural Districts (VAD's) to curtail farmers having to hook up to municipal utilities, the area is in far more need of urban protections and advice now than the rural fixes for which it was originated.

That's what I see from this board, and that is why my name appears on the ballot for this position.

Daryl Baker
Candidate, Wake Soil and Water

What I find of interest is the N&O's position that "The paper just doesn't have the resources to give much attention to such an obscure race". Given all the environmental issues we've been facing recently, to which I directed my comments in my reply. I'm not saying it's the biggest thing going politically, but it isn't trivial either, or at the very least shouldn't be. With the health and general welfare of everyone who lives in the region being taken for granted, why am I not surprised when we have serial environmental disasters? Isn't the N&O's job to ask WHY?