Todd Paris, Staff Writer, Salisbury Attorney, and Candidate for Salisbury City Council
♦ I filed for Salisbury City Council today. I thought long and hard about this decision. Campaigning is time consuming and I was very successful since 2015 in prodding city council through writing in Rowan Free Press and speaking out publically on policy and budget changes included, but not limited to:
The New Chief of Police
Salisbury Police Department salary increases for hiring and retention
Filing a suit against the folks who erected Fibrant in violation of the National Electric Safety Code
Stop telling folks Fibrant “turned the corner” and was making a modest profit when that was far from true.
Sell or privatize Fibrant.
There will be folks who will say those were not my ideas. Fortunately RFP archives will quickly prove those ideas were indeed mine. I could just keep steering the council to better decisions in my own way without the time and money being spent on being elected. However, good ideas are useless without the proper execution. This is why I am running:
The chief of police selection was poor. Nothing personal against Stokes, but he was in town last year telling folks that Salisbury did not have a gang problem and that SPD didn’t need more money. He finally came around on these issues but we lost a lot of time. We wasted a whole year to improve SPD salaries and retention and lost more officers to the point where we were almost 25% down.
The lawsuit was filed, but based upon the court file nothing seems to be happening. Do we even know how many millions it will cost to fix the Fibrant system?
The city’s dubious “Magnificent Ten” secret meetings at Water Street appear to have failed. They barred the public and even put up fake bushes in front of the doors so media couldn’t look in.
The pervasive practice of secrecy and non-public dealings continues to pervade city hall to the point where many call it “The City of Smoke and Mirrors.”
Salisbury’s public relations effort is a disaster. Public information has changed to public propaganda. The PR effort on the Ferguson Laurent matter could have caused a riot and seriously damaged relations between City Hall and the Black community.
Mayor Alexander’s conduct in setting the agenda, failing to keep some or all other council members informed of her actions and her conduct in violating the free speach rights of citizens and tax-payers in public comments clearly show she is not fit to lead. She has to be replaced.
At this point, the only way I can fix Salisbury’s problems is from the inside with at least two good council members. Brian Miller and Karen Alexander who have had at least four years to fix Salisbury have failed. My opinion is that if Kenny Hardin and David Post and I can serve at the same time there may be real progress. Please don’t consider this statement to be any more then my opinion. There is no plan or agreement with either of these councilman.
What I want to do is this:
Fix the Police Department.
Sell or privatize Fibrant if possible.
Sell the Empire Hotel this fall or more likely turn it into off-street parking
.
Do a comprehensive study of Salisbury-Rowan Utilities’ concrete-asbestos water mains in the city and come up
with a full replacement schedule.
Tell citizens what kind of water filters to buy to reduce asbestos and hexavalent chromium in the home water to safe levels.
Repair the city’s fractured relationship with the Black community and show respect to all citizens by being honest and transparent.
Terminate the city’s public relations program and provide all media access to all city officials and employees under a policy that no one will be fired for telling the truth
Rebuild city departments and restore city staff and services to pre-Fibrant levels.
Identify the 2000 to 3,000 vacant dwellings in this city and get homeowners into them by using grants, incentives, and doing whatever possible to prevent this city from becoming the “Detroit of the South.”
Salisbury’s largest problem is in crime control and community safety. No one on council has any experience with this. I have been a prosecutor and defense attorney in this town for over 29 years. I am a contract attorney with the Police Benevolent Association (PBA). I’ve been summoned a number of times to represent officers in officer involved shootings. I am also on the legal team for the Salisbury NAACP. I could’ve helped with the city’s response to the Ferguson Laurent shooting.
The next largest problem is the Fibrant debacle. We have actually increased spending on Fibrant and the deficit will now run around $3 million dollars per year. Other than David Post, my research and writing made me one of the most knowledgeable persons in Salisbury on this problem.
Race relations are another huge problem. I have great contacts and good relationships with many folks in our Black community through the NAACP and my personal contacts.
If I don’t get elected, supporters need not fret. I will just continue writing in the Rowan Free Press and exposing problems and going to council meetings and leading the charge for change and reform as I have been doing.
Salisbury is not the same city it was just a decade ago. It going to take some major hard nose fixes to start Salisbury’s comeback. Hide it, don’t fix it has never worked anywhere. It worsened our challenges.
Todd Paris Files with the Board of Elections:
