Why The NTC?

My last post discussed Township Alliances from an arm's length viewpoint, recalling experiences with the NTC four years ago and more recently on their zoning proposal. It's good background reading - an even-handed and polite treatment of alliances and the NTC. But the real question is why should we, or any township, be in the NTC?

Four years ago, the NTC spent 9 months developing a cell tower ordinance that was extremely lengthy and faulty. I spent about 9 days making a short effective ordinance incorporating the township preferences into the existing county tower ordinance. Much of what I wrote about my experiences tries to put a bland analytic face on that massive mismatch of effort and effect.

I think the zoning ordinance represents the same kind of massive waste of time (2 years) to produce another extremely lengthy and faulty document that, if enacted, will do more harm than good. And I've had to spend a lot more than 9 days commenting on it.

Because of substantial public outcry, the zoning ordinance was put on hold to be quietly revised and reintroduced later. In the interim, the consultant was kept busy developing a new Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance (SLADO) based on the county ordinance. If enacted, each town must have a planning commission of at least 3 people. So, the NTC members will need at least 27 new people for their commissions to do what the county commission does now with 9 members.

Is this really necessary? My last post suggested a county-township partnering that needs fewer people, uses existing technical talent, and keeps township decision authority. Why not explore that avenue more aggressively instead?

In fact, why have I not heard these or other strategy options discussed at NTC meetings? The meetings seem to be where a pre-determined action is put to a vote and agreed. The real deliberations appear to be conducted in "working group" or "executive" meetings - both of which exclude public presence or notice. Perhaps that is felt to be an efficient way to avoid messy public opinion; but it can lead to public outrage as occurred with zoning.

More importantly, the NTC by its actions and proceedings appears to be an obscure unaccountable layer of government between the towns and the county. It creates citizen distrust of local government. Do we really need a "layer" between town and county?

The NTC is supposed to facilitate getting state funding grants and more advantageous terms for multi-town purchases of equipment and services. That may be true; but can those advantages be obtained by other more flexible partnering arrangements as discussed in my earlier post?

Is the NTC willing or interested in addressing these questions? Can they offer good answers? Can they show clearly why a town should stay in the NTC?

If not, then township officials should put the questions to their residents and decide what is in their best interest.