Candidate questions expenses

To the editor:

Hello. Many of you know me as one of the four candidates for town commissioner here in Wake Forest. I have been following many of the issues that our town leaders have been facing lately and I have questions.

As I have talked with residents of the town about local politics, many of you share my concerns. Some of the projects that our town has been considering lately do not seem to warrant the associated expense.

For example, I am sure that there are quite a few reasons that a construction project is being considered near Joyner Park. While I enjoy the amazing park and spend quite a bit of time there with my family, I am not sure of the value added benefits of this proposal.

The plan involves changing the current four-way stop to a traffic circle and three tenths of a mile of multiuse path added along Harris Road from that circle to the vehicle entrance to Joyner Park. The new multiuse path will be within a few hundred feet of existing multiuse paths which are already part of the park. The change at the intersection may provide slight time savings.

While these changes may seem inconsequential, the $1.3 million dollar price tag is not. Out of curiosity, I called a local concrete company and the retail cost of getting enough concrete to cover a half-mile of six feet wide, 12-inch thick concrete would be around $88,000.

There seems to be an inordinate amount of labor and additional costs to put this project at over $1 million.

Another issue I have heard a lot about while touring our town: we spent $11.5 million on our new town hall, and now a mere three years later, we are spending another $500,000 to fix the leaking roof.

I am not sure if we received a warranty, but so soon after completion, I want to know why we are paying for such costly repairs.

These are just a few of our current issues. I feel that questioning our town’s decisions is an important part of good governing. I want to be your voice in town hall to make Wake Forest continue to grow as responsibly as possible. Thank you.

Mike Cole,
Candidate for Wake Forest commissioner

Editor’s note: Candidates are permitted to write letters to the editor only through the final two weeks before the Nov. 8 election.