“One Guilford: Ready, Set, Go!”
That was the theme of Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston’s 2024 State of the County Address this year, which Alston used to highlight Guilford County’s successes over the past 12 months and also to speak about the upcoming plans meant to enhance local government services for area residents.
In the speech, Alston talked about preparing Guilford County for its continued growth, its focus on strategic planning, and the moves the county is making to improve the lives of its citizens.
It’s a tradition each year for the chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners – sometimes called the “Mayor of the county” – to give an annual address each fall to let county residents know how things are going. Since Chairman Skip Alston now appears to be chairman for life, it’s pretty much an ongoing tradition currently that it’s Alston who gives the State of the County Address each year.
Which is exactly what Alston did once again on Wednesday, Oct 9. at 5 p.m. in the auditorium on the first floor of Union Square Campus in Greensboro.
If you ask the average citizen, they may point out that the county just took on, by far, the greatest amount of bond debt in county history, and also that their property tax bills are 25 to 30 percent higher than they were a few years ago.
However, it’s the job of the chairman during the State of the County Address to be positive and upbeat, and that’s exactly the tone Alston had.
During the State of the County Address, Alston gave updates on the multitude of new county-wide initiatives that the Democratic-led board has undertaken in recent years with the guidance of Guilford County Manager Mike Halford.
Some of those initiatives include the formation of the Guilford County Homelessness Taskforce, various economic development projects and the county’s expansion of mental health and substance abuse response services – including progress on the Lees Chapel Residential Recovery Center and the Women with Children Recovery Center.
“Over the past year, we’ve made a lot of progress on our strategic initiatives,” the chairman said during the speech. “We remain focused on maintaining readiness, as well as chartering a path for future growth and sustainability. The future of Guilford County is bright. Together, as One Guilford, with our municipal and community partners, we’re ready, we’re set, and now it’s time to go! Let’s rise to the challenges, continue to plan for our future, and continue transforming Guilford County into a beacon of opportunity for everyone to live, work and thrive.”
Over the last two and a half years, Alston has begun pushing this One Guilford theme and holding collective meetings with the mayors of towns and cities in the county in an attempt to get everyone working together and moving forward progressively while remaining on the same page.
During Alston’s 2024 State of the County Address, he highlighted the following items among others.
Guilford County’s Continuum of Care partnership is beginning to include enhanced support for shelters, increased spending for case management and support for rapid rehousing programs.
Ten years ago, the Guilford County government had practically nothing to do with homelessness – it was a city and town issue. However, over the last seven years, Guilford County has begun to play a more and more important role in addressing the problem – a problem which has been a huge headache, and sometimes even worse, for many people who work and live in downtown Greensboro
Alston also pointed to Guilford County’s investment in the Servant Center to establish a medical respite program, as well as the county’s economic development gains in the last year.
No matter what one’s political leanings or views of the county’s leadership, it’s absolutely undeniable that Guilford County and the surrounding region have become a powerful magnet for businesses of all types from aviation giants to logistics companies to biomedical firms with cutting-edge tech. In fact, the county has been attracting so much business that some people – experiencing the traffic, the long lines in stores and the roads being shut down due to constant new construction – are starting to ask if the county is bringing in new business too quickly.
Theoretically, one supposed benefit of bringing in new business is that it will increase the value of the tax base and citizens can therefore see some cuts in their property tax bills; however, when you have a Board of Commissioners that never sees a project it doesn’t like – and therefore that spends every dime that comes in and much more by taking on more debt – well, that advantage remains purely theoretical, and citizens are just stuck with longer lines, higher housing prices and traffic that often resembles Atlanta’s.
During the speech, Alston stressed the need for more affordable housing, but he didn’t mention that the commissioners make housing less affordable every time people are forced to pay more in property taxes.
Other items Alston highlighted in his speech were the county’s formation of Guilford County’s award-winning Adult Resource Team, which works to reduce non-emergency calls.
Guilford County Emergency Services Director Jim Albright told the Rhino Times this summer that that program had been working like a charm and he added that hundreds and hundreds of calls that used to be made to 911 are now handled by that team, which works to address problems largely coming from those who repeatedly call 911.
(For instance, one man who was wheelchair-bound lived on the second floor of a building with no elevator and he called 911 every time he needed to leave the apartment and every time he arrived home. The Adult Resource Team, which includes social services workers, found the man a ground-floor living space and helped him move into it.)
During his address, Alston also spoke on the establishment of the health benefits division under Social Services to support Medicaid expansion, the opening of Claxton Elementary School using some of the county’s $2 billion voter-approved school construction bonds.
The 2024 State of the County Address was streamed online through Guilford County’s Facebook page and on the Zoom platform. For those who missed the speech but would like to see it, a recording of the 2024 State of the County Address will be available on the county’s website (guilfordcountync.gov) at some point in the near future.
The tradition of an annual State of the County Address began in 2017 when former Republican Commissioner Jeff Phillips, then chairman of the Board of Commissioners, delivered the county’s first-ever such address and held a press conference immediately following.
