Bobby Barber of Cornelius quizzed the speaker about staff pay raises. (Christina Ritchie Rogers/CorneliusNews.net)

By CHRISTINA RITCHIE ROGERS
DavidsonNews.net

CORNELIUS – Education, job creation and clean energy were hot topics during a public meeting with Rep. Thom Tillis (R) Tuesday night at Cornelius Town Hall. It was one of a series of meetings Tillis and other legislative leaders are holding around the state to tout their legislative achievements during the last session.

More than 200 people – primarily from Cornelius, Davidson and Huntersville – turned out for the meeting, where Rep. Tillis gave an overview of the legislature’s work during the long session. He and other legislators with him – Bill Brawley (R-Matthews), Mike Hager (R-Rutherfordton), Pat Hurley (R-Asheboro), Fred Steen (R-Landis), Linda Johnson (R-Kannapolis), Shirley Randleman (R-Wilkesboro) and John Torbett (R-Stanley) – then took questions from the audience.

The crowd was mostly friendly, but some speakers did not avoid asking tough questions.

“We need jobs,” the first speaker said. The man asked about tax breaks for companies willing to relocate to the area. Rep. Tillis said the state is willing to consider incentives, but not without safeguards or penalties to ensure that companies keep their promises.

Thom Tillis answers a question at Tuesday's meeting at Cornelius Town Hall. (Christina Ritchie Rogers/DavidsonNews.net)

Joel Olson of O2 Energies in Cornelius said he would like to see legislation to promote solar energy. Another man, a Toyota employee working in NASCAR, said House Bill 135, which regulates electricity rates and encourages businesses to pursue efficient energy options, is “punitive to job creation in the manufacturing sector.”

Mike Hager (R-Rutherfordton) said the legislature wants to look at the issue of clean energy as a whole, and to develop comprehensive 5-, 10- and 20-year plans. He said lawmakers want to avoid a “hodge podge” approach to energy and job creation.

Elise Dashew, who is running for an at-large seat on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education, asked if there was a way to better align the school budget and state funding cycles, and to avoid local schools’ need to “prepare for the worst” each year.

Rep. Tillis said after talking with former CMS Superintendent Peter Gorman, the legislature tried to determine schools funding in June this year instead of August.

Kaye McGarry, an at-large member of the CMS Board of Education, asked about House Bill 546, which would adopt a “pay-for-performance” system for teachers. “What I see on the schoolhouse level is a disaster waiting to happen,” she said, citing plummeting teacher morale as a result of the proposed system.

“I ordered the bill parked,” Rep. Tillis replied. “We need to figure out what tools schools want” before moving forward, he said.

Bobby Barber, a Cornelius resident who teaches seventh-grade in Lincoln County, asked about the pay raises Rep. Tillis gave to his staff this year. Some of those raises totaled more than Mr. Barber’s annual salary, he said.

Rep. Tillis defended the raises, saying former Speaker of the House Joe Hackney’s staffing model was wrong, and was one of the first things he changed when he took office. He gave his staff members “probationary salaries” for 90 days, he said, at the end of which they were restored to levels at or slightly below what they were making originally.

In response to another question, Rep. Tillis said tax reform is off the table for the time being. “That has to happen in 2013,” he said. “It can’t happen in 2012 (a General Assembly election year) because it’s too political.”

Some voters were concerned about social issues, such as the speaker’s plan for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages. Lauren Brannon, of Davidson, asked why he was devoting time and taxpayer money to such “hateful legislation.”

Rep. Tillis said he believes functional, “traditional” marriages are the foundation of our society, but said both sides of the issue will be heard through the democratic process as the amendment is considered. (The legislature will return to Raleigh in September for a “constitutional session” to consider amendments.)

Rep. Tillis took questions and comments for 30 minutes longer than planned, and toward the end of the meeting made sure anyone with criticisms had a chance to speak. He welcomed the chance to engage with citizens on either end of the political spectrum during what became a two-hour meeting.

“You all are a weird bunch for coming out to a town hall,” Rep. Tillis said in closing. “Your optimism and belief in the state of the country is the bedrock of what will turn it around.”

RELATED COVERAGE

Aug. 17, 2011, “Interview: Speaker Tillis on budget cuts, local bills” – A related article about Speaker Tillis’s interview with local reporters Tuesday. Includes an audio replay of the press briefing.