Popular Government

Water and sewer enterprises need to cover costs of daily operations and to plan for long-term system needs. The director of UNC at Chapel Hill’s Environmental Finance Center looks at the fundamental principles behind water and sewer revenues, focusing on high-priority financial decisions that water and sewer boards face.

Relicensing hydropower facilities is a lengthy and complex process, but it holds many rewards for local governments and other stakeholders that choose to participate in it. Of North Carolina’s 31 federally licensed facilities, 12 hold licenses that will expire in 2008. Their relicensing is currently under negotiation.

In spring 2000, Orange County launched a new type of criminal court, the mental health court. Court personnel, treatment providers, and law enforcement officers are coordinating the court’s response to criminal cases in which mental health problems appear to be the primary contributors to the offenses.

Many agencies find it difficult to move from traditional management approaches to results-based management. Two North Carolina State University professors provide some guidelines for agencies wishing to make the transition. To illustrate their points, they use real-life examples from public agencies in Greensboro and Wake Forest (N.C.).

This issue of N.C. Journal contains one article: 

• A Different Way of Seeing North Carolina

This issue of At the School contains three articles:

• Meet the Foundation’s Board of Directors, 2005
• MPA Students Complete 2005 Capstone Research and Receive Degrees
• Schelin to Direct Center for Public Technology