Final resting place means final, Wake’s Ford says. Is the county making a grave mistake?

My editor will mostly likely tell me not to start off a new political column by writing about a meeting agenda. But here we are.

Agendas are the road map that tells you — and your local government reporter — what elected officials will talk about at their upcoming meeting. After a few months, you begin to read between the agenda lines, anticipating where you might see some tension and when you might even be surprised.

Death and morality weren’t on the agenda for the Wake County commissioners’ last meeting. Until they were.

If you’ve got a grave or cemetery on your property and you’re not related to the people in it, state law requires you to have a county public hearing to get those graves relocated.

It’s the predicament William and Deborah Elmore found themselves in Monday afternoon. They asked that two graves be removed from their property and permanently placed at Oakwood Cemetery.

Wake County has held nine such hearings since 2014. While moving graves is legal, some commissioners still don’t like it.

“My faith tradition is one where ‘final resting place’ really means final resting place,” said Wake County Commissioner Greg Ford. “There’s not an asterisk (for) ‘unless impedes progress or profit.’”

Commissioner Jessica Holmes called the process legal but “frankly immoral,” though she eventually voted for it.

The all-Democratic board usually votes in step with one another — though they’re not without their infighting. Ford was the lone vote against.

“I hope everyone sees the ethics and morality in every decision made,” Ford told me later. “Every thing has an opportunity cost. There’s always something that is gained or lost in any decisions made. And I try to consider that. And I also recognize that I don’t have all the experiences and perspectives that other may have, and that’s why I try to listen when people share their stories so we can make the most informed decision.”

And, for what it’s worth, you don’t have to be told you’re purchasing land that previously had a grave or cemetery on it, though a real estate attorney might be able to dig that up for you.

One cute thing

Keeping with things-I-wasn’t-expecting-at-public-meetings ...

Raleigh City Council member Corey Branch presented his first child during the Oct. 16 council meeting with his wife, Chanda.

Carleigh Ivy-Rose Branch was born Sept. 25 weighing 5 pounds, 11 ounces.

They said it

“We are out of time. This is not something our grandchildren need to worry about. This is something you and I need to worry about because Hurricane Florence is a picnic compared to what we are going to see,” said Wake County Commissioner John Burns.

The context: He pushed for Wake County to adopt a goal of achieving 100 percent clean energy by 2050. Wake County, North Carolina and the planet will face catastrophic consequences unless people, companies and local governments work together to decrease their contributions to climate change, he said.

Name this column

This is the first of a semi-regular column about Raleigh and Wake County politics. Email me your thoughts on what to call it at ajohnson@newsobserver.com. And follow me on Twitter at @anna_m_johnson. I often live tweet city and council meetings using #ralpol for Raleigh and #wakepol for Wake County.

This story was originally published October 22, 2018 at 6:55 PM.