{"id":5051,"date":"2011-01-03T10:55:42","date_gmt":"2011-01-03T15:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=5051"},"modified":"2011-01-04T10:29:08","modified_gmt":"2011-01-04T15:29:08","slug":"council-preview-reorganizing-at-the-top-and-banning-smoking-in-parks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/city-council\/2011\/01\/03\/council-preview-reorganizing-at-the-top-and-banning-smoking-in-parks\/","title":{"rendered":"Council preview: Reorganizing at the top and banning smoking in parks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Read the full agenda below<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Raleigh City Council could ban smoking in city parks at their first meeting of the new year. A new state law that went into last year gave the city the power to ban smoking in some public places, including parks.<\/p>\n

The original idea proposed by the council last year was to ban smoking in playgrounds. But the city\u2019s Parks, Recreation and Greenway Advisory Board took the idea one step further and will present a resolution Tuesday to ban smoking in all city parks.<\/p>\n

Read the resolution and backup material here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Environmental problems nix land purchase<\/strong><\/p>\n

The city bought 31 acres of land off Capital Boulevard in 2007 to build a remote site for the Solid Waste Services Department\u2019s operations. But environment cleanup on the site will costs a lot more than anticipated and the city wants out of the deal<\/p>\n

When councilors approved the purchase of part of the former Westinghouse site near downtown, the city signed an agreement with the state to use $300,000 in an escrow account to clean it up. That account is now empty and the consultant in charge of the cleanup says it would take another $290,000 to finish the work, plus about $900,000 for monitoring over the next 30 years. <\/p>\n

Councilors could approve a move to withdraw from the agreement this week. They will then have to find another site for the solid waste downtown remote operations facility.<\/p>\n

Shuffling city management<\/strong><\/p>\n

Councilors could approve sweeping changes for the organization of top administrators the week. City manager Russell Allen proposed the changes recently after assistant city manager Lawrence Wray retired last month.<\/p>\n

The changes would eliminate Wray\u2019s position and create what Allen has called an \u201cexecutive team.\u201d The changes will<\/p>\n