Down-to-earth commissioners steer Craven County

All the blazers, ties and pantsuits in attendance couldn't shade the fact that Craven County doesn't take itself too seriously.

As members of the Craven County Board of Commissioners filed back into the room Monday morning after a brief recess, I saw one commissioner walk to the dais with a vanilla cream cookie held between his teeth.

It made this former Floridian chuckle, and one of my first thoughts was that the savvier politicians in Hillsborough County (the Florida county that contains Tampa) would sooner be stripped of office than caught by the media mid-chew. But the more I pondered this odd sight, the more my respect and admiration for Craven and its colorful county leaders grew.

All cookies aside, the point is that our county commissioners are not career politicians. They're ordinary citizens who sought election to public office to make a difference, as hackneyed and cliched as it may sound. The Board of Commissioners is truly a representative government body -- county residents elected their neighbors, not a privileged subgroup of politicos.

The most disappointing aspect of the meeting -- held at 8:30 a.m. at the county administration building on Broad Street -- was that no one from the public bothered to show up.

Citizens, this is your county and your government. You should know what's going on, from every tax hike to every cookie crumb.