Frequently Asked Questions
Is this Information Published by the Village of Marvin?
No. The Marvin Village News is gathered and published by involved citizens in the Village of Marvin. We do not represent the views of any Marvin official, elected or appointed, or any Village employee.
To gain the perspective of your elected officials we strongly encourage residents and voters to reach them and ask tough questions. Don't stop there. Ask them for proof that what they're saying is true, on the record and demonstrated in the way they carry out their duties. You can find their email addresses here, on the Village of Marvin website: www.marvinnc.org/contact
Who Make up Your News Team?
We are a small group of Marvin residents, representing between 17 to 28 families. We work to bring residents news we believe is important when it arises. Some information can be garnered by reading Council meeting minutes online. However, we have found the posting of minutes to be slower than residents might need and they don't necessarily capture the content, or the context, of important Council actions -- particularly when the Council majority, themselves, can edit and adopt those minutes.
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We aim to provide primary sources and links to public records, to support each story we publish and/or distribute. This ensures readers are provided with the opportunity to assess sources and decide on essential facts for themselves. Let us know if you are looking for more documentation or additional support for anything we've published. If you're interested in joining our team, or writing something grounded in fact, supported by records and in the public interest, please email us contact@marvinvillagenews.com
How Did you Acquire the Email Addresses in Your Directory?
Your email address. It's Yours. Unsubscribe and we'll respect your privacy.
The list we use today is a compilation of lists that have been provided to us over the course of ten years. If we have emailed you, it is because you have provided your email address to someone who had provided it to us. The list we have has never been in use by the Village. In fact, due to constant maintenance, we believe our list is superior since it's consistently monitored for non-resident participants and other outside interest groups. Our list focuses on Marvin residents only.
When they have nothing else, they go after the email list - This is true and ironic given that many of the public officials who have complained have provided hundreds of email addresses themselves! Ask us to show you the proof and we will.
The Village Email List Rumor - Prior to 2011, NC law permitted the Village email list (or "sunshine list") to be shared with any resident, upon request. The original list came to us in 2009, through Mr. James Howard -- who is now deceased. After 2009, over many years of communication with neighbors, resident groups, candidates & campaigns - the list grew, due to voluntary submissions and community activities and has been shared among members of a core group.
But here's the bottom line... When some people find information-sharing to be problematic to their special interests they need to find reasons to discredit the information. Yet, our motivations are genuine and in accord with the First Amendment. We do our best to remain objective and we provide links to primary sources when possible - which take a long time to gather and organize.
We do not print stories to make money, or deal in trade, we do not post advertisements we simply provide Marvin citizens with important information that no other entity in, or around the Village provides. In the end, we believe most residents would rather be given the choice about whether to receive the information. If you are opposed to receiving our news updates, for any reason at all, please unsubscribe. We promise to respect your request. You can always re-subscribe later.
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If I Have a Sincere Question, Will You Answer it?
Absolutely! And if someone on our amateur team doesn't have the answer, we'll do what we can to find it.
And if we think it's a common question, it just might appear here!
But there is one exception, for the welfare of our writers...
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Because we live in a very small community of only 6,000+ people, and because members of our news team have received threats, have had their property damaged, and have even had their children ostracized from school activities or community events, we must forego the use of names and instead provide documented sources which can be easily verified by the reader by attending meetings, reading public records or listening to audio recordings. We hope the ability to independently verify facts will provide readers with a certain level of confidence so they might trust the short bullet point summaries we provide. That said, we don't want readers to believe everything we say. In fact, we encourage readers to let our stories prompt research, meeting attendance, public record requests, and independent engagement. And, if you are receiving our news by accident, feel free to unsubscribe. We'll respect your privacy with the same level of protection we must reserve for ours.
What Is Marvin Families for Good Government?
A Note from Marvin Families for Good Government:
Marvin Families for Good Government has been in existence for about nine years. MFFGG represents about thirty-eight different Marvin families. Public officials and candidates are evaluated on whether their priorities are friendly to Marvin and western Union County. We believe Marvin is primarily a place for families. Families normally want serenity and wholesome environments governed by policies which nurture community well-being.
Secondly, we evaluate whether Marvin public officers, appointees or candidates are 'good' people. It's really that simple. Nobody is perfect and we take that into consideration. Yet, we also consistently ask our children to be 'good' people and we want our Marvin officials to be 'good people' too: respectful, thoughtful, ethical, well-behaved and civilized.
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During election periods:
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1. MFFGG evaluates whether public officers and/or candidates have viable plans for nurturing community wellness; plans for parks, greenways, safer streets, etc. This will always be important to us.
2. MFFGG evaluates whether public officers/candidates have made residential density, school capacity & traffic generation important values in word and in deed; and whether this is through through policy goals or their affiliations.
3. MFFGG evaluates the degree to which public officers/candidates place emphasis on Marvin itself; whether they have specific connections to Marvin, experience in Marvin, public service experience and/or community involvement in Marvin. We are becoming more aware of how critical it has become to elect candidates focused on Marvin values and accountable to every-day Marvin residents.
How Can Marvin Candidates Impact Marvin Schools or Roads?
Per State laws, there are limits on what a municipality can do. Marvin cannot not provide for our local schools. And, Marvin does not have the authority to improve major roadways, or the tax-base to fund road improvements on our own. However, we can support Marvin officers, candidates and legislation that keeps residential density low and open space high. This protects our schools by managing the influx of students in our schools and helps regulate the influx of traffic on our over-populated roadways.
We understand how important policy is to Marvin family and we want it to be important to candidates too --
We do not collect donations or disburse funds to communicate our evaluations or recommendations. We are only one group evaluating candidates along particular criteria. Though we make every effort to provide public records to support our assessments, we want every voter to seek out varying sources of information which enable voting decisions that are right for them.
Sincerely,
Marvin Families for Good Government
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