OH my goodness! There is so much more to this story. Pull up a chair, get you favorite beverage and see what happens when unchecked power creeps it’s way into government! When this petition was created shortly after Christmas the number one goal was to see that the Wake County Firearms Educations and Training Center (WCFETC) remained open to the citizens of Wake County. I can report that the range is currently scheduled to reopen to the public on March 15th. This is not the victory we had hoped for as a great deal of other information became known which complicates what would at first seem like our goal was achieved.
After more than 11,000 citizens signed this petition our County Commissioners were made aware of this great public facility that I sincerely believe none of them new existed. I can’t confirm that to be true. Never the less, the commissioners were faced with the eminent closing of the range on January 15th, 2020 and had to take swift action to place some measure of control over the situation. To there credit they tool control of the range away from the Wake County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO).The Sheriff had made a number of questionable management decisions unrelated to the range and received a request from County Manager David Ellis seeking explanations for these apparent “Diversions” from prescribed County guidelines and policies. In Sheriff Bakers 173 page response to County Manager Ellis, for whatever reason, the sheriff included his plans to close the WCFETC to the public and convert it into a Law Enforcement Training Center. (LETC) This document became public after an investigative report by WRAL-TV brought it to light.The Sheriffs reasoning for the closure to the public indicated that the WCSO had determined that the range was not profitable or self supportive and additionally Range Management Services (RSM), who had managed the facility successfully and profitably for the majority of two decades was mishandling their financial responsibilities. A slide presentation given at one of the County Commissioners public meetings refuted both of those claims by the WCSO. This information was presented by the Wake County General Services Administration (GSA) who handles the financial affairs of our county.
Our group of public presenters pointed out that the range was never intended to be fully supported by the public’s admission fees. This facility was intended to be provided as a service benefitting the citizens of Wake County much like our county parks. As a matter of fact County Parks and Recreation managed the facility for a short while. So it was well established that the WCSO reasons for wanting to close the range to the public was only so that it could become the exclusive private facility of the WCSO, plain and simple. Those of us actively working on this issue maintain that that goal is still high on the Sheriffs to do list and that The WCSO will work hard to discredit the current proposed management plans being set in motion right now. The WCSO report also mentioned doing extensive upgrades to the facility along with plans for a modern Simulations Center and equipment that would cost the taxpayers many thousands of dollars. The report went on to say that the WCSO sought $100,000 to contract for a feasibility study for the planned LETC. That’s spending a lot of taxpayer dollars right on the heels of screaming poverty over the range’s profitability. To add insult to injury, The taxpayers voted to approve a tax bond referendum allowing over three hundred million dollars to be spent for upgrades to our Wake Tech Community College facilities. 45 million dollars of those funds are earmarked for a State of the Art Law Enforcement training facility that would duplicate and far surpass the plans the WSCO has proposed for their own department. I’m quite sure that the new Wake Tech facility would more than suit the needs of the WCSO! So here we are with the range set to open on March 15th. Here’s the run down of what is currently being planned for new management of the public hours only.
The WCSO will have the use of the facility Monday - Friday from 8:00 to 5:00 but now will also get the range on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. The GSA reports indicate that the WCSO only used 30% of its past 40 hours per week so why do they need three nights a week as well? Just a power grab plain and simple!
The public hours will now be managed by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC) Who does have some experience managing a few other county outdoor ranges but nothing like the facility we have/had! When a Wildlife Official was asked in writing about the WCSO plans to convert the facility to a Law Enforcement Training Center he said he had never heard such a thing even though it is public record. That is concerning on several levels. First that the wildlife staff were so uninformed about this ongoing issue and more concerning, that no one from Wake County even hinted at the LETC Plan. Here is the response (Written Quote) to our question from the wildlife official:
Wildlife staff's written response:
“In all the meetings I have had with the Sheriff and his team as well as GSA staff there has never been any discussion or desire from any of the parties to convert the facility to a strictly law enforcement training center. The public use hours for the short term agreement have been provided and those will most likely not change during the 12 month time period. Wake County is planning on hiring a consultant to work with interested stakeholders which will assist us in formulating a long term plan. I cannot say at this time if the hours will be changed for a long term plan or not. WRC will do its best to work within the short term public use hours to accommodate the needs of the public”.
It has become evident from the language used at the Commissioners working and public meetings that the the Interested Stakeholders appear to be the WCSO, The GSA, The NCWRC and the County Commisioners. At no time was the public mentioned as a stakeholder when in fact the public is the one and only stakeholder regarding the future of the range that was clearly dedicated to the public, not law enforcement!
No classes have been discussed or scheduled at all. NO EDUCATION OR TRAINING
Old memberships are not to be honored. Everyone starts over with a “short” range video, a new membership card and then man, you are qualified to go blast away to you hearts content. Sounds like top notch Education and Training! Oh yeah, if you had an Annual Membership you need to call the Wake County General Services Administration and ask for a prorated refund of any remaining funds owed you as of the January 15th 2020 closing date. Make their phones ring. It’s the least we can do!
OK, hold onto to you hats! The WRC is proposing that there will be no admission fees for the public. I know, Lets all load up the cars and trucks and go crack of some shots. As much as I/we all like free stuff, that idea is of the charts insane. The deal is that the county has to pay all the upkeep and maintenance overhead costs for the the facility and the Wildlife Commission gets IN KIND use of the facility. What does IN KIND use mean. Sounds like even more competition for the limited public hours. And all those fees the county will have to pay for with our taxpayer dollars will not be offset by the very reasonable fees that we used to pay to make use of the range. Who was screaming the range didn't support itself financially? Good Grief! It’s getting like a ventriloquist act. I can’t tell it the ventriloquist or the dummy is talking! I never heard one person squawk about the the cost of the range. Reasonable people know that nothing is really free in this life.
So here’s the recap of the situation:
Wake County Firearms Education and Training Center = WCFETC
It appears there will be no more Public Education or Training for the foreseeable future so now it's just a range with no public education or training which was it’s intended use from the start.
NO discussion of leagues returning in the near future or at all!
So now you have a building where the only Education and Training taking place is for law enforcement which make this place a Law Enforcement Training Center and what does that equal boys and girls? An LETC which is exactly what the WCSO intended all along.
I implore you to stay on top this issue because it won’t be long before someone will come calling in about a year saying how this new plan is not working and the range really needs to be closed to the public as it is better suited as an LETC!
Spread the world to all you friends. Get these petition signatures rolling again. We need to see 25,000 signatures on this petition. Do not go quietly into the night only to later discover that what was once yours in no longer!