Spoof Awards 2021: Being A Woman Award
Maggie Valley Town Planner Kaitland Finkle has experience in her field, multiple master’s degrees and a clear, coherent way of sharing complex information. So why then do the Maggie Valley Planning Board and Maggie Valley Board of Alderman regularly ignore her zoning recommendations in favor of their own ideas?
Is it because these boards have their own agendas? Is it because board members actually understand zoning law and regulation better than the person employed by the town to be an expert on these issues? Or is it because this is still what it is like to be a woman?
One of the few elected officials to argue for following Finkle’s recommendations, Alderman Tammy Wight said “We have an employee here with a double masters, she has gone over this, studied this and I’m going to go with her recommendation.”