While 400 state employees are on a waiting list to get a parking space in Raleigh, 18 spaces are not assigned to anyone, according to an audit report released last week.

The report, a financial control audit of the Department of Administration, found that the department's parking division was not regularly reviewing and re-allocating spaces. The department is supposed to re-assign a space that is vacant for two months.

A December 2008 report found that 43 spaces had been vacant for three to 15 months.

The agency noted that since February 2006, 1,100 spaces have been lost because of downtown development. Those losses meant that the department could not accurately re-allocate space.

The Department says it can now return to its previously scheduled review of parking spaces. Also it notes that departments are responsible for paying for empty spaces and that since each agency keeps its own waiting list, the auditors figures may be inaccurate.

Where does the State Energy Office belong?

The agency, which leads the state's efforts to provide information about sustainable energy, would move to the N.C. Department of Commerce under a state bill endorsed today by Gov. Beverly Perdue as part of a reform package.

State Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat and bill co-sponsor, admitted that might sound a little odd to some people, since Commerce typically handles business recruiting and development.

But she argued the office should focus on business.

"This office is largely a relic of the Arab oil embargo, when it was focused more on energy security," she said. "We seem to have now entered a new era where it's as much about economic development and homegrown energy options as trying to find alternatives to Mideast oil."

The office is currently part of the Department of Administration, a catch-all government agency that houses the state construction office, among other things.

Harrison opposed an earlier effort to move the office to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources which she argued was designed to undermine it. She says the new proposal is a good-faith effort.

The legislature will again consider buying more efficient cars.

A proposal to wean state government off of gas-guzzlers has resurfaced and car dealers who helped kill it last time say they'll stay neutral.

The bill would require the state Department of Administration give preference to cars in the top 15 percent of their class for fuel economy. Police cars and ambulances would be exempt.

The N.C. Automobile Dealers Association, which opposed the bill last year, opposed a similar bill that would have mandated that the state buy more efficient cars, but it will remain neutral as long as the state only prefers them.

"It's just like night and day," said Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat who sponsored the bill. (AC-T)

State agencies are cutting back in small ways too.

As noted previously, Gov. Beverly Perdue asked Cabinet-level agencies to trim their spending. A list of the cuts includes some interesting items:

* The Department of Administration has stopped printing most publications.

* The Department of Cultural Resources is training employees online and turning off computers at night.

* The Department of Revenue is encouraging carpooling.

Some of these cutbacks actually have positive benefits. For example, environmentalists might support putting more state publications online rather than printing them, while carpooling and turning off computers saves gas and electricity.

Fiscal conservatives, meantime, support reduced spending on travel and other items.

State Rep. Linda Coleman has been appointed head of state personnel.

Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue appointed the Knightdale Democrat, who has the strong backing of labor unions, as director of the Office of State Personnel.

Ann Cobb will serve as deputy director.

Coleman, a former Wake County commissioner, has been in the state House since 2005, serving as chair of the state personnel committee.

She previously worked as human resources management director at the state departments of Agriculture and Administration and as personnel director for the Department of Community Colleges.

She has a master's in public administration from the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and a bachelor's from N.C. A&T State University.

"It is an honor to be selected by Governor-elect Bev Perdue to head the Office of State Personnel," she said. "I will work hard everyday for North Carolina’s state employees."

Cobb has worked in human resources for a private firm and in the Office of State Personnel and the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

North Carolina had a military secretary before.

Until 1973, the governor's Cabinet included a secretary for the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. It was eliminated during a restructuring of state government that led to the creation of the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.

The Division of Veterans Affairs was then transferred to the N.C. Department of Administration. 

On Monday, a group of military advisors recommended Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue consider adding a Cabinet position to oversee military and veterans issues. 

Britt Cobb will step down at the end of his term.

The secretary of the N.C. Department of Administration told Dome that he has not sought to continue in that position after the end of Gov. Mike Easley's term.

"I've had my paperwork in for a long time," he said.

A longtime employee of the N.C. Department of Agriculture, Cobb was appointed commissioner of that department by Easley after former head Meg Scott Phipps left office in the wake of a scandal.

Cobb unsuccessfully ran for Agriculture commissioner in 2004 and was then appointed secretary of administration by Easley in 2006. Having retired from politics once already, he said he'll "never say never" to coming back.

"It's kind of like Sen. (Tony) Rand said one time, once it's in your blood, the only thing that will get it out is embalming fluid," he said.

State Rep. Alma Adams of Greensboro is considered to be a potential secretary of Administration under Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue.

Rep. Alma Adams is in the running for a Perdue post.

The Greensboro Democrat's name has been raised several times for a possible appointment to the cabinet of Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue.

The most recent tip comes from the Greensboro News-Record's Inside Scoop column, which quotes Rep. Earl Jones, also a Greensboro Democrat.

"She probably will get offered a position by Perdue," Jones told the newspaper.

Adams had no comment, but she would be an interesting pick. During the Democratic primary, she cut a TV ad defending Perdue against charges of not opposing racism strongly enough by state Treasurer Richard Moore.

She also was one of the prominent critics of the diversity of Perdue's original transition team.

The News-Record notes N.C. Spin's claim that Adams is in the running for head of the state Department of Administration.

Update: Adams, an art professor, may also be considered for secretary of the state Department of Cultural Resources.

Previously: Names in the mix for Perdue's Cabinet