Speak Up Henderson sputtered to a start as the open city forum made its return Monday night.
When Mayor Clem Seifert opened the floor to anyone who cared to approach the microphone, the people there to answer questions far outnumbered the public. Council members Ranger Wilkerson, John Wester, Elissa Yount and Mike Rainey, City Manager Eric Williams, mayoral assistant Sandra Wilkerson, and Police Chief Glen Allen were there if needed. A man in a suit and a woman and her sleeping son composed the public.
The man in the suit wasn’t even a Henderson resident. He proved to be Kenneth Haywood, the Raleigh lawyer retained by at least 16 Hendersonians to make inquiries into the policies, processes and procedures of city spending and the enforcement of city ordinances in light of the financial difficulties Henderson faces with its shrunken fund balance.
As the seconds ticked away in silence, Haywood finally stepped up and became the first person to speak up in the revival of the public forums Seifert started last year. The mayor held a forum in each of the city’s four wards and was pleased by the response but frustrated by the logistical problems. He decided to hold the forums from 6 to 7 p.m. before each City Council meeting after seeing 100 people crowd into the council chambers Feb. 28 for a public forum on the city’s 2004 audit.
That audit and the problems it revealed with tapped-out savings and overspending on Embassy Square provoked popular anger, concern and confusion, but perhaps not enough to warrant further questions for a while: No one, not even Haywood, asked about finances Monday night.
“There’s not as many people here tonight as there were last time,” Seifert said as looked around the mostly empty room.
Haywood took a moment to praise the idea of regular public forums, then asked for a status report on the enforcement activities of the new Code Compliance Department — how many complaint letters have been sent, how many fines levied and so forth.
Seifert and Williams promised to get him that information.
The mayor said it was a good question to launch the forum because it was specific and could be answered with particular facts.
“If folks will ask the questions they want answered,” Seifert said, “we’ll be glad to answer them.”
The roles shifted for a time when Williams had questions for Haywood about whom he represented (he wouldn’t say because he hadn’t asked the 16 to 20 people for permission to reveal their names) and what Williams called a “signup sheet” for a possible civil action (Haywood said that rather than a solicitation, that sheet is a way to “facilitate the exchange of information” and that there is no legal action now).
It looked like that would be the extent of Speak Up Henderson for the night. Other city officials drifted in as the conversation turned to the NCAA basketball tournament (for those of you playing at home, Seifert lost two of his Final Four picks in the first two rounds, Wake Forest and Kansas, and reckoned that he set a record for fewest points in the opening round).
Yount took the opportunity to ask when auditor Curtis Averette of William L. Stark & Co. would appear before the council to present the audit and answer council questions. Williams said such an appearance is not a requirement, but he’ll make arrangements for Averette to attend a meeting of the council’s Finance and Intergovernmental Relations Committee.
The council members chatted about Wilkerson’s health.
They made the kind of self-aware small talk you’d expect when you’re being taped but have nothing much to say.
After more than seven minutes of nothingness, Henderson Shrine Club President Michael Williamson approached the mike, and half an hour after the scheduled start, the much-sought free-form forum finally was on.
Williamson and fellow Shriner Bill Jordon spoke about the Shrine Club’s desire to use the space around the armory on Dabney Drive for the group’s annual fish fry May 18.
Jordon even tried to kick off the sale of the tickets, already printed in anticipation of council approval to use the site. He acknowledged Wester and Seifert’s point that sales won’t be the same since the deaths of perennial top sellers Walter Rogers and Horace Robinson.
As the audience swelled to 10 people and beyond, Robert Gupton stepped up to speak. He said he hadn’t attended with the intention of asking anything, but he couldn’t resist the opportunity.
He wanted to know why Henderson police patrol Interstate 85, a job for the Highway Patrol, when Henderson has so much crime for the police to handle. He acknowledged the good work the police do and the value of stopping drug traffickers on I-85, “but I pay taxes to the state for that.”
By state law, Allen said, the city police are responsible for the 4.5 miles of the interstate within city limits. Officers take that responsibility seriously because 16 people have died on that stretch since he became chief in 1997, Allen said.
City officers, not the Highway Patrol, work the accidents that happen inside the city, and “we’re happy to prevent accidents.” Henderson police stray beyond the city limits on I-85 to spot dangerous drivers heading into the city, where they are pulled over and ticketed.
Gupton said he’d rather see a police car parked outside Zackery’s Market on Orange Street than along I-85. “I’m concerned with crime in the city.”
Inspired by the dialogue regarding crime and the use of the closed armory, Terry Moore carried the conversation past the scheduled 7 p.m. end of the forum with a suggestion that the city renovate the armory and make it the home of Henderson’s first Boys & Girls Club.
The exchange turned heated at times as Moore challenged the city “to step up to the plate” and do something to serve children within the city and Seifert defended the city’s investment in the Aycock Recreation Complex.
But the discussion served the purpose of raising the idea for consideration and providing an initial opportunity to share information on both the armory and the club. It was a conversation Seifert, Moore and Moore’s sister Deryl Von Williams continued during the break between the forum and the regular council meeting at 7:30.
“This is the first I’ve heard of the Boys Club as a possible use,” said council member Mike Rainey, who serves on the city-county committee exploring the armory’s future. He said such a youth club could be a good choice for the site.
“Speak Up Henderson, this is exactly what it’s for,” Seifert said.