Henderson-Vance Economic Partnership Chairman Bob Fleming and Vice Chairwoman Lynn Harper took to the local airwaves Thursday morning to better explain the new organization and its intentions.
The respected duo — a former chairman of the Vance County Board of Education and the only chairwoman of the Clean Up Henderson Committee — took questions on “Town Talk,” the 11 a.m. daily talk show on WIZS-AM (1450).
The Economic Partnership is a still-forming private, nonprofit organization whose membership mixes public officials and private individuals. But information from the partnership has been sketchy about how it will operate, how it will spend money and how it will work with existing agencies.
The partnership sought the endorsement of the Henderson City Council and the Vance County Board of Commissioners for its goals and its bylaws June 6. The City Council complied on a 7-1 vote, with Elissa Yount voting no over concerns about secretiveness and a concentration of power. The commissioners referred the issue to their General Government Committee, which is due to meet in the coming week.
Vance residents have expressed distrust of the partnership’s organizers and their goals in letters to The Daily Dispatch, calls to “Town Talk” and comments on this Web site. For many, those suspicions arise from the similarity between the leadership of the Embassy Square Foundation and the group organizing the partnership, most notably Sam Watkins. For others, the concerns are based on potential conflicts in putting economic development in the hands of the many land developers in the group.
Before delving into some of the controversies Thursday, “Town Talk” host John Charles Rose asked Fleming and Harper to lay out the history and basics of the organization.
According to Fleming, the concept for the partnership came from an independent study by an Atlanta consulting firm on behalf of Team Vance. The firm did an “economic scan” of Vance County and tried to determine what roadblocks were hindering growth. A major finding of the study was that economic development in the county is disjointed. The firm recommended that Henderson and Vance develop a public-private partnership to address that issue.
Fleming sees the partnership as a unifying, organizing force. “It was an outgrowth of Team Vance and the effort to find a more collaborative way to bring all of the interests in economic development to one table.”
The organization’s only official membership will be a 27-member board of directors. Eighteen will be ex-officio members appointed by organizations such as the Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce, the Tourism Board, the Economic Development Commission and the Downtown Development Commission. The city and county governments will each have three members.
According to the group’s proposed bylaws, the three city representatives will include the mayor, unless he declines the position, and two City Council members selected by their colleagues. The county representatives are to include the chairman of the Board of Commissioners, unless he declines, and two other commissioners chosen by the board.
(Partnership organizers invited the initial three representatives for each governing body to talks that began last year, and the council and commissioners later were asked to endorse the existing slate. For the city, the three are Mayor Clem Seifert; Bernard Alston, whose selection was explained by his chairmanship of the council’s finance committee; and John Wester, whose role was explained by his position as the longest-serving council member. For the county, the members are Danny Wright, Tommy Hester and Terry Garrison. Board Chairman Tim Pegram, who has expressed opposition to the partnership, has not taken the post envisioned for him in the bylaws, and neither he nor his predecessor as the board’s head, Deborah Brown, was involved in the partnership’s formation.)
The 18 ex-officio board members will elect the nine other directors from the community, with the goal of reflecting Vance County’s diversity. Fleming pointed out on WIZS that the board has no real authority and will be only as strong as the member organizations allow it to be.
The Team Vance study suggested that the new organization take over the various functions related to economic development, but the partnership as presented is an advisory and support group for the still-independent agencies represented on its board.
In response to the host’s question about what the board will do, Fleming said: “The function of this board of directors would be to formulate the information we need to analyze where we stand in our situation insofar as economic development in our community and to draft some plans, ideas and goals to move our county forward in each of our areas.”
The group might recruit businesses or identify problems such as community appearance or public facilities. Fleming said the group would then try to coordinate “who amongst them could pursue that particular issue.”
According to the draft bylaws, the group will have a seven-member executive committee composed of the officers of the partnership. Instead of the entire partnership meeting on every issue, the executive committee would have the power to conduct day-to-day operations, but only as much as the board of directors would allow.
“If it (the board of directors) said all you can do is pay the phone bill and light bill, then that’s all the authority the executive committee would have,” Fleming said. He said that if the structure of the organization is a concern for the community, it could be changed.
Rose next asked about funding and why a private, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization needs the endorsement of the city and county.
Harper said the initial funding for the partnership will be private; five-year donations have been arranged from Maria Parham Medical Center, Rose Oil and other businesses. The group is set up to be private so donations are tax-deductible, but the purpose of the group is to benefit the entire community. The support of the community through the City Council, the Board of Commissioners and the other agencies is necessary for the partnership to meet its goals, Harper and Fleming said.
The guests addressed questions about a perceived concentration of power and the potential for the partnership to usurp the authority of the city or county or its agencies. Harper said the intent of the partnership is not to usurp the power of the Economic Development Commission and its executive director, Benny Finch. She said the partnership intends to assist Finch’s department by helping coordinate its activities with other organizations to streamline business recruitment.
Fleming reiterated that the partnership will have limited power, if any at all.
“This partnership will have really no authority to do anything other than try to formulate the ideas and get others to do what needs to get done. It has no authority to extend water and sewer … to give tax credits … to do other things our governmental bodies do,” Fleming said. Those governmental bodies still will make the decisions on actions; the partnership will try only to persuade.
Fleming confirmed that the partnership will not ask for public money at the outset but might in the future. The partnership will earn the trust of the city and county over time, he said.
On the subject of public meetings, Fleming reminded Rose that the bylaws are still under construction. The partnership presented its progress on the bylaws to the city and county, and he welcomes criticism. Public-meeting provisions could be included in the bylaws, as long as the partnership retains the possibility to hold closed meetings for confidential or strategic purposes.
According to the bylaws, the board of directors will meet at least four times a year. Fleming said he envisions the board meeting monthly at a regular time and place, with the public welcome.
Thursday’s show drew a few callers.
One caller was suspicious of the private money pledged to the partnership and wondered what benefits those donors expect for their support. Harper assured the caller that no personal gain from the partnership’s work should be expected. The funds might be private, she said, but private interests will be checked at the door.
The donors are trying to “do well by doing good,” Harper said. Economic development is good for all residents. The donors expect to benefit with the rest of the community as economic growth helps their businesses.
Fleming, who works for develop Barnett Properties, said better economic development will provide general benefits to the community; no direct private benefit should be expected for support of the partnership.
The most passionate caller was Robert Duke, a member of the Board of Education. He argued that as a private group the partnership should not need the formal support of the city or county. The only reason it needs public support, he said, is so that the city and county can be cash cows in the future. He lamented that elected officials are “being led around by the nose by the same group as in the past,” a group that believes that “whatever put money in my pocket is good for the county.”
The host and guests responded that the partnership is not the “same old same old,” but a new type of organization. New people are involved, including Fleming and Harper. The partnership will have no control over its member organizations, and those member organizations are free to support the partnership as much or as little as they see fit.
Written by Brad Breece with contributions from Michael Jacobs