Immediately after the Henderson City Council voted to approve the amended agenda at yesterday’s meeting, Henderson Mayor Pete O’Geary opened a public hearing on the Embassy Foundation’s grant application by asking for anyone who wished to speak in opposition to the proposed request.
Henderson resident Lewis Edwards was the first to step up to the podium, reading a letter addressed to the Mayor regarding the application. Edwards told members that the city has more urgent and critical needs in infrastructure, like the sewer. He also said that he believes that the grant application is flawed and contains information that is incomplete, incorrect, and misleading.
Edwards asked that his letter be attached to the application.
Former Henderson City Council member Bobby Gupton told members that although the people are supposed to have a voice in government, he did not believe that anything said at the meeting would influence members.
Gupton denied that a performance hall has been a priority for “any number of years”. He cited a document produced from a December 20, 2006 council retreat that listed infrastructure as the city’s “number one priority”. Specifically, he said that Henderson’s state legislative delegation had been informed that the first priority was water infrastructure, the second was the Orange-Breckenridge Community Revitalization Project, and the third was to mitigate neighborhood blight.
Gupton called the city “foolish” for asking for the grant for the performance hall “with all of the blight in the most densely populated areas Henderson.
The former Ward 2 council representative submitted 168 letters from Henderson residents in opposition to the grant application.
Resident Eugene Burton asked that his remarks be included in the grant application, then asked when the public would be able to read the final copy of the application that will be sent to Raleigh.
Burton asked for his answers “tonight and in the record”.
Burton also asked if there was any meeting where a performance hall was included in the Davis Street project.
Resident Don Green told members that the project “should be put on the back burner”. He said until people are working and are able to pay bills, “how do we expect these people to pay taxes and support this foundation?”
Ann Cole told members that she believes that the city has “more pressing needs at this time”. She went on to say that she was bothered by a sentence in the application that says that the Embassy project will provide a model of revitalization for other small towns.
Cole argued that if Henderson wants to show off what it can do, then [the performance hall] is a “poor priority”.
Vance County Board of Education member Robert Duke also spoke against the grant application, arguing that he was present as a county resident because the performance hall will eventually become a liability for citizens on the tax bill. Stating that Henderson residents have “all the taxes they can handle now”, he said that he county would be drawn into it.
Resident Copper Rain expressed confusion at the grant application, stating that she thought the performance center was going to be privately funded. She indicated that grant money should be used for schools, the sewage system, and attracting jobs.
“It’s too bad we don’t get to vote on it,” Rain said.
Embassy Foundation Chair Sam Watkins was the first to speak in favor of the grant application. He began by praising Interim City Manager Ed Wyatt, stating that he has done a “wonderful job”. He praised the council for hiring “an experienced city manager”, settling the “dilemma” of locating city hall after the former city hall on Beckford Drive had been sold, and tearing down housing and cleaning up the city.
Watkins said that there are eight projects going on in neighborhood development. He called it “the largest number in my time.”
The Embassy Foundation leader also praised the way the council has conducted business “with obvious cooperation”.
Watkins said that public-private partnerships are the only hope for small towns, and that “people in Washington know that”. He said that funds go to communities that try to help themselves.
Watkins used the Aycock Recreation Complex as an example of a successful public-private partnership.
Arguing that there was no taxpayer money in the library, Watkins stated emphatically that there was no plan for the city to put money into the performance hall and no plan for the city to operate it. He went on to say that the performance hall could be used 185 days a year.
Watkins called the performance hall “an investment in our people”. He also claimed that the grant money is not for [fixing sewer lines] anyway.
He went on to say that taxes are “misunderstood” in this community. He said that a community runs on taxes that come from growth.
Former Henderson Mayor Chick Young said that he was honored to add his name to the list of supporters. He said that there is an opportunity to “enlarge our presence downtown”.
Contradicting Gupton, Young said that the Embassy project has been a “number one priority of the city for years”.
Vance County Board of Elections Chair James C. Kearney told members that there is “full-fledged and broad-based support” for the performance hall and for the project itself. He said that the Embassy Foundation has a “good track record” and has proven its ability and resolve to “make things happen”.
Developer Abdul Rasheed spoke in support of the grant application, saying that he did so on the basis of his professional life.
Rasheed said that the biggest mistake Henderson can make is trying to do community economic development in an isolated way. He said that neighborhoods must be linked to “economic drivers”.
He characterized the library as such a “driver”.
The developer encouraged the council to support “any effort that brings public and private resources together”.
Henderson resident Geraldine Champion also vouched for the project, telling members that “if we continue to stay or dwell in the past…we’re going to be stuck back forever”.
Main Street Director for Downtown Development Phillip LaKernick told the council that he spoke both as a private citizen who owns downtown property and in his professional capacity. He linked the proposed facility to more jobs, a greater tax base, and entertainment it will provide for residents.
Longtime resident and former First Presbyterian pastor Rick Brand said that the grant application is part of the $10 million that Team Vance said the community should be bringing in in grants.
Builder Dennis Tharrington noted that “our community has become somewhat divided”. He called the project a great opportunity for the city to take “a giant step forward in a way that does not obligate the taxpayers”.
“I don’t understand how people could oppose it,” Tharrington said. He also said that the grant application would not keep the city from applying for other infrastructure grants. He said that the proposed application would make the city more likely to be considered for infrastructure grants.
After O’Geary closed the hearing to public comment, member Mike Rainey stated that someone is going to get the money that is being applied for, and that “we might as well get it”.
Council member Bernard Alston stated that the grant does not limit the city’s ability to get other sources, and that he thinks “it has been propagandized” that the city can’t get other money.
Alston is on the Embassy Foundation Board of Directors.
Alston said that the $1 million in grant money is specifically set aside “for this sort of thing”.
“There are people I know don’t understand it, because my mother signed one of those letters,” Alston said, referring to the 168 letters Gupton gave to the council during his remarks.
Member Mike Inscoe said that the city has applied for a $7 million grant for the water system.
Council member Lonnie Davis called for a need to “stop being a divisive city and keep our personal prejudices out of it”.
Member Garry Daeke raised the issue of the application being incomplete. He also said that he had a questions about operational funds.
Watkins told Daeke that he had answered the question “three times”, and restated his earlier point that there was no plan for the citizens of Henderson to put money into the building or operation of the proposed performance hall.
Daeke asked why there isn’t more budget information with the grant.
City Special Projects Manager Kathy Powell explained that there is a budget on page 54 of the application. Powell said that it is so “simplistic” it can be overlooked.
The budget on page 54 is two lines items and a total.
Powell went on to explain that the $1 million grant would be used to leverage a $7.5 million bank loan which she said the Foundation is in the process of getting approved.
Rainey asked Henderson City Attorney Billy Strickland if the incompleteness of the application would jeopardize the city or put the city under any kind of obligation. Strickland said that there is no contract the city could enter into with a private party that could shield it from the $1 milliion obligation.
Strickland indicated that his advice would be not to sign an incomplete document.
Council member Bernard Alston moved that the application be approved subject to review by the council. The motion was seconded by member Mary Emma Evans.
The motion passed 7-1, with Daeke voting against approval.
After the vote, during a recess, Rasheed confronted Daeke regarding his negative vote, accusing him of “promoting division” and being “disingenuous”. Daeke defended his vote, saying that he could not in good conscience vote for an application that was not complete.
Departing the council chamber, Rasheed said he would work to “unelect” Daeke.