A coup of sorts took place at the Special-Called Blue Ridge City Council meeting on August 26.  Council Members Harold Herndon, Angie Arp, Bruce Pack and Rodney Kendall decided to take back the power of their posts.  They want Mayor Whitener’s role to be implementing the decisions and advice the Council gives.  They agreed that Mayor Whitener takes on too much responsibility and the end result is potholes not getting filled, sloopy city pool management, phone calls going unreturned and miscommunication.  Councilman Kendall officiated the meeting.  Mayor Whitener and Councilwoman Rhonda Thomas were not present.

Discussing the Mayor and Council Members separation of responsibility was not on the agenda. To be clear, no motions were made and passed about the Mayor and the Council’s responsibility.  When Arp wanted to pass a motion regarding the responsibilities, Kendall said he didn’t feel comfortable with this because the topic wasn’t on the agenda.

Arp initiated the discussion after presenting designs and costs for the City Park.  (see “Park to Open for Play in Late September” ). She began by reading the News-Observer editorial from Wednesday, August 24^th.  The editorial paints an ineffective and inefficient elected city government.  “Mismanagement, miscommunications and a total lack of cooperation have once again proven Blue Ridge is a city with no direction” begins the editorial.  It ends with “They deserve leadership that makes solid plans, then carries out those plans.  Citizens are not getting what they deserve.”

“I don’t operate this way.  I ran for office to get things done.  The council makes decisions for everything in the city.  The Mayor is supposed to implement  decisions” said Arp.  During her statements she used Jarrard & Davis’ Inquiry to support her argument.  The inquiry findings stated that the total of all that the Mayor manages now is “too burdensome for any one individual to handle.  One of the Inquiry’s recommendations is “Council Members should be returned to their previously held “Commissioner’s” role: Herdon – Police; Kendall – Water and Sewer; Thomas- Streets; Arp – Office; Pack – Parks.

Indeed, all Council Members present thought that they had been elected to these roles and have been surprised at how Mayor Whitener described their responsibilities.

Arp told Herndon, Pack and Kendall that the root of the matter is a difference between how the Mayor interprets the City Charter and Council Members interpret it.  The passage in question is “For the purpose of electing members of the council, the City of Blue Ridge shall consist of one election district with five numbered posts.  Each person seeking election shall designate the post for which he [sic] seeks election.”  According to Arp, the Mayor, on advice of City Attorney David Syfan, interpreted the passage to mean that the Mayor appoints Council Members to commissions when she sets up one and this can be considered “posts.”  The City Charter outlines the Mayor’s responsibilities as “Recommend to the city council such measures relative to the affairs of the city, improvement of the government, and promotion of the welfare of its inhabitants as he [sic] deems expedient.”

Pack said, “I felt like we should have all been involved in what we were voted in for.  I think we would have done a lot better if it had been from the beginning the way it’s supposed to be.”

Kendall stated that there had been a lack of communication and things weren’t cared for.  He specifically referenced losing the Kiwanis grant for playground equipment.  “Don’t know where the lack of communication is.  We have made decisions.  If I’d been told, you need to go back to Kiwanis, sit there and talk to them, say, hey you need to take care of this.  My assumption was that we had made the decision and it was being taken care of.  But, apparently that was the wrong assumption to make.”

After agreeing with Arp that Council Members  should manage different department functions of the city government and services, Council Members went on to assert their regained power.

Their first action was cancelling an Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) grant to build a restroom/ welcome center at the site of the restrooms on the corner of East Main and Church.  The cost estimate of the center is $880,946. The grant was for $300,000. The City would pay $580,946, with $355,750 coming from the yet unapproved SPLOST 2016 and $225,196 from the City’s budget.

The City doesn’t have that kind of money.  I thought the City was only responsible for $355,750 in in-kind work and only $80,000 from city budget said Arp.  The in-kind work Arp is talking about is $355,750 for demolishing the current retaining wall and sidewalk structures at the corner and rebuilding the corner to accommodate the new structure and sidewalk improvements plus $5,000 for the preliminary architectural design, more on this later in the article.

The Council said paying $880,946 for bathrooms and welcome center is an outrageous price.  However, the actual cost of the facilities is $530,196.  The remainder of the estimated cost pays for corner improvements.

Then Arp told the Council she thought that grants sometimes cost more than they are worth because they obligate the city to use specific vendors and contractors.  Kendall agreed saying that grants also have hidden costs because of regulations the city must follow.  Pack said that the most important improvements at the moment is getting the playground back in City Park and East Main Street improvements.

Arp also brought up that ARC wanted the City to sign a contract with RDesign Works for $53,000 before the City applied for the grant in addition to the $5,000 for a conceptual plan.  RDesign Works, owned by Morganton resident, Rick LaRossa, won the bid for the center contract in spring.  City Attorney David Syfan advised the Council that the city would be obligated to pay $58,000 to RDesign Works whether the city received the grant or not.  However, in the same email, Syfan states, “I have not yet studied the contract in detail.”

Arp said that the grant itself costs $8,000 to submit,  bringing the total sum to $66,000.  Arp believes that all $66,000 would be lost if the City applied for but didn’t win the grant.  The city has already paid $4,250 to prepare the grant.

The four Council members present agreed with Arp and cancelled the grant application.  They did not suggest how to fund renovation of existing bathrooms.  Arp did say that the county already has a good welcome center at the Chamber of Commerce so one downtown isn’t so important.

However, in a series of emails obtained by FetchYourNews, the company that prepared the grant advises the Mayor and Council, “This application must go to DCA this week. (Emphasized in red font) All future applications are at stake.  The delay primarily has been due to a lack of response and direction from council regarding the project funding balance and estimated operating expenses.”

The Council’s actions returned full-circle to the News-Observer editorial that Arp quoted in the beginning. “Years ago, when city officials got involved in restoring the downtown Depot, that project was only supposed to take a few months.  Three years later the occupants were able to move back in, but work still had to be done.”

The second action made by the Council to reassert their power was to refuse to pay RDesign Works $5,000 for its preliminary architectural design.  Kendall said the Mayor had told the Council that the design was a non-paying thing.  Arp added “We never approved of it.  I don’t know why it is being billed to us.”  Fair enough agreed Kendall and the four Council members voted to not pay the $5,000 invoice.

The Council did not discuss how withdrawing the ARC grant would affect future grant applications from the Blue Ridge. The Appalachian Regional Commission, a division of the US government provides grants for high cost projects like infrastructure, housing, telecommunications, leadership development, civic capacity, business development and entrepreneurship.

Recent actions, though, have shown that the Council has misjudged repercussions. The Council’s inaction and miscommunication caused the city to lose the Kiwanis grant and harmed the city’s future relationship with Kiwanis.  The Council’s decision to tear out the downtown city park landscaping puts the city in jeopardy of losing the $120,000 Vaughn-Jordon Foundation grant.  (see “Park to Open for Play in Late September” )

No word yet on how not getting the ARC grant will affect the Council’s other premier project –  East Main Street street and sidewalk renovations.