There is much that I could say about the Town's effort to locate our new Town Hall on the property owned by the JIPSD on Dills Bluff Road, but there are two matters that I think are important to mention now.
A major problem in the discussions was the JIPSD's insistence that the entire 5.25 acre residential parcel be rezoned before they would sell us any property. The Town had initially asked to purchase the separate 1.27 commercial parcel. When it was made clear that any such sale could only occur after a different, much larger, parcel was rezoned, there was at least the appearance of an offer to bribe the Town to abuse our planning authority. The JIPSD would agree to sell us some property in exchange for the Town agreeing to rezone other property that also belonged to the JIPSD.
From the beginning, the Town Administrator explained to the District Manager that we could not agree to such a quid-pro-quo.
The JIPSD insisted that the negotiations be solely between the Town Administrator and the District Manager. (The JIPSD also wanted the Town Administrator to keep the negotiations secret, but we refused. The Town Administrator and I worked together, though all communications with the JIPSD had to be through her. Town Council was filled in on key issues, including our worries about what appeared to be their demand for a rezoning as a condition for selling us the property.)
Last Saturday, growing tired of the fiction that discussions were solely between the District Manager and the Town Administrator, I wrote all of the Commissioners explaining that the Town could not waive any of our building or zoning regulations in exchange for a promise by the JIPSD to sell property to the Town and that any rezoning would be done solely based upon sound planning principles in accordance with the public good.
The second matter involves the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was on the agenda for the JIPSD regular meeting last Monday. This MOU was not the result of a long process of discussion and negotiation. It was prepared by Trent Kernodle on Thursday, January 7, just a few days before the JIPSD meeting.
It might seem odd that the District Manager had Trent Kernodle prepare the MOU. Kernodle filed a class action suit against the Town. More troubling, he went to court to try to block the Town from spending money on our new Town Hall. Worse, this MOU is supposed to be about the JIPSD selling the Town property for the new Town Hall that Trent Kernodle went to court to block!
Anyway, the Town sent a contract to the JIPSD on Wednesday, January 6. It was prepared by David Bevon, who is Chair of the Town's Planning Commission and a real estate attorney. The District Manager told us that he was going to have Trent Kernodle review it. I was surprised that he would give it to Trent Kernodle, but I was not surprised when I was told that Kernodle had rejected it Thursday morning.
Trent Kernodle offered to prepare a MOU instead and we were told that it had to be sent to the Commissioners by 5:00 PM on that same day. The MOU was first seen by the Town Administrator at 4:30 PM that same afternoon. That gave the Town Administrator only thirty minutes!
But that wasn't really a problem. When the Town Administrator told me that Trent Kernodle would be writing up an MOU and that it had to go out to the Commissioners at five, I told her that we could never review it in such a short time period and that we should agree to send it forward to the Commissioners regardless of what it said. My view was that we would look at it on Friday and over the weekend and if we thought that it could pass Council with appropriate modifications, we would propose changes at the Commission meeting on Monday night. If the final MOU passed by the Commissioners was not acceptable, then I would recommend that Council vote it down and we would go with our alternative site.
One of the more peculiar events of that day was a third hand message I received from Trent Kernodle. (She said that he said that Kernodle said to tell you...) Supposedly, Trent Kernodle said something to the effect, "Tell the Mayor that we have the votes to pass this." It seemed odd to me that Trent Kernodle was speaking for the JIPSD.
I received the MOU Thursday night at about 7:30 and shared it with Council. I told them that it would be on the JIPSD agenda on Monday night and that the Commissioners would likely pass it. (OK I admit it. I believe that Commissioners Waring, Hollingsworth, Wilder, and especially Kay Kernodle follow Trent Kernodle's orders.)
As it turned out, our Town Attorney reviewed the MOU on Friday and was not in favor of Town Council approving it. One key problem was what he saw as the appearance of a quid-pro-quo regarding the rezoning of property the JIPSD would retain. My key concern was that there was no firm date by which the Town would have ownership of any part of the property. Further, the Town Attorney believed that it would be unenforceable, so even a specific date would not be firm. In my view, without an enforceable commitment by the JIPSD to sell the Town at least some property in the near future, the Town should go with its alternative site.
Friday afternoon, the Town Administrator explained to the District Manager that the Town Attorney would advise against Council agreeing to Trent Kernodle's MOU. She suggested that the MOU be pulled from the JIPSD agenda and that they instead just generally approve the plan for a joint campus and the sale of property to the Town. The District Manager said it was too late to modify the agenda.
As I mentioned before, on Saturday I wrote all of the Commissioners. Along with explaining that any quid-pro-quo for a rezoning was out of the question, I explained what it would take for me to recommend to Council that we go forward with the JIPSD site. I said we needed a contract in hand to sell the 1.27 acre commercial parcel for no more than $300,000 with the Town taking possession no later than March 31. Otherwise, I would recommend the alternative location. If the Commissioners provided a contract, then we could continue to discuss the sale of an additional .23 acres to the Town and sharing development costs for a joint campus.
Some months ago, the Town made it clear that if they wanted to propose rezoning their 5.25 acre residential parcel, they should start the application process promptly. The Town would give any application fair consideration. And if they wanted to wait until they were satisfied with the zoning on that parcel to sell us land, then we would talk about land sales after the process was complete. But the Town was not about to make any promises to rezone any property for the JIPSD and especially not in exchange for them promising to sell us land. We pointed out that the Town was looking for alternative sites and if the JIPSD was not ready to sell to us before we found something else, it would be too late.
I went to the JIPSD meeting Monday night with the expectation that the Commissioners would vote against a contract to sell the commercial parcel with no strings attached. I hadn't planned to attend, but I thought that I better be there on the off chance that they wanted to hear directly from me. (I have complete confidence in our Town Administrator.)
While I had no interest in them voting in favor of Trent Kernodle's last minute MOU, I did hold out hope that they would vote to approve the plan for the joint campus and the sale of land to the Town. However, given my email to them last Saturday, I am sure they were aware that it would not be enough for me to recommend to Council that we go forward with the JIPSD site rather than our alternative site.
I was very surprised to find only two Commissioners at their meeting--Commissioner McMillan and Commissioner Brown-Crouch. It was an interesting coincidence that vice-chair Cubby Wilder only came in late--after the others hadn't shown up, so that his arrival would not create a quorum.
I had run into Commissioner Platt just that afternoon at the swearing-in ceremony for Mayor Tecklenburg. Platt told me that he had received my email over the weekend and said that he expected that I hoped for a vote. He told me that JIPSD Commission Chair June Waring had given him permission to leave the meeting early to go to Tecklenburg's inauguration party that evening. I guess I am a bit slow on the uptake, but in hindsight, the stringing together of those two sentences should have suggested that he would be leaving before the vote to sell property to the Town. I suppose he could have just announced at the meeting that he had to go to a party downtown, and a vote would be blocked because of the absence of a quorum. Of course, he just didn't show up to the JIPSD meeting at all.
Late in the afternoon, Commission Chair June Waring had reported problems with her equilibrium, which I think means she was dizzy. My understanding is that she contacted the District Manager. Also, late in the afternoon, Commissioner Kay Kernodle called Commissioner Wilder to say she was sick. I am not sure why she called Commissioner Wilder, rather than Chair Waring or the District Manager. Perhaps she did call Chair Waring first and so knew that Waring would not be attending and then called Commissioner Wilder.
Commissioner Hollingsworth was reported to be out of town in North Carolina because his brother-in-law had died. When Commissioner McMillan went by his house after the meeting was cancelled, Hollingsworth's wife answered the door and said that Commissioner Hollingsworth was in the bathroom right then, but that she had asked him to stay home to keep her company due to the death of her brother. Commissioner Hollingsworth was able to report to work the next day and sell auto parts at O'Reily's.
Perhaps it was all just a "perfect storm" as later claimed by Commissioner Platt.
Frankly, I expected them to show up and vote in favor of Trent Kernodle's MOU and gleefully reject my proposal for a binding contract to promptly sell property to the Town. The Town would have rejected the MOU on our Attorney's advice and we would have gone with the alternative site.
It is only in retrospect that I have come to wonder if they were worried about awkward questions about why it seemed that they were proposing to sell the Town property but only in exchange for a rezoning of their other property.
And also questions about whether they hoped to delay any Town expenditures on the Town Hall, so that more Town funds would be available for Trent Kernodle to grab.
Regardless, a JIPSD run by Commissioners unable to get their act together enough to hold their regular meeting hardly makes them a reliable partner for any kind of joint activity. On Wednesday, most members of Council joined me in giving up on the JIPSD and all agreed to move forward with the alternative site.
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