Big Box Explained
This was the headline originating from a Town Council meeting held on November 6, 2006. I'd like to give you a bit of background and explain why I took the actions that I did at that meeting. Back in April of 2006, the Town Council approved a Retail Survey to be performed by UNCC. A survey was mailed to all Harrisburg residents. The response received by UNCC was one of the highest they had ever received, insuring that the results would be extremely accurate and representative of the Harrisburg Community. At the time, the residents were overwhelmingly against any type of Big Box store being built in Harrisburg. We had already rejected plans to build a Walmart in Harrisburg and now they were trying to get a Lowe's Home Improvement built here. This is not to say that none of the residents wanted the Lowe's, there was a good number of people who did want it, but the majority was substantial.
There are some who will say that Council members should not have their mind made up before a public hearing, but I partially disagree with that premise. If a council member comes to a meeting unprepared, without having socialized the issue with their constituents, explored all the benefits and pitfalls of the project beforehand, they are doing a disservice to the community. There may be 50 people in the room that disagree, but there are thousands of residents in the community that you have a responsibility to represent. That being said, the feeling was that the project was going to be rejected by a 4-3 vote, which would have been representative of the wishes of the majority. However, one council member was missing from the meeting in which the vote would have resulted in a tie, with the tie being broken by the Mayor, who had vocally supported the project time and again. A quick decision was made by the three remaining council members that the only way to block the vote, and heed to the wishes of the majority, was to leave the meeting before it was called to order, preventing a legal quorum. Yes, we were maligned by some for leaving the meeting, but we felt that it was the only way to represent the majority of the community.
The decision was later confirmed by a judge that there was not a quorum and all actions taken at that meeting were not valid. When we finally did meet to address the issue with all parties present, the tomfoolery continued. Two councils members, one from each side, were excused from voting because it was determined that they had "already made up their minds on how they would vote". Once they realized that everyone could be excused for cause it went to a vote with the remaining five members and the project was defeated 3-2.
I was not comfortable with the actions we had to take but felt that it was more important to fairly represent the people who put me in office. This is my promise going forward, I will speak with as many of you as I can and make my decisions based on what is best for Harrisburg and what the majority of the community feels is the correct course of action, regardless of my personal feelings for the projects.
I've included some copies of comments printed in the paper after that meeting. Most reflect what my feelings were and that our actions were justified.
The following aired on November 14, 2005, shortly after I was elected but before I was sworn into office. A public hearing was being held to discuss creating a moratorium on building big box stores in Harrisburg. Despite the 14 people speaking for the moratorium, including my self, and the three people opposing it, the Council voted against a moratorium. At the time, my comments were supporting the will of the community at the time. It is now 14 years later, our population has nearly tripled, and I realize that views may have changed. I will be talking with as many residents as possible to determine what the community wants and support the wishes of the residents.
