The WHY Behind the Actions

I have been on this Council less than a year, and have taken part in several key votes.  This page tells you why I voted the way I did and will provide insight into my thinking and management.

KM FORWARD CONTRACT RENEWAL

I voted NO to renew their contract.  When this group started, I volunteered to be on the Economic Development Committee.  Sandie volunteered to be on their Board.  Within a year we had both resigned from the organization due to poor practices, limited vision, and personal agendas that created a cult of personality centered not on the entire community, but a few streets of downtown only.  Our city is too small to carve up to serve the interests of a few.  We need to work on creating jobs and opportunities in the entire community, not just on one or two streets.  In the three years since this group started, I have seen no progress.  No effort to raise outside money except for an initial donation from Albemarle. The purpose and concept is good, but the execution and lack of hard accomplishments tell a different story.  

DOWNTOWN MSD TAX

The City of Kings Mountain has charged and collected downtown property owners an additional tax for the privilege of owning property downtown.  The City has collected over ONE MILLION DOLLARS since the inception of this tax.  What do we have to show for it??  NOTHING.  And that NOTHING continues.  The City either needs to put the funds to use improving assets and infrastructure downtown, or by hiring a staff member to promote and work on downtown efforts with these funds.  One Million Dollars and nothing to show for it.  Either stop collecting it or use it wisely.  

THOMBS PARK WALKING TRACK IMPROVEMENTS

This was a tougher decision, but one where I had to vote NO to spend $600k on improvements for this site.  KM has long neglected parks.  When raising children here you realize this very quickly.  The Parks Director for the City has developed and promoted a first-class strategic plan for the future.  But first we have to develop a strategic plan and finance plan for the entire City.  That includes spending on quality-of-life initiatives like parks.  The other Council members argued that this money was already budgeted.  I understand that, but cannot spend $600k on a parking lot and bathrooms when:

1.  Our water system is broken and in need of immediate repair that was NOT budgeted.

2.  We still do not know the extent of other infrastructure negligence, and what it will cost to fix those.

3.  We have bathroom buildings at other parks that are boarded up and abandoned because we have NOT MAINTAINED them.  So how can we spend money on more when we cannot maintain what we have?

This makes no sense at all. The water plant may cost over $1 Million Dollars to repair a decades' worth of neglect.  Not a prudent use of taxpayer dollars.  I want parks and improved quality of life assets here in Kings Mountain.  But we can only responsibly do this after learning to maintain what we have, fix what has been neglected, and control our spending.

Sometimes the voice of reason is not the popular vote.

STREETSCAPE

As a part of the budget for the upcoming year, my initiation to being on this Council was to work on the budget.  This included Streetscape.   But our utility funds had been robbed and drained, and we had no cash reserves.  But we had still planned on building Streetscape on Railroad Avenue.  Then the price tag came in at over $7 million.  To pay for this would have drained the reserves that we needed to build in the coming year.  So, it had to go on hold for a future year.  More importantly, it needs to go on hold until we can borrow low interest money to finance it. To do this we need a bond rating.  But due to past financial incompetence, we cannot do this.  I would like to see Streetscape happen and our downtown revitalized.  But to do it we need to be able to get a bond rating and borrow money, not deplete our cash reserves.  This is the prudent and financially sound choice.  It may not be the popular thing to do right now, but in the long term is in the City's best interest.