The follies of the EDC exhibited | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    The December meeting of the Beaufort County Commissioners was not a good night for Economic Developer Tom Thompson or the Economic Development Commission (EDC).

    First there was the issue of the Wind Farm. As we have reported, the EDC and its cohort, the Committee of 100, jumped on the Wind Farm bandwagon before all the facts and information about the ramifications of the project are known. While the project is said to be a boon to Beaufort's tax base, other reports say that it will cost jobs because it will contribute to higher electricity costs. Electricity is a major issue from some businesses and is reported to be a major factor in decisions to expand or locate new business in an area. While the relationship between this particular project and Beaufort County jobs may be remote, the issue remains as to whether the EDC and the Commissioners should be promoting projects that ultimately are not in the best interest of the county.

    But as we have suggested, the irony here is that the EDC may not be in sync with the ultimate position the Commissioners take, thus setting up the possibility of cross purposes. At the least, it is another illustration of the EDC jumping into something before it knows all the facts. We saw this same thing happen with the ethanol project proposed for Aurora a few years ago.

    But the 'fat hit the fan' when Warren Smith spoke during the Public Comment section on the agenda. You can watch the video of his comments below, but you will want to note his opening statement which might go unnoticed. It was that he was appearing publically because he had sought answers to a series of questions he had previously submitted to Mr. Thompson but got no, or an inadequate, response. We have experienced the same phenomenon. The EDC is THE most difficult local government agency we deal with to get information from, second only to the Sheriff's department and there's really no difference between those two because neither provides hardly any answers to questions we submit.

    Mr. Smith goes to point out the lack of validity and reliability of the information the EDC does release. He focuses on their annual reports that always paints a glowing picture of their results. But Mr. Smith documents point by point what we have said also on a number of occasions: There numbers are bogus. But worse than being simply inaccurate, they refuse to explain or defend them.

    Another point you might miss in Mr. Smith's comments is the mention of "Craven County." What he is referring to is the fact that Mr. Thompson, as one of the highest paid county employees, lives in Craven County and on top of getting one of the highest salaries in the county, gets a very liberal travel allowance, apparently to facilitate his commuting back and forth from New Bern.

    And speaking of compensation, Mr. Thompson also is a double-dipper extraordinaire. That is, he is paid by both the county and the Committee of 100 for essentially the same "full-time" job. Furthermore, he is the head of NC 20 which presumably takes some of his time.

    But the major thesis of Mr. Smith's presentation is to spotlight the glaring lack of success, indeed--failures--that the EDC has suffered over the last few years. We'll let the video explain that. The EDC has burned over six million dollars of county and city taxpayer money and has no substantiated documentation that it has produced ANY job that would not have been produced anyway without their activity. The emphasis there is "substantiated documentation."

    Here's Mr. Smith's presentation:



    Then the third shoe fell. Mr. Thompson was summonsed before the board to explain what is going on with the huge spec building euphemistically called "Quick Start II." Problem is, it didn't quickly start anything except expense and trouble.

    The latest debacle is that the building has major maintenance problems. The roof leaks, the floor is not level and the calking under the wall panels is defective. Here's the spin Mr. Thompson put on those problems:



    What Mr. Thompson does not disclose is how the building is now being used. It is reported that there are several "Fountain-type" boats and molds in the building. Mr. Thompson never mentions this in his report on the building. He fails to say whether the county is earning any rent on this activity, who the renter is and who approved the deal. The media, to our knowledge, has never been furnished any information on that.

    A reliable source tells us that the boats appeared shortly after or around the time Fountain found itself in an ownership/management dispute. Thus the question is raised as to whether these assets may belong in the inventory the courts are now trying to sort out. We don't know. We have no idea. And that is just the point. Mr. Thompson and the EDC have never disclosed any details about this matter. But obviously it raised legitimate questions, not the least of which is the county's liability in a contentious business litigation case. And then there are the minor issues...such as: if the roof's leaking has the county incurred any liability for damage to the boats? Is there a "hold-harmless" agreement? And on it goes.

    Commentary

    Two commissioners, Jay McRoy and Al Klemm, were recently re-appointed by the Board of Commissioners to the EDC. Yet in all of the meetings we have covered we have never heard either McRoy or Klemm inform the board, and public, of any of this or anything else for that matter. They know questions have been raised, but neither has bothered to insure that the public knows the answers to the questions.

    Both of these commissioners know the data is bogus that the EDC puts out. If they don't know then they are incompetent to sit on that board. Yet they allow the charade to continue. That is precisely the same thing that happened with Mr. McRoy as he sat on the Hospital board as it went down the tubes without every sounding an alarm or informing the public.

    Recall too the debacle that was the school bonds and the "Chickengate" scandal. McRoy was at the heart of all that, for much of it as chairman of the commissioners.

    But the other three commissioners are equally guilty. Robert Cayton, Jerry Langley and Ed Booth rejected a proposal from Hood Richardson and Stan Deatherage that a committee be appointed to look at the EDC and Thompson's performance. That was rejected in another infamous 5-2 vote. Then Richardson and Deatherage tried to get McRoy and Klemm replaced on the EDC board. But reliable sources tell us that Jerry Langley maneuvered to get them re-appointed.

    The same tact has been used to shield the Sheriff's Office for review. Richardson and Deatherage tried to get an oversight committee appointed but the Gang of Five refused. We can attest to the fact that there is an on-going cover-up in the Sheriff's Office. That's for another day however.

    The problem here can be simply stated. It is the lack of accountability for how the county's business is run. The EDC is a catastrophe. It has wasted more taxpayer money than any other department, second only to the debacle that was the School Bond issue. But at least the new school superintendent seems to have corrected the school problem but Cayton, Booth, McRoy, Klemm and Langley have all strenuously resisted insuring any accountability for any of this.

    And while we are at it, we'll also mention, and follow-up later, the issue of ethics. We have reliable information that real, actual conflicts of interests have existed with some of these issues. We know that recipients of money from the EDC's activities have been involved on the board that facilitated those "grants." We have reason to believe that customers or clients of some EDC board members and commissioners have benefitted by the votes of those board members while those connections were not publically disclosed. The fact of the matter is that in the last four years, we can find only one commissioner who has every disclosed and recused himself from a potential conflict of interest (Richardson). And the records we have been able to obtain of the EDC contain no such disclosures either. You have to know that with all the wheeling and dealing Thompson and members of the EDC have done that there have surely been some "disclosable matters" to come up.

    But the ethical issues are but a small part of the problem. The major problem is the refusal of five of these commissioners to insure a sound accountability system for county business. And that needs to stop. The EDC is a good place to start.

    The people of Beaufort County deserve better.