The scandal that is the Beaufort County EDC | Eastern North Carolina Now

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

And how the Gang of Five covers its failures

    There is a major scandal going on in Beaufort County and it is in plain sight but few people realize what it is all about. We'll tell you.

    The Gang of Five on the County Commission (Cayton, Langley, McRoy, Booth and Klemm) have spent over eight million dollars since 2005 on the Economic Development Commission. They hire an EDC director who is the third highest paid economic developer in the state. And much of his salary is hidden because he gets compensation from multiple sources.

    He regularly makes "reports" to the Commission and Washington City Council which also contributes money to the EDC. Those reports are essentially undocumented assertions of how effective the EDC has been. They seek to justify the money being spent on the EDC. We have posted most of those reports here. They sound really good.

    But several months ago we began examining the reports. What we found is scandalous. Simply put, most of the reports are bogus. The numbers are bogus. The "jobs" they count are bogus. The interpretations are bogus. The conclusions touting what has been accomplished are bogus.

    Now to be sure some good has been done in economic development. But there is absolutely no solid data to show that the good things were caused by the money the county and city taxpayers have spent and would not have happened regardless of whether the EDC even existed or not. But much more than the good, there are obvious catastrophes. Empty land that was supposed to attract industry. Empty buildings that we were told if we built them businesses would come. Even these few industries that have come were, for the most part, given subsidies to entice them, raising the question of whether the costs exceed the return on investment.

    But none of that is the real scandal. The real scandal is the coverup being run by the Gang of Five on the County Commission.

    Numerous appeals have been made that the county do an honest assessment of the EDC program. The Gang of Five has consistently ignored those appeals. If there has ever been any kind of real assessment done of what return the taxpayers have gotten from the more than eight million dollars that the Gang of Five has spent we have not been treated to that assessment. They just keep pouring money into the castrophre.

    Last May, during the budget workshops, Hood Richardson and Stan Deatherage made a big issue over the EDC. They first proposed that the funding be eliminated or drastically reduced. It was part of a move to avoid a tax increase. This was voted down by the Gang of Five. And this is significant: There was no discussion before they simply voted the idea down. No reasons given, no debate, no attempt to address any of the concerns. Then Stan Deatherage made to embargo the funding until such time as an assessment could be completed and then the decision of funding would be made. This too was not only voted down, but it was snuffed out without discussion also.

    Now, with that background watch the video below and you will have a better perspective of what is going on. Watch the obvious attempt by the Gang of Five to sweep it under the rug once more.

    Here's the immediate issue.

    Warren Smith, as a concerned citizen, has been doing some research on the EDC. One of the claims made by the Director to get the Commission to give them two and half million dollars to build a "spec building" was that 85% (+/-) of the businesses seeking to relocate wanted an already built building.

    We have learned in recent weeks that this is not the truth. So Mr. Smith asked the EDC Director to supply the study upon which he based his claim that "if you build it they will come." After months of trying the data/information has never been furnished. Mr. Smith appeared before the County Commission and asked them to ask for the information. Mr. Langley ignored the request and simply moved on to the next item on the agenda. You need to understand this to understand Mr. Smith's animated presentation in the video.

    Another example of the bogus response from the EDC can be seen in this video clip when Jay McRoy explains his efforts "to help get the information." You should know that Mr. McRoy is the Commission's representative on the EDC and has been for years.

    Remember, the contention of the EDC Director was that 85% of the businesses who were considering re-locating wanted an already built building. So listen to how he justifies that. He pulls out data on home sales, comparing how many real estate deals were made for existing homes versus vacant lots. Of course that data has absolutely nothing to do with documenting the original claim of the EDC to justify building these buildings. The one Mr. Smith refers to is called Quick Start II. It cost a reported 2.5 million dollars and it has sat empty since it was built. In the meantime, with several empty lots in the industrial park west of Washington, the County spent nearly two million for a second park south of Chocowinity which now sits empty.

    So when you watch the video watch for two things. First, why will the EDC not furnish the "study" they used to make the decisions to build the spec buildings? And watch how Mr. Langley brushes the issue off.

    Here's the video: