Town commissioner, MDC board member respond to citizens' questions

When we say we expect open government, that doesn’t mean we expect perfect performances from our community leaders and government officials … or that we expect them to know all the answers to every question, every time.

What is does mean is that we expect them to be responsive. When we have a question, we expect them to answer it; when we have a concern, we expect them to address it.

Some folks have expressed some very legitimate concerns about last week’s hiring of Kim Atkins – wife of Town Commissioner Miles Atkins – as executive director of the Mooresville Downtown Commission (MDC).

On Friday, I took your concerns to the people who could best answer them. Within just a few hours, they had all responded, acknowledging the merit of the concerns and offering an “open-door policy” for any further questions.

Conflicts of interest?
One reader asked about a potential “conflict-of-interest clause” that may prevent Kim Atkins – as a former unpaid member of the MDC's board of directors – from stepping down and then becoming a paid employee of the organization. “There are supposed to be documented rules and procedures to prevent conflicts of interest,” the reader posted. “Those steps and procedures are required BY LAW to be documented and kept in place. If they are not, they will lose their non-profit status with the IRS and could face conflict of interest charges.”

The reader added: “The bylaws or organizational documents MUST address how directors may or may not be compensated or apply for positions that are compensated. The conflict of interest documents must also outline how the remaining directors shield themselves from conflict of interest because they were colleagues of the former director.”

Article V, Section 11 (b) of the MDC’s bylaws states that a person cannot simultaneously serve as executive director of the downtown commission and as an unpaid member of the organization’s board of directors.

To read the MDC’s bylaws, click on the documents below:





The reader also asked about potential conflicts of interest between town commissioners – specifically, Atkins’ husband, Miles – and the MDC board of directors. “How do they (the MDC directors) shield themselves from the fact that the director's husband is an elected official? Was there any undue burden placed on those directors, or did they feel as if there would be if they did not hire her? Does Atkins have any regulatory authority over them or their businesses? Any influence at all?”

“Those are very, very valid concerns,” Commissioner Miles Atkins said on Friday. “And honestly, I would have the same questions.”

Town Attorney Steve Gambill has already addressed the question of whether Commissioner Atkins will be able to vote on matters that impact the downtown district. Citing N.C. General Statute 160A-75, Gambill said a commissioner “shall not be excused from voting ‘except upon matters involving the consideration of the member’s own financial interest or official conduct …’

“Thus,” said Gambill, “if funding by the town of the downtown commission would financially benefit Commissioner Atkins (for example, if the funding will pay in whole or in part Ms. Atkins' salary), he can disclose it to the board and ask to be excused from voting on that particular matter.

“This feature of the statute in and of itself helps to prevent a conflict of interest when a board member's own financial interests are involved,” Gambill said, “and it offers a resolution by allowing such member to be excused from voting on that particular matter.”

Commissioner Atkins vowed that he will “disclose my relationship with my wife and recuse myself from a vote if it has even the slightest perception of a conflict.”

But that’s unlikely to placate some members of the public, such as the reader who posted this: “Even if Adkins (sic) doesn't vote on Downtown Commission issues, we all know that there are conversations and arrangments (sic) made between commissioners. You scratch my back; I'll scratch yours. That kind of thing. And even if it never happens this way, people will always wonder if it is happening and it will taint the Board. And it will taint Miles Adkins. Already has.”

Another comment suggested that other commissioners “will give him and vote (sic) what he wants for his wife and things to make his life more comfortable.”

Responding to the allegations, Atkins said he had absolutely nothing to do with the MDC's hiring of his wife as executive director, but that he “completely understands” peoples’ concerns.

“If the shoe were on the other foot,” Atkins said, “I’d be asking the same thing.”

He said it is an unfortunate truth that “power can corrupt, and people can abuse power.”

Atkins, as a private citizen in 2005, spearheaded the town’s adoption of a Code of Ethics for elected officials. “I live by the same standards that I apply to anyone else,” he said. “But if in any capacity I have ever abused the power or authority graciously given to me by the people of this community, then I expect to be held accountable for it.”

The hiring process
Readers have also asked about the MDC's hiring process: How many candidates applied? How far and wide was the search? Did the board of directors choose the best candidate? Did Kim Atkins close her Main Street business and step down as chairman of the board of directors just so she could apply for the executive director’s position?

“Man are we lucky or what,” one reader posted on Oct. 9. “People from all over the country were interviewed and guess what? The most qualified person for this position was someone from right here in Mooresville! Imagine that! And, she is a former board member AND she just happens to be the wife of a town commissioner. What were the odds of that happening? Does the Downtown Commission really think this does not look just a little suspicious?”

Kim Atkins announced in July that she would be closing her Main Street business, The Garden Party, in September due to the downturn in the economy. She does not own the building in which her business was situated.

Atkins resigned as chairman of the downtown commission’s board of directors in August; a new chairman was appointed on Aug. 18. Atkins applied for the executive director’s job on Sept. 9, and she was hired last week.

John Amon, a downtown businessman and MDC board member, said the selection committee – which included MDC members and representatives from the Mooresville Convention & Visitors Bureau (MCVB), the Mooresville-South Iredell Economic Development Corporation (MSIEDC) and the Mooresville-South Iredell Chamber of Commerce – considered 22 applicants “from as far away as Georgia and Ohio.”

The selection committee included the MDC’s Robert Holshouser, Howard Kosofsky, Steve McGlothlin, and David Miller, along with Leah Mitchum (MCVB representative), Karen Shore (Chamber representative) and Russ Rodgerson (MSIEDC representative).

“The committee was made up of very reputable people who dotted their Is and crossed their Ts,” Amon said. “I personally have not seen the other resumes that were submitted, but the committee has said that Kim’s resume was head and shoulders above the others.”

Additionally, Amon said, “I do not believe that any decision was made to have Mrs. Atkins resign (from the chairman’s position) because she was -- wink wink -- going to get the job. The people on that committee did a lot of work, and I believe that they did not have any pre-conceived ideas about the job or the person to be hired.”

He said the committee, during the selection process, “pared the applicants (from 22) to around 8 and then held face to face interviews.

“Kim Atkins was the choice by everyone on that board committee and that was presented to the entire MDC board,” Amon said. It was then that the MDC board offered the position to Atkins, he said.

Amon said while the MDC board of directors advertised the position on a state level, “the job wasn’t that appealing to a lot of people” because the pay is disproportionate to the job duties.

While Atkins’ salary has not yet been confirmed, the former director, Wayne Frick, made $46,000 plus benefits – no more than $56,000 total – according to Amon and the MDC’s most recent budget. Amon said Atkins will likely be making less than Frick after factoring in insurance and benefits.

So, why didn’t the downtown commission hire a headhunter or broaden its search?

That’s simple, said Amon. The budget of the downtown commission is only $117,000. The most recent budget anticipates $60,000 from the Town of Mooresville, $52,000 in district tax, and an additional $5,000 in “ADV & entertainment” revenue.

In addition to the executive director's salary and benefits, the MDC budgets about $25,000 a year for entertainment and advertising, $11,500 for festivals and events, and thousands of dollars for expenses such as beautification projects, a merchants' newsletter, "facade grants," insurance and accounting.

In the current budget year, the MDC plans to cover half the cost of the sprinkler system in the John Franklin Moore park, at a cost of $3,250. The organization also plans to spend $600 for tulip bulbs for the park and $10,000 for a promotion that will attract people to downtown every Thursday and Friday from Thanksgiving to Christmas. The $10,000 includes co-op advertising, Christmas lights and trees, a window-decorating contest, fliers for the schools and movies at the Citizens Center. Amon said the Christmas lights "are a one-time purchase and are long-lasting LED low wattage bubs that should last a long time."

A headhunter would have cost the MDC $10,ooo to $18,000 to find a candidate for the executive director’s position, said Amon. And typically speaking, a headhunter doesn’t target $45,000-a-year candidates. Such a salary “doesn’t get a lot of people excited, from a headhunter’s standpoint,” Amon said.

The simple truth is that the downtown commission, a non-profit 501(c)4 on a set $117,000 budget, couldn’t afford a headhunter and a more expensive executive director.

In addition to that, Amon said, “If we had gone with a headhunter, we were looking at 120 days from the time we signed a contract until we had a person.

“Everyone is struggling like crazy,” he said of the downtown merchants. “I think time is of the essence. We needed someone right now.”

Also, he said, “We need somebody that understands Mooresville and North Carolina law. Different states do things differently. Kim is going to bring so much because she knows the dynamics of this region.

“And who’s to say that Kim wouldn’t have been the headhunter’s pick?” Amon added.

He also addressed some of the concerns about the MDC’s potential hiring of a consultant for a couple months. Though “a consultant has not been hired nor agreed upon,” Amon said, the MDC is considering hiring one to help Atkins and the MDC board “understand what are justifiable goals.” Amon said that is “something that hasn’t been done in the past.”

He said the role of a consultant is not to “train Atkins” as one Report reader suggested. Instead, he said, a consultant will help strengthen some of the MDC’s weaknesses in general.

He said the MDC wanted an executive director that “has some marketing experience … somebody that can understand what the downtown merchants are dealing with and understands that the property owners want the values of their property to go up. We need a liaison with other municipal functions and someone who is good at grant writing and who is familiar with the Main Street USA program, which is on a state and national level."

A candidate who is strong in each and every one of those areas, he said, “is impossible to find.” A consultant will help strengthen the areas in an executive director that “may be a little weak," Amon added.

He said the MDC wanted an executive director “who is going to grow as our needs grow,” and, he said, the MDC board feels strongly that Kim Atkins is the perfect fit.

Amon invites anyone with further questions about the MDC and its hiring process to attend the organization’s monthly meetings. The MDC meets the first Wednesday of each month at 1 p.m. in the Charles Mack Citizens Center, and its meetings are open to the public. “We would love to hear ideas on how Mooresville can better serve the citizens, merchants, and property owners,” Amon said.