Something isn't adding up with MI-Connection.
After reading the Mooresville Tribune's recent article on the town commissioners' planning retreat - http://www2.mooresvilletribune.com/content/2010/feb/19/cable-issue-hot-one-retreat/news-local/ - I was left with the impression that town officials may know more than they're letting on.
And that wouldn't be much of a surprise. After guaranteeing public money for MI-Connection, town officials quickly grew uneasy with public requests about the communication system's financial health and marketing/sales plans. While we own the system, we've been told that some information can't be shared with us. Why? Because it could end up in the hands of our competitors, which could prove detrimental to the success of our $92.5 million (so far) communications system.
The little that is being shared with the public is important. But what's typically more important is what is not being said. Such as this: a Feb. 2 letter from the N.C. Department of State Treasurer to Evan Webster, former Davidson town commissioner and chairman of the MI-Connection board of directors. The letter, in essence, states that the Local Government Commission, in its audit of MI-Connection's FY 09 financial statements, found that the system "has serious financial problems which the System's governing board must address immediately." To read the full letter, click on each document to enlarge:
Perhaps it's information like this that is causing our town board to seem a little off-kilter recently. The topic of MI-Connection apparently led to an exchange between Commissioner Miles Atkins and Mayor Chris Montgomery at the board's recent planning retreat, where Atkins - a member of the MI-Connection Strike Team - agreed to make a presentation about MI-Connection. (http://www2.mooresvilletribune.com/content/2010/feb/19/cable-issue-hot-one-retreat/news-local/)
But that exchange, taken in context, appears to be a small piece of a much larger picture. That "context" may have been provided in a letter sent by Commissioner Mac Herring to Montgomery earlier this week. In the letter, Herring confronts the mayor about his "lack of leadership."
Referring to the planning retreat in particular, Herring writes: "During the entire 2 day session you only made 1 comment, and that was a personal attack on Commissioner Atkin's [sic] presentation of where we are with MI-Connection. You contributed NOTHING to any other conversation. You were frequently doodling or texting. At least twice an hour you would get up and leave for 10-15 minutes, sometimes for 30 or more. Though present, you were absent.
"For you to sit in our Strategic workshop and not engage in the conversations, offer your opinion, ask questions and help provide direction for out Town's staff is inexcusable...especially as your attention was elsewhere and and you were frequently elsewhere," Herring continued. "It almost seems as if you are choosing to abandon the duties and responsibilities of the position to which you were elected."
To read Herring's letter in its entirety, click on the documents below:
After reading the Mooresville Tribune's recent article on the town commissioners' planning retreat - http://www2.mooresvilletribune.com/content/2010/feb/19/cable-issue-hot-one-retreat/news-local/ - I was left with the impression that town officials may know more than they're letting on.
And that wouldn't be much of a surprise. After guaranteeing public money for MI-Connection, town officials quickly grew uneasy with public requests about the communication system's financial health and marketing/sales plans. While we own the system, we've been told that some information can't be shared with us. Why? Because it could end up in the hands of our competitors, which could prove detrimental to the success of our $92.5 million (so far) communications system.
The little that is being shared with the public is important. But what's typically more important is what is not being said. Such as this: a Feb. 2 letter from the N.C. Department of State Treasurer to Evan Webster, former Davidson town commissioner and chairman of the MI-Connection board of directors. The letter, in essence, states that the Local Government Commission, in its audit of MI-Connection's FY 09 financial statements, found that the system "has serious financial problems which the System's governing board must address immediately." To read the full letter, click on each document to enlarge:
Perhaps it's information like this that is causing our town board to seem a little off-kilter recently. The topic of MI-Connection apparently led to an exchange between Commissioner Miles Atkins and Mayor Chris Montgomery at the board's recent planning retreat, where Atkins - a member of the MI-Connection Strike Team - agreed to make a presentation about MI-Connection. (http://www2.mooresvilletribune.com/content/2010/feb/19/cable-issue-hot-one-retreat/news-local/)
But that exchange, taken in context, appears to be a small piece of a much larger picture. That "context" may have been provided in a letter sent by Commissioner Mac Herring to Montgomery earlier this week. In the letter, Herring confronts the mayor about his "lack of leadership."
Referring to the planning retreat in particular, Herring writes: "During the entire 2 day session you only made 1 comment, and that was a personal attack on Commissioner Atkin's [sic] presentation of where we are with MI-Connection. You contributed NOTHING to any other conversation. You were frequently doodling or texting. At least twice an hour you would get up and leave for 10-15 minutes, sometimes for 30 or more. Though present, you were absent.
"For you to sit in our Strategic workshop and not engage in the conversations, offer your opinion, ask questions and help provide direction for out Town's staff is inexcusable...especially as your attention was elsewhere and and you were frequently elsewhere," Herring continued. "It almost seems as if you are choosing to abandon the duties and responsibilities of the position to which you were elected."
To read Herring's letter in its entirety, click on the documents below:
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