Iredell County sheriff's deputy indicted

A grand jury has indicted yet another Iredell County law enforcement officer for obstructing justice.

Thomas Lane “Tommy” Adams, a sergeant with the Iredell County Sheriff's Office, was indicted earlier this week. The State Bureau of Investigation apparently served Adams, who was then processed and released from the Iredell County Jail on an unsecured bond.

Just seven months ago, a state grand jury indicted former Mooresville Police Chief John Crone for obstruction of justice and embezzlement. Crone's case has been continued twice; his next court date is Feb. 14, 2011.

As of late this week, Iredell County's clerk of superior court still had no record of a warrant being served on Adams.

It is unclear if Adams is still employed by the sheriff's office. Sandra Gregory, director of human resources for Iredell County, said yesterday that she could provide Adams' public employment information – including his most recent salary and change in status – within “a day or two.” However, she did not respond to an immediate follow-up email, asking if the sheriff's office still employs Adams.

Sheriff Phil Redmond has continued to employ Adams for five years after the incident from which the charge against him was brought. In fact, in a Sept. 17 e-mail to the Report, Capt. Darren Campbell, on behalf of Redmond, said, “The Iredell County Sheriff's Office and SBI conducted a proper and thorough review of this matter, Sheriff Redmond is satisfied that North Carolina law has been followed in all respects, and professional law enforcement standards and practices continue to be applied and enforced for the benefit of Iredell County citizens.”

In an e-mail yesterday, Campbell refused to answer whether Adams is still employed by the sheriff's office, responding simply: "I am forwarding your e-mail to the Captain of Personnel and Training."

The obstruction of justice charge stems from an incident that took place in or around 2005, when Adams retrieved two guns, cases and ammunition from a convicted felon. Adams signed an evidence sheet, indicating that he had submitted the property to the evidence room. But about a year later – after the defendant in the case had pleaded guilty to the charges against him – it was discovered that the guns were either missing or had never been turned it.

Upon being questioned by Campbell, Adams originally denied knowing the whereabouts of either gun. But after further questioning, he retrieved one gun from his personal residence and one from his personal vehicle and turned them over to the captain.

Sheriff's office personnel say Adams was never punished for the incident.

Interestingly, this isn't the first time Adams has had a brush with the law. At the time he was hired at the sheriff's office, Adams' former employer – a major retail store in Winston Salem – had charged him with felony embezzlement. Adams pleaded the charge down to a misdemeanor, which remained on his record when Redmond hired him to work at the Iredell County Sheriff's Office in the early 2000s.

The county paid Adams, an unsworn sheriff's office employee, to attend Basic Law Enforcement Training, covering his tuition and fees, even while most other rookies have paid their own way through BLET, taking classes while working at the sheriff's office at opposite times of the day.

Immediately out of rookie school, Redmond promoted Adams to detective sergeant, a practice that is virtually unheard of in the law-enforcement community, according to a dozen North Carolina police chiefs contacted by the Report this summer.

For more detail, visit http://thegattonreport.blogspot.com/2010/10/are-law-enforcers-above-law.html.

Town officials optimistic about MI-Connection's new direction

In a recent press release, MI-Connection officials said they had two things to celebrate this month: the cable company’s third-year anniversary and its move toward more self-sufficiency by splitting with management company Bristol Virginia Utilities.

But let’s face it: After three years of scathing reports about MI-Connection’s financial woes – including $4.4 million needed from the Town of Mooresville and $2 million from Davidson in fiscal year 2011 – suffice it to say, a “celebration” isn’t in order.

For the first time since the towns purchased the cable system, however, town officials – even those who have vocally opposed Mooresville’s ownership of a cable company – seem to be a little optimistic. Why?

“We have been subsidizing a system that we had no say or control in how it was being managed or operated,” Commissioner Miles Atkins said. Moving the management and operation of MI-Connection to Mooresville “means there will be oversight and accountability for the first time since the system was purchased.”

Mayor Chris Montgomery says he believes a shift to more local control will have a “positive impact on subscribership, profitability and (the) overall success of the system.”

But on the other hand, eliminating an outside management company also means that one “barrier” between local government and media is being eliminated. When Mooresville and Davidson were considering the cable system’s purchase, many local residents argued that government has no place owning a private business and worse, a form of media.

Government officials, to placate those skeptics, said BVU and MI-Connection’s board of directors would provide a barrier between the government and the media. But with BVU almost out of the picture, is government one step closer to managing and controlling local media?

“Did we really ever fool anybody into thinking that government wasn’t controlling it?” asked Commissioner Chris Carney. “We may not have wanted to be in control, but once they asked for money from the towns, we were in control.”

Montgomery and Commissioner Mac Herring said the MI-Connection board of directors – whose voting members are appointed by Mooresville and Davidson commissioners – will continue to serve as a barrier between the government and media.

Commissioner Rhett Dusenbury, who along with Montgomery made MI-Connection somewhat of a campaign stumping issue last year, said he is still opposed to government owning a private-industry company. However, he said, “If a change in the company makeup saves the taxpayers money, I would support the change.”

Carney said it’s pointless to “argue philosophy” at this point because what’s done is done. He said MI-Connection “got off on the wrong foot,” and town officials owe citizens an apology for “the serious mistakes that were made.”

However, “fast-forward to today, and what you have is a complete re-launching of MI-Connection,” Carney said. “By us, along with Davidson commissioners, being more hands-on, a much better plan has emerged. We have the right groups of people in place. We have attacked it from every angle we can, and now we’re seeing results.

“We’re looking to get customers and cut serious costs that allow (MI-Connection) to be more effectively and efficiently run, and that’s a good thing. That’s real progress.”

MI-Connection, once the final agreement with BVU is in place, will be taking over the system’s finances, marketing and sales, business development and human resources. BVU – according to the recently signed memorandum of understanding with MI-Connection – will continue handling billing, customer-service calls and technical support.

Montgomery, in a sit-down chat this week, actually sounded excited about the possibilities once MI-Connection’s sales and marketing move from Virginia to Mooresville. He is eager for MI-Connection to start marketing itself as the small-town alternative to a corporate-giant like Time Warner Cable. And since one of his favorite parts of being mayor is interacting with people, Montgomery said he has even considered making personal calls to residents to chat with them about MI-Connection.

The fact is, MI-Connection needs more customers to generate more revenue and pay its debt service. And as was pointed out by Davidson Town Manager Leamon Brice in a February 2010 letter reprinted at www.DavidsonNews.net, “until new customers sign up for telephone, internet and cable services, the towns will be required to subsidize MI-Connection.” Although the potential extent of that subsidy is frightening, residents are tired of being “scared” into signing up for MI-Connection, especially when public opinion was overwhelmingly against the town’s purchase of the system in the first place. And clearly, bullying residents hasn’t proven to be effective.

While perhaps “unsophisticated” and unlikely, since government officials don’t have time to personally call each and every Mooresville and Davidson resident to chat about cable, Montgomery’s approach is a breath of fresh air compared to the alternative. He says it just makes sense: “I don’t believe in shoving it down people’s throats. I would just like to talk to people about it. Time Warner is a corporate machine. We need to bring MI-Connection down to a level where it’s more personable.”

And moving MI-Connection’s operations from Virginia to Mooresville means marketing and sales ideas will be tailored to local people by local people.

Still, not everything is sunshine and rainbows. Many promises were made to Mooresville and Davison residents about MI-Connection, and the cable system, in its three years, hasn’t delivered. We were told MI-Connection would be profitable in five years and that the original debt for the system’s purchase would be repaid entirely through system revenues. That hasn’t happened – by a long shot. We were told MI-Connection would build fiber-to-the-premises infrastructure, making the system a driving force for economic development. That hasn’t turned out to be true, either.

The optimism among government leaders – even those who have opposed MI-Connection in the past – isn’t going to magically make everything better. It isn’t going to fix the mistakes that have been made, and it isn’t going to make the system successful or profitable overnight. But it is nice to know that a little hope exists in an otherwise seemingly hopeless situation.

Optimism is a welcome change.

This column was originally printed in the Dec. 17 edition of Mooresville Weekly. To participate in the discussion, leave comments here or at http://mooresvilleweekly.com/opinion/2010/12/‘mi-correction’/

MI-Connection ends management relationship with Bristol Virginia Utilities

Bristol Virginia Utilities' “sweetheart deal” with MI-Connection is over.

On Wednesday, officials of MI-Connection, the town's cable system, and representatives of Bristol Virginia Utilities (BVU), the system's operator, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), ending BVU's operation of the cable company – and the $1.5 million management fee that MI-Connection pays BVU every year.

MI-Connection will now pay BVU $300,000 a year to be a “service vendor,” working under contract to continue providing customer service, billing and technical support for the cable company, according to a press statement issued Thursday afternoon. Meanwhile, employees in the Mooresville MI-Connection office – currently employed by BVU – will become MI-Connection employees, and several departments and responsibilities, including human resources and finance, will transition from BVU to MI-Connection, the release states.

Some town leaders have agreed that changing the relationship with BVU – with MI-Connection assuming more self-sufficiency and day-to-day control over its own operations – is a step in the right direction. They also say that having a system that is not only locally-owned but locally-operated will allow the company to respond faster and grow to meet the needs of the marketplace. The MOU “is an important and necessary step to form a common line of action,” said Mooresville Mayor Chris Montgomery. “A focus on managing costs and building on community spirit provides an exciting opportunity citizens should support.”

The MOU is a non-binding agreement that represents MI-Connection's and BVU's intentions on how to proceed with the negotiation of an eventual binding contract that will detail the two companies' new relationship. The transition is expected to be complete by the second half of 2011.

The new arrangement with BVU is not expected to increase costs. In fact, the $1.2 million recouped from the management-fee reduction will be used to pay the new employees and support the departments that the system will acquire, the press release states. MI-Connection customers are not expected to see changes in service during the transition. Customer-service phone numbers should remain the same.

“After three years of significant improvements to the system we inherited, an almost double-digit growth in our customer base in the past 12 months and a 7 percent revenue gain in 2010, we feel it’s time to forge a bridge of independence from BVU,” said MI-Connection Chairman John Kasberger. “While we have benefitted greatly from BVU’s guidance and expertise over the past three years, we feel the need to move toward becoming self-sufficient in our operations.”

This month marks MI-Connection's third-year anniversary, and all three years have been marked by controversy and citizen unrest over the town's purchase of the system and the financial consequences. Despite the dark clouds, Mooresville and Davidson government leaders have maintained a positive public attitude. But outside of press releases and public meetings, a different story has been told the past three years.

In a conversation last year, a clearly frustrated town leader called BVU “a third-party spender that's running the show.”

“They manage and operate the company with no accountability for its performance.”

He said BVU “is not connected to Mooresville” and had little to no experience managing, operating or marketing a cable system before landing the “sweetheart deal” with MI-Connection. “We are their guinea pigs,” he said.

Mooresville Commissioner Mac Herring – in an email obtained in a public records request last summer – seemed to back up that sentiment. “There's a storm brewing,” he wrote. “The financial model is flawed, … and the confidence in BVU at running the system is faltering. Their operations seem to be sound, but there has been little success at marketing the business applications.”

An e-mail Thursday afternoon to BVU President/CEO Wes Rosenbalm and Vice President/CFO Stacey Bright, asking who initiated the end of the management relationship, was not answered.

MI-Connection's move toward more independence is a hopeful sign of good things to come, said Davidson Mayor John Woods. “Like its subscriber growth, MI-Connection’s willingness to take on more responsibility for its employees and operations is a sign of its growing maturity as a company and a sign of its tremendous potential,” said Davidson Mayor John Woods.

Kasberger said that the MI-Connection board is aware of its challenges but that the system is well-prepared for what lies ahead: “We are gaining confidence every day, and we look forward to assuming some of the responsibilities that BVU has so capably carried for us since 2007.”