Last night's town board meeting felt eerily familiar: like the days when commissioners hijacked the will of the people to instead dole out personal favors and paybacks.
Sadly, it happened while commissioners were voting to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Mac Herring, a commissioner who utilized his role as town historian to build bridges between old and new Mooresville after those bridges had been torched in the early- to mid-2000s.
On Monday, town commissioners voted 3-2 to appoint former Commissioner Danny Beaver - a man who the people of Mooresville ousted from local government in 2007 - to serve the two years remaining in Herring's term. The vote, not surprisingly, was split down an old, familiar line: "old Mooresville" versus "new." Ward 2 Commissioner Thurman Houston, At-large Commissioner Bobby Compton and Ward 1 Commissioner Eddie Dingler voted for Beaver's appointment. At-large Commissioner David Coble and Ward 4 Commissioner Lisa Qualls dissented. And they didn't shy away from explaining why:
"Mr. Beaver served for eight years, and it was not a good time for Mooresville," said Coble after Houston made the motion to appoint Beaver to the board. Coble had made a motion for the appointment of another candidate, Gary West, which was seconded by Qualls but died for lack of support. Coble reminded the board that Beaver, then an at-large commissioner, lost his bid for re-election in 2007 when current-Mayor Miles Atkins ran a campaign against him "centered on ethics in government."
At that time, Beaver had voted to hand a multi-million-dollar contract to a town friend rather than follow the recommendation of town staff in the hiring of an engineering firm for Mooresville's wastewater treatment plant expansion. Town staff said the firm that commissioners eventually chose was too expensive. Those town staff members were later fired. Then the Mooresville community fired back by ousting Beaver and Frank Owens, who was surprisingly also among the town's four finalists for Herring's replacement. Owens made a run against Herring for his seat just two years ago and was rejected by the town's Ward 3 voters.
Beaver's controversial past on Mooresville's town board didn't seem to matter to Commissioners Compton and Dingler or to Houston, who himself was appointed to the board in 2006, thanks to a strong push by none other than - you guessed it - then-Commissioner Beaver.
Houston, Compton and Dingler on Monday cited "experience" in their choice to return Beaver to the board.
But is Beaver's brand of experience in the best interest of the town?
Coble and Qualls said, unequivocally, no.
Using the word "tumultuous" to describe the years Beaver was in office - and reminding fellow commissioners of the many State Bureau of Investigation probes into the town during that time - Qualls said she was "disappointed" that the majority of the town board seemed okay with moving Mooresville "backwards."
Coble said that the citizens he spoke with during the selection process for Herring's replacement "overwhelmingly said they wanted our choice to be about moving Mooresville forward."
Houston said Beaver is "connected" in Mooresville and that the former commissioner's "integrity is very great" and that he's "an asset to this board." He said that Gary West and Michelle Beam - the other two finalists out of the original 13 applicants - were too inexperienced to serve. "They haven't participated in anything," he said, adding that maybe they'd be more qualified after they "get a little more involved in the community."
That didn't sit well with Qualls, who quipped: "Every one of us was brand new once."
Qualls herself was originally appointed to the town board in 2012.
She said that choosing Beaver was "a slap in the face to the new people who planned to get involved."
I would take that a step further ...
Last night's decision was a slap in the face to the people of this town who, when given a choice, ousted Danny Beaver from local government. It was a slap in the face to the residents of Ward 3 who, when given a choice, chose a person like Mac Herring to represent them. Danny Beaver's style could not be any more opposite from Herring's. Though local-government politics are non-partisan, Beaver is known to be a rockhead conservative, while we used to tease Herring about being a "bleeding-heart liberal." Herring was gentle and compassionate: sometimes, I'd tell him, to a fault. He talked often of building bridges and of his respect for town staff and of his love for the Town of Mooresville and of his dream to see the town continue to move forward and away from the scandals and controversies that defined it in the early- to mid-2000s.
For those reasons, Beaver's appointment last night was also a slap in the face to Mac Herring.
Shame on the three commissioners who delivered it.
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12 comments:
Does any of this surprise you!? ?
The slap in the face of the people of Mooresville is MI Connections that was approved against the will of the people by Thunberg, Carney,Radar and Herring. So far it has cost the town of Mooresville $25 million. This would have been a huge property tax cut for the people.
Such a sad day for Mooresville,NC. The memory of Ralph McNeely Herring aka Mac has been tarnished and stomped on. This is an atrocity.
You must first understand that politics is nothing more than satisfying the people that helped or put your there. In the case of Mooresville it is the epiphany of the "Good Old Boy Network" I have had limited experience with our local government and can say unequivocally that is the case here in Mooresville. The lack of integrity, honesty and trustworthiness of a few puts a bad light on the Town. Some call it Politics, I call it being crooked. They all have favors they owe someone. I have seen it first handed on several occasions and it makes me sick to my stomach to know that it goes on. How do you fix it is the $64k question. Perhaps starting with putting people in office who truly have integrity, can not be bought and have nothing to lose by being honest and strait forward in there views with little to no worries of who they piss off as long as it good for the people or should I say the taxpayers. I also have seen it first handed and it's not pretty. We have people who have broken laws, shown there inability to handle there own finances and drink way to much and those folks sit on our local government Boards, there is an old saying when the Fish Stinks it Starts at the Head First, you don't have to look very far to see how it works here in Mooresville. If the taxpayers knew all the truths and dishonesty that goes on it would shock and sadden most people. I could go on and on but it's difficult to do without naming names. It's so easy for people to spend other people's money for there own personal gains. Perhaps there will be more to come.
I cannot believe that Bobby Compton. Of all people, voted to put that POS LIAR back on the board. Next election, you're on the chopping block!!! And I thought you were honest......
Just lie the school board dinosuar SueWilson is turning into another Mildred Miller RETIRE. Let someone more current take your place.
How many favors and how much money was doled out to those who voted for Beaver??? By the way, the remaining 'old guard' had another 'meeting before the meeting' with the new guard before this votewastaken Monday night. Surprised??? Here we go again. You can betsomebody'spocetsare being lined by Contra.
Anonymous said: Bobby Compton is one of the most dishonest on the Board. He talks out of both sides of his mouth to make sure people hear what they want to hear and still make him look good. He should even be on the town board because he is living in Cornelius with his girl friend that he walked out and left his wife of 29 years for. He has gotten a Mooresville address to cover this up but the taxpayers need to know that he is spending their money and living in another town and county. He should be honest and just resign but he seems to snow all the people of Mooresville.
The people in this town need to know what he is really all about.
Five commissioners had a choice to make. Thank you to Commissioners Coble and Commissioner Qualls for standing up for what was right, not only for this community but for Mac Herring's legacy as well.
Commissioner Houston led the pack and Compton and Dingler followed suit. Sadly, all three have all just shown that doing favors for their old school friends is what is most important to them, not their community or the citizens they were elected to serve.
I guess since all three just ran unopposed, they feel safe in their seats. Maybe they thought we wouldn’t care or that we just would forget. The reality is, we were just given a four year recruitment notice. Game on boys!
I live in ward 3 and would have voted for Danny Beaver. Funny how the Gatton Report is only active these days when certain politicians don't get what they want. Wonder who pulls those strings?
Let's us put things in prospective. In the Mooresville Tribune front page Wednesday July 5, 2006 the contract was cleared for CH2M Hill to do the wastewater treatment plant. Every commissioner voted for except Chris Carney who made the statement " the only reason the board is voting on the design contract Monday night-----because of crunch time. The commissioners voting for were Herring, Radar,Houston,Abraham and Beaver. Beaver though had made a statement "I'll vote against the wastewater treatment plant if the board can stop approving subdivisions. We are putting the burden on the taxpayers" and Beaver also voted against the water/sewer fee hike. Herring said "there is some healing that needs to be done publicly, and this is part of the process. So why is Beaver being vilified and the other commissioner have NEVER been vilified? Because Beaver always tried to do what was best for the taxpayers and the town. It is a shame the procedure to select the replacement for Herring, which to the best of knowledge had never been done before, approved by the current board would be so vile, especially Qualls. The rules were followed and she reacted like a spoiled child. The last time we had a property tax cut was in 2004 when Beaver was on the board and he was against MI-Connections that has cost Mooresville millions of dollars. That is not moving backwards that is doing what is right for the town and the taxpayer.
Let's blame it on Phil.
Larry, why do you still live in Mooresville. You clearly can't afford to. And I wonder if you realize it's 2015. You're a broken record on MI. It was 8 years ago. Let it go. No one in leadership now in Mooresville was part of buying it. You really need to move on.
Can't move on because they are still taking taxpayer's money, including yours. I've thought seriously about moving and will when the time is right. Thanks for you courage in publishing your name.
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