During my 10 years as a newspaper reporter (the last four years of which were spent doing investigative work), I have covered many controversial issues in the Town of Mooresville. And as you can imagine, I have encountered more than my fair share of cold resistance from people when I’ve asked them for information or answers.
I have been pleasantly surprised, however, by the change in the wind that I’ve noticed in this community during the last two weeks as we've talked about the South Iredell Community Development Corporation’s (SICDC) debt to the town. For the most part, the people I have corresponded with were accommodating, honest, polite and helpful.
And sometimes, such “intangibles” are just as telling – if not more telling – than the “tangibles.”
An anonymous poster in the comments section of the entry earlier today (“SICDC satisfies debt to town”) stated this: “…the SICDC is to be commended for being responsive to the public outcry demanding repayment of this debt and for acting quickly to remedy this embarrassing situation.”
I wholeheartedly agree.
Specifically, a big thanks to Town Finance Director Maia Setzer; former state legislator Robert Brawley; Ben Thomas of Thomas & Godley, P.L.L.C. and SICDC President Woody Washam.
Setzer, as I’ve come to expect from her, quickly and respectfully responded to any and all of my questions and information requests – even when that meant digging through files two or three times during a busy day. When Setzer was out of the office, she still responded to my e-mails, letting me know that she had received the questions and would find the answers as soon as she was back at work.
I also thank former state legislator Robert Brawley for openly and candidly answering Report questions about the history of the SICDC and his opinion of the organization’s current state. Brawley showed that his courage was greater than any fear he may have had over the perceived disapproval of a few. I thank him for having the courage of his convictions, and from what I’m hearing, I’m not the only one thanking him for that ...
I must be honest: I didn’t expect for SICDC Attorney Ben Thomas to be very receptive to my recent e-mail asking for SICDC documents. But I was wrong. While Thomas could have easily made me jump through hoops (which, by the way, I would have) to obtain the information, he instead was courteous, open and prompt in providing me with what I requested.
As for Woody Washam, well, one of my readers put it best: his comments in yesterday’s e-mail to the Report “showed me that he harbors no ill will toward the exposure of this matter and that is certainly to his credit.” Washam is to be commended for that.
The only good government is an open government. I cannot stress enough how refreshing it has been the past two weeks to talk to people without feeling “the chill.” The responsiveness of Setzer, Brawley, Thomas and Washam during the Report’s coverage of the SICDC situation is very much appreciated and indicates a shift toward more open, cooperative government in our community. I also take it as a positive sign that the SICDC's new leadership is moving the organization toward being more open and transparent.
The “Thank or Spank” column is the brainchild of one of my readers and will be an ongoing feature in the Gatton Report. If you have information about a town official or employee that you think may belong in "Thank or Spank" – maybe to “thank” a friendly voice answering the phone at Town Hall or a sanitation worker who went back to pick up your trash though you didn’t have it on the curb on time … or to “spank” a public official for not responding to your e-mails or a police officer who drove past your stranded vehicle without stopping to help – please pass it along by posting a comment after any "Thank or Spank" entry or send it to me at jgatton@windstream.net
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7 comments:
Wow...."Thank or Spank".....these days in our culture of "everyone gets a soccer trophy" it seems we thank everyone for doing the bare minimum...it's nice to know some may not get an award after all.
On that note....and speaking of sanitation...I'd like to thank the Town of Mooresville Public Works Department. Yesterday they left a note on my big green trash container saying they would no longer empty it since it wasn't a "Town of Mooresville" container. I wasn't aware there was an "official container". I called the town and told them that this was the container that was at the house when I bought it two years ago. They told me the number of the can that was issued to my house in 1995. After haggling for a while, the lady finally agreed to NOT charge me the $50 for a new can. Then I tried debating "how do you throw out the offending garbage can since it's a garbage can and won't be taken" with her when I realized I might as well be debating with the can itself. I decided to quit while I was ahead.
THANKS TOWN OF MOORESVILLE!!!
I love my new trash can.
6:26
One persons trash is another persons treasure--keep that can--Erskine Smith might like to have it when he cleans out his office--or maybe he and Jim McKnight can open up--S & M Trash Service and make more money off of the public--I think Erskine needs a spank--he's been a naughty boy--Just a thought--
Let's not put the whole McKnight endowment on Erskine's desk. It would interesting to see exactly who signed that contract. But perhaps more importantly, what went wrong with the Town's approval process that McKnight was able to bamboozle the Staff and the Town Board like that. And . . .why did the Town roll over and write the check to McKnight without objecting to it's unreasonableness? ? ? Even if he did have a 'contract', someone should have made a case that $230,000+ was ridiculous. If McKnight's not willing to return some of this fee to the Town, the Town should fire him immediately. We don't need shysters of his type working for the citizens of Mooresville.
I wholeheartedly agree that we ought not "put the whole McKnight endowment on Erskine's desk", only about 99% of it. Logic dictates that it was Smith who brought his childhood "friend" into this shady deal. There is no getting away from that. He virtually handed McKnigh nearly $250,000 - straight out of our pockets.
How's this for a "Thank"...
We thank Jamie Gatton for collecting almost $400,000 that was owed to us. Now we can afford to pay the worthless Mr. Erskine Smith another four years' salary so that he can keep playing golf on sunny days (during work hours),
kick back nice and easy on rainy days chatting with his underperforming peers (his favorites), and get to work when it's time to fire a couple of top-notch department heads and then get busy throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars to his friends so that they'll keep him around and go to bat for him when it's time.
Erich Fromm describes the “revolutionary personality” as "a person who is independent, who has the capacity to identify deeply with humanity and who has the ability to disobey in the interest of more fundamental values." This community has been given the great gift of a true "revolutionary" in the form of Ms. Gatton. She dares to be independent, she dares to disobey,
and she dares to be a truthteller. She is a modern day heroine, an all too rare gem in our conforming and patriarchal times. Let us thank her by standing with her.
Night Owl
Hear! Hear! Night Owl
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