Loudon votes to put county

Loudon votes to put county's EDA on notice

Jonathan Herrmann news-herald.net

Loudon City Council will officially review its agreement with the Loudon County Economic Development Agency following a Monday vote.

Councilman Tim Brewster made a motion during the regular monthly meeting to have city attorney Joe Ford send an official notice to the EDA that the city’s contract with the organization will be reviewed.

Johnny James seconded the motion, which passed 3-1. Mayor Jeff Harris opposed, while Tammi Bivens abstained.

“What the issue is, in 2008 we went into basically a contract with the Economic Development Agency,” Brewster said. “I think it was a rushed contract and not thoroughly looked at, but for the past 10 years, 10 and a half years, it’s my belief and talking to other people’s belief that the Economic Development Agency is not performing for Loudon city.

“There’s 10 items that the EDA is supposed to be doing for Loudon city, and out of the 10 I can only verify one item that they’re actually working on, which is writing grants,” he added. “That’s fine. We can use grants. … What I’m asking is we put the EDA on notice. Come next budget cycle if we don’t get some better performance we’re going to reconsider our contract with them.”

Brewster questioned whether the EDA could turn away businesses without consulting city council and pointed to an example at the Centre 75 business park.

Jack Qualls, EDA director, said he never turned away a business.

“It’s not the EDA director’s job to decide what goes and what doesn’t go out at Centre 75,” Qualls said. “We market it to all prospects. During last year we marketed it and had 39 requests for information. ... I think we marketed it to 25. We came close on seven or eight of those.”

Both Brewster and James noted developer Bill Hamilton, a subcontractor for Caterpillar Inc., was turned away by Qualls. Qualls denied the charge.

“I was out there at the meeting and that’s not what I heard,” James said. “It’s neither here nor there; it’s in the past.”

Qualls also denied being at such a meeting.

“You were there, Jack, you sure was,” James said. “I was standing beside the car watching you talk to him.”

Bivens abstained from the vote, indicating she didn’t have enough information to weigh in. She asked that a letter be drafted first and that council then vote on whether to send the letter to the EDA.

After the vote, she urged that all council members come prepared to the next workshop to provide positive input as the city moves forward with the decision to provide notice to the organization.

“I do think we need to do a lot of homework, a lot of asking,” Bivens said. “If we’re going to review it and we’re thinking about a revamped or new contract, let’s do our homework and get it right the first time.”

Harris urged against the vote and provided council with a summary of work for the EDA from Qualls. Harris also provided letters in defense of the EDA from various officials throughout the county.

Brewster stressed he was not asking that the EDA be shut down but that Loudon evaluate the effectiveness of the organization and demand better performance.

Council also discussed the organization’s offices and whether the two EDA staff members should be moved to a smaller building. Council agreed to discuss that possibility at a later date.

In other business on Monday, council members:

• Authorized replacement of two vehicles — one for the police department at no additional cost and one for the parks and recreation department at a cost of $2,311.

• Authorized property within the Riverview Golf Course subdivision to be sold. The property was previously taken on as collateral for utility installation and given over to the city after failed payment.