For HNN by Art Harvath
The Huntington Urban Renewal Authority held a special call meeting Thursday in the Mayor’s Conference Room at City Hall. Ron Smith, chairman of HURA called the special meeting to order and announced that there was only one item on the agenda, and that was for the authority members to “review the proposals that we’ve (HURA) received so far, and to go over a few items here that our council has presented to us.”
Calling the subject matter to be discussed “sensitive in nature” he announced that it would go into executive session. He did, however, allow comments and questions by Authority members and others present.
Authority member Phil Carter spoke up saying that there were concerns expressed to him regarding “primarily misinformation, no information, and therefore, if there isn’t sufficient information or communication….any of that could be a bad omen, given the significance of decisions we have to make.”
Carter then stated that there should be some kind of public discussion about exactly what it was the Authority was doing, so that everybody would understand the intent of the Authority.
“My intent is to protect the public interest, to serve out this term and to do it honorably, and I don’t want people criticizing me for stuff that I don’t know, for things that I don’t understand,” said Carter.
“That’s all I have, is my credibility. Whether people like me or not I’m always honest and I will take the hits because I have earned them,” Carter added.
Carter went on to say that “I feel I’m taking hits for things I do not understand and that I don’t know about, and I want it understood right here, right now that I will not be involved in anything that damages the city, its credibility, of this agency or this mayor who appointed me. And when I say that, I mean it. I’ll fight, and I’ll fight anybody at anytime that damages the image of this agency and my image. And secondly, I want to know, I want to know what the hell’s going on, as the Vice President. And I don’t feel I have to beg for it….and ask for that…..Don’t treat me like a second class citizen, that’s not the way I expect to be treated, nor will I tolerate it. Take that for what it’s worth.”
Betty Barrett suggested that it “would be useful to explain the reasoning behind this meeting publicly.”
“Phil, I feel like as chair for the authority,” said Smith, “it’s been my duty to provide as much information to each of you….I think the information you’ve heard in the past, with the orientation we’ve had was…to bring everybody up to speed to an understanding for the what authority’s duties and roles are. I hope that you appreciated that and it seemed that you did, and felt that information was good for you…..we had our meeting with Tim Rollins and Metropolitan here, they tried to explain the project to each of you and offered opportunity for questions to be ventured by anyone of the Authority members."
Smith then described returning from out of town to find a public relations breakdown, and having an authority member deciding he was going to leave the authority.
“I was rather shocked myself, I’ll say that, to come back into town thinking that..uh…I left with what appeared to be everything just fine and in its working order, and come back to find that there were Authority members who felt that there hadn’t been information shared with them,” said Smith.
Smith went on to say that “from what I could gather and read from the press that there was perceptions that there were backroom meetings going on, that there were discussions going on with people that were trying to make deals that were not shared with other Authority members, and I would have to say I disagree with that.”
At the request of HADCO’s board Smith did hold a meeting with Leslie Hurst, Mark Brewer and Jerry McDonald to explain where HURA was in negotiations and how the process was going. HADCO then offered any help to HURA in terms of contacts “or anything that needed to be made.”
Smith added the he believed that some of the comments made by HURA member Dave Harrinton were taken out of context.
“I believe that they (Harrington’s statements to the press) were turned in such a way that it appeared that there was deal making going on without the formal approval or consensus of the other authority members. I don’t believe that we have withheld information, and if you feel so then I’ll be happy to try and make available all the information to you that we have, and most of that information is sitting right here in front of me right now,” said Smith.
Smith said that he was putting his best efforts into the project and that he was putting 30 hours a week over and above the time he spends at his own profession.
“My feelings on this are that I’m trying to stay above board with the highest regard to my integrity as well,” added Smith.
After discussion of the rules concerning disposal of property by Urban Renewal, Smith called the Authority into executive session to discuss the two proposals currently before HURA, one from the Tri-State Transit Authority and the other from Metropolitan Huntington.
