The City Industrial Development Board on Tuesday declined to go along with a resolution that several citizen activists said did not give enough transparency.
The resolution that city attorneys put on the agenda to "streamline" the process for developers failed by a 3-3 vote. Voting against were Ray Adkins, Skip Ireland, and Jimmy Rogers. Breege Farrell, Alan Lebovitz (CBL) and Chairman James Miller voted in favor of the proposed change.
The resolution authorized IDB officers or the city attorney to enter into settlement agreements where no expenditure of funds is provided by the IDB.
There would be notification to the board.
Helen Burns Sharp told board members, "This reads to me like these items would no longer appear on your agenda as they have in the past. The city attorneys have not provided any compelling need in the resolution--there are no recitals or 'Whereases.' These actions take up very little of your time. The only reason I can come up with is that the city wants to keep these items out of the public eye. That way, the public does not know nor does the media. I hope I am interpreting this wrong. Please ask your attorney for an explanation before approving this Resolution. I am not sure of the upside. The downside is a blow to government transparency.
"You might also want to ask questions about the wording in the caption of the Resolution that this resolution applies to settlement agreements where no expenditure of funds is provided by the IDB. Does the IDB have any money? I have had the impression that you do not, unlike your counterpart
,
"The Hamilton County IDB has $220,000 in the bank even though they have fewer PILOTs and have approved fewer tax-exempt revenue bonds.
"The IDB entered into a settlement agreement with me after the Chancellor found several sunshine law violations in how the IDB handled the Black Creek TIF.
"The IDB no longer publishes these legal notices in the newspaper because you have gone to regular rather than special meetings and thus are not required by law to publish. This change makes it all the more important that you include settlement agreements on your agenda and provide a link on the city's online calendar."
Franklin McCallie said, "I've been saying to the administration, let's have transparency. Everybody ought to have transparency. Every city body, every administrative group, every developer and attorney that comes into the place ought to be transparent with us. It's just the way government is better."