Weston Wamp
County Mayor Weston Wamp on Monday hit Commission Chairman Jeff Eversole for working out a new deal on the stadium without conferring with County Finance Director Lee Brouner.
County Mayor Wamp said he issued a written statement after he was not invited to a Monday afternoon press conference on the deal.
He said, “We invited Commissioner Eversole to speak at the Taxpayer Town Hall last week about the increased costs to the South Broad stadium. Instead of accepting our invitation to listen to his own constituents about a better deal, we now know Eversole was cutting a deal with the lobbyists and city mayor to barely improve this boondoggle.
"It is highly inappropriate that Commissioner Eversole represented the county in negotiations on one of the largest taxpayer-funded projects in our history without working with its Chief Financial Officer, the County Mayor, or his fellow commissioners. Unfortunately, there are still more questions than answers about the complex financing scheme for a new stadium.
"While I’m glad other elected officials are finally acknowledging the deal needs to be improved, taxpayers should demand clawbacks if developers don’t deliver on their promises, a split of naming rights revenue, and significant up front cash investment from the team owners and developers, including the cost of high-end and unnecessary features.
"Unlike Eversole, I live in the city of Chattanooga where Shelby and my property taxes went up 30 percent soon after the current mayor was elected. Our intention in pursuing a better stadium deal was to avoid the same happening for county taxpayers.”