In an e-mail to Town Manager Greg Ferguson distributed to all current and incoming board members, Jeter addressed the issue that had generated a mild flap between commissioners — and apparently touched off at least briefly some emotional sparks still lingering from the recent elections — at the dais the night before. At the meeting, following several comments from the public voicing support for the establishment of an historic preservation committee, Jeter derailed Commissioner Danae Caulfield's plans for additional discussions about new committees.
Citing board protocol and procedures in the creation of previous committees, Jeter moved that agenda items to discuss forming veterans' monument and historic preservation committees — items Caulfield planned to introduce — be removed from the agenda.
"In my six years on this board," Jeter said, "we've never discussed a committee until we've had a public hearing on the item and by-laws in place. I think creating the committees is a good idea, but creating a committee without by-laws is a bad step."
Caulfield, a first-term commissioner who will leave the board in December after an unsuccessful attempt to unseat Mayor Jill Swain — a campaign that took a serious hit when the other sitting commissioners endorsed Swain — interpreted Jeter's motion as politics, not protocol.
"I'm curious about why you waited on this," Caulfield said, directing her statement to Jeter.
She then added comments about the Torrence-Lytle School, the primary focus of statements endorsing an historic preservation committee, and the fact that neighboring Cornelius recently completed construction of a veterans' monument.
"During the campaign," she said to the mayor and her fellow commissioners, "we went to the Potts-town neighborhood and saw that school sitting there and made a commitment to help. I believe we owe it to our community.
"And a town half our size just completed a veterans' monument," she continued. "Shame on us, Shame on us. I don't care what your personal agenda or feelings toward me are, we need to get this done."
Commissioner Sarah McAulay, reiterating Jeter's point and saying "we never have established a committee without guidelines and by-laws," moved for a vote on Jeter's motion. It passed 3-1 with Caulfield opposed.
When discussion about the committees is renewed, the board will have statements made by three town residents to consider. During the meeting, Reta Berman, BeeJay Caldwell and Shawn Henderson all spoke in favor of creating some type of Huntersville historic preservation authority, with Caldwell and Henderson focusing specifically on the 74-year-old Torrence-Lytle School building on Holbrooks Road that once anchored the Pottstown neighborhood, a historically black community in southern Huntersville.
The facility, owned by Mecklenburg County, has been on the official register of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission since 2005 and is listed for sale on its Web site. But the deteriorating condition of the buildings, and the impact that appearance has on the surrounding neighborhood, were the focus of Caldwell and Henderson's statements.
In his e-mail to Ferguson, Jeter asked the town manager to include time at the board's annual retreat to discuss new committees and "should anyone have any thoughts as to any new committees they would like to see created, I would recommend you provide some information to the board and staff prior to the retreat about your committee suggestion(s)."
Other business
Also at last week's meeting, the board approved a contract with Yates-Chreitzberg-Hughes Architects, for the upfitting required at the police department's future headquarters, 9630 Julian Clark Ave. in The Park Huntersville business park.
The town agreed last month to purchase the 26,000-square-foot structure, which previously housed an alternative medicine facility, for $4.225 million. The town plans to purchase acreage surrounding the new headquarters for an additional $260,000, which, combined with the various upgrades, renovations and improvements — including a security system, fencing, furnishings and additional tweaks and finishing touches — will bring the total cost of additions to the building to approximately $1.2 million. An additional $100,000 is budgeted for legal fees and miscellaneous purchases to raise the total price for the new station to around $5.8 million.
The department plans to move from its current 8,000-square-foot headquarters on Gilead Road near the N.C. 115 intersection into the new station by mid to late summer of next year.
Also, the board approved the release of funds to acquire new police vehicles. Ferguson said the agreement calls for HPD to lease 10, 2012 Dodge Chargers at an annual cost of $120,000 a year for three years.
