Double standards and good-old-boy politics aren’t going to serve Monroe well as it tries to take advantage of a generational economic development opportunity.
As the Hyperion data center project continues its buildout, which has given the area economy but particularly Monroe’s a big shot in the arm, bickering continues over a potentially-dubious use of taxpayer dollars. In the crosshairs is a $4.5 million deal by the Interstate 20 Economic Development District, giving the sum to an entity DZE LLC to build residential homes outside of the EDD. Its board, whose members mostly comprise City Council selections that at this time is controlled by black Democrats, bypassed normal procedures to award the money.
The city technically has jurisdiction over the District’s fiscal matters and has refused to release the portion of the money already billed. Initially it argued that it had uncertainty over whether statutorily it could do so, since the project had no real connection to the district. Mainly comprising Pecanland Mall, tax revenue gained through projects theoretically would fund district activities, so it is very difficult to see how infrastructure pertaining to houses outside of the district constitutes economic development within it. Other than the Board, does anyone seriously think new houses across the way will encourage more people to locate near to and want to take the low-wage jobs at the mall?
Nonetheless, the attorney general’s opinion which the city requested came back saying that under state law a board’s judgment was paramount and included nearby property to a district, so it gave a legal green light to the project under statute. But by then, the city had other questions about whether the unvetted cooperative endeavor agreement legally had been fulfilled to authorize the money release, such as the billing contained expenses claimed prior to the formation of DZE LLC.
Refusing to release the funds again, the city found itself threatened with a law suit by the District. Dissenting from Board approval of this was independent Mayor Friday Ellis, whose chief operating officer Morgan McCallister has been the point man for the city in this conflict. Upon hearing McCallister announcing this delay at the last board meeting, member and clergyman James Earl Jackson, Sr. said such an action was in league with Satan.
Jackson and McCallister had a dustup at a previous meeting, where Jackson implied McCallister had racist motives in promulgating the initial delay (those involved in the deal are all black, which is lauded as the first I-20 EDD deal with black principals, as is Jackson, while McCallister and Ellis are white). This led to an ordinance passed by the Council at its meeting last week, largely duplicative, to place greater emphasis on investigating racism claims about city employees that appears aimed at McCallister.
Yet its passage denied that what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Republican Councilor Doug Harvey, who months ago first raised questions about the atypicality of the deal, tried to amend the ordinance to include not just city employees but also appointees to boards like the District’s. Because of an absence, the black Democrat majority on the Council needed one of its members to second the motion to bring it to a vote. Instead, they sat on their hands and it died.
All of this makes Monroe governance look like a circus. Every policy-maker, instead of crying racism or likening opponent actions to Beelzebub, should want to make sure taxpayer dollars are spent by the book, especially when it’s part of a deal with so many exceptions made to bring it about. Otherwise, it lends real credence to the belief that it’s a sweetheart deal designed to feather some nests and produce symbolic benefits for others. Investors will shy away from such perceived antics, and the Hyperion momentum will slow.
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