Huntington Urban Renewal Authority Meeting

In what initially seemed to be a mundane meeting, the Huntington Urban Renewal Authority introduced a host of changes during Monday's meeting.

Philip Carter, now known as the former president of the board, called the meeting to order. Attendance was taken, and the meeting then moved to nomination and election of new officers. Interestingly enough, there really seemed to be no contest to each of the nominations. Carter initiated the nomination for president. A quick response followed from commissioner Diane Mufson with a motion to nominate Nate Randolph. No second nomination for president. The nominations continued for vice president. Carter was nominated, but he quickly declined the nomination so then Brandi Jacob-Jones was nominated. Next nomination made was for secretary. Carter was again nominated, but he again quickly declined so then Diane Mufson was nominated. Finally, the nomination of treasurer was brought to the table. Yet again, Carter was nominated, but he also declined this nomination. Herb Stanley was then nominated.

With all nominations complete, the meeting proceeded to the election of new officers. The election was rather quick and easy to decide with only one nomination for each office. Now with the election complete, Carter demurely stood up, picked up his bag, and moved to Randolph's seat as Randolph took his.

I found a couple aspects of this election interesting. One, why was Carter not nominated again for president. Is he not allowed to be nominated for consecutive terms? Two, why did Carter decline every nomination made for him? There seems to be something underlying. It also seemed like it was planned. Bottom line--it left me curious.

After Randolph took the seat of president, the meeting progressed into other orders of business. The first was a clarification. Previously, there was a misunderstanding, leading the board to believe that it may have miraculously obtained a half million dollars. Understandably so, Randolph mentioned the excitement they all had at the possibility of having that much money in their account and all that they could have accomplished with it. However, Jacob-Jones revealed that the half million dollars was not the amount in their banking account, but it was the insurance value on their account.

In my perspective--though misunderstandings happen--I am just a touch disconcerted that they thought for a moment that they had a half million dollars when they would not, or at least should not, have any reason to believe that they did possess this amount of money. A half million dollars does not just appear. Otherwise, I would be waiting anxiously by the phone everyday for a call from my bank, letting me know that they transferred a half million dollars into my checking account. There just does not seem to be enough organization, cooperation or awareness of the goings-on within the board.

The next order of business was a discussion about fees that had been charged to their account with Chase Bank due to inactivity and a possibility of getting those fees waived. Mufson proposed that the board move their funds to a local bank to support a local business and, in turn, to receive support from the bank, thus potentially eliminating the problem of miscellaneous fees. The resolution reached by the board was that it would research what local banks offer and decide from there. It seems to me a reasonable resolution although Mufson mentioned a specific bank several times, suggesting to me that maybe she had an agenda. But maybe, I am reading too much into her words.

The final substantial point of the meeting was the discussion of which organization would best suited to be the land bank authority in Huntington--the Huntington Urban Renewal Authority or the Huntington Municipal Development Authority. Randolph said he believed it was best for the Huntington Urban Renewal Authority to be the authority because the board is more residentially focused while the Huntington Municipal Development Authority is more commercially focused. Randolph also sited concerns with the financial resources of the Huntington Municipal Development Authority as well as their struggles and lack of success with Kinetic Park.

"I envision HURA (Huntington Urban Renewal Authority) as a protector and growth advocate for the neighborhood," Carter chimed in.

As the board agreed that they believed being the land bank authority would be a worthwhile venture, Carter also added that the board may consider hosting a conference with other experienced and successful land bank authorities in order to educate themselves. Jacob-Jones added to the discussion the concern of funding the conference, mentioning that because all of the funds of the City of Huntington already were earmarked, the expense would fall on the board. Mufson also expressed concern about funding the conference, suggesting that the organization could not just throw something together, but had to study first. This statement by Mufson seemed to offend Carter because of the possible implication that his idea was not well-thought. The tension was palpable. There seemed to be a lack of cohesiveness within the board, possibly because of the way the elections played out.

At this, the board resolved to consider this possibility, and the meeting adjourned.