A request to allocate funds to allow Carter County Tomorrow to have a Phase II environmental study completed on the Matheson property failed to garner enough votes to pass the County Commission on Tuesday night.
The proposed allocation, which had previously been approved by both the County’s Financial Management and Budget Committees, failed on a vote of 10-14 Tuesday night.
CCT proposed funding $5,000 of the overall cost of the study with the City of Elizabethton, Carter County, and the Matheson Family, which owns the property, each contributing $2,500.
During debate on this controversial proposal, many Commissioners shared their opinion — both in support of and opposed to — allocating the funding. Carter County Mayor Leon Humphrey stepped down as Chairman of the Commission so he could share his thoughts on the proposal.
“Establishing precedents. Establishing precedents. We have to be careful what we do in setting precedents,” Humphrey cautioned the Commission, warning them approving funding for a study on private land could be illegal and was at least an unheard of occurrence.
Humphrey said he had spent many years in the field of real estate, and still maintains an active license, but he had never heard of anything like the proposal from CCT regarding a privately owned property.
“Never in my career did I see a real estate agent pay a seller to market their property,” Humphrey said. “I want to do everything I can to market that property, but I will not commit public funds to it.”
“We need to follow the law,” Humphrey added. “If it’s questionable then why would we consider it.”
Commissioner Al Meehan said the proposal had been passed by two separate committees, at least one of which was attended by County Attorney Josh Hardin, who voiced no opposition to the matter and did not render any opinion that the action could potentially be illegal as suggested by Humphrey.
“This is one of the prime pieces of property for economic development,” Meehan said. “This is to get jobs, and we need to support it.”
Seeking clarification on the legalities of the proposal, Commissioner Kelly Collins asked Hardin to give his opinion on whether or not the county could legally allocate the funds for the environmental study at the Matheson property.
“The way I viewed this, it is funding Carter County Tomorrow. They still exist in Carter County, and they are an economic development agency,” Hardin said. “In my opinion, this is funding an economic development agency. We are not making a contribution directly to Matheson or anybody else.”
Commissioner L.C. Tester said many of the local elected officials ran campaigns on the platform of working to bring jobs to Carter County and allocating funds for the environmental study is a chance for the Commission to take action on those promises.
“It’s been vacant for years,” Tester said of the property. “This is an important opportunity to take a step to getting this property on the market.”
Other Commissioners questioned if an environmental study would help or hinder the sale of the property.
“The point was to pay for a Phase II environmental study,” Commissioner Charles Von Cannon said. “They will find something. They always find something. Mr. (Jon) Hartman has indicated the property owner is lukewarm or unwilling to remediate the property.”
If the property needs remediation and the property owner refuses to correct the issues found during the study, then the county has “thrown money down the drain,” VonCannon said.
Hartman, who serves as the economic development and planning director for the City of Elizabethton as well as working with CCT, was in attendance at Tuesdays meeting and addressed the Commission regarding the proposal and its importance to bringing jobs to Carter County.
The City of Elizabethton and Carter County worked together last year to participate in a state program to help counties identify potential sites for economic development.
“It was pointed out this was the best short-term industrial development opportunity,” Hartman said, adding there were more potential properties, but they had more long-term issues that would need to be addressed. “This is a necessity to be able to make the property more attractive to site selectors. It will increase the marketability.”
Hartman told the commissioners that he does not believe any negative findings on a Phase II environmental study would “necessarily scare away” potential developers or site selectors. If remediation is needed on the property, Hartman said CCT would pursue grant funding to help the property owners pay for the cost of any work that needed to be done.
“TVA does have a grant that as long as an economic development agency has an option on the land, they will offer that grant,” Hartman said. Currently, CCT holds an option on the Matheson property, which Hartman said gives the agency a vested interest in what happens with the property.
While the majority of the Commission voiced a desire to bring jobs to the county, others questioned giving the money to CCT with no guaranteed return on the investment. “We need jobs in Carter County, but we don’t need to spend money unnecessarily,” said Commissioner Larry “Doc” Miller.
When the proposal came to a vote Commissioners Willie Campbell, Dr. Robert Acuff, Mike Hill, Meehan, Bradley Johnson, Tester, Danny Ward, Ross Garland, Bobbie Gouge-Dietz and Sonja Culler cast their ballots in favor of allocating the funds. Commissioners Buford Peters, Nancy Brown, Ronnie Trivett, VonCannon, Isaiah Grindstaff, Timothy Holdren, Randall Jenkins, John Lewis, Miller, Ray Lyons, Scott Simerly, Robert Carroll, Collins, and Cody McQueen voted against the proposal.