Henderson County 2007-2011 strategic plan: Goal 1

Henderson County has a strategic plan with six goals. I thought it might be interesting to look at each of these goals in light of the county’s option agreement to purchase the Highland Lake Golf Club and develop it, with the help of the Henderson County Soccer Association, into a large soccer complex in the middle of three established residential communities.

Goal 1: To enhance public trust and confidence in County government through sound policy-making and implementation, professional management, and active citizen participation.

Okay, how much time do I have? In the soccer complex situation, did the county board of commissioners fulfill even one iota of this goal?

Let’s break this statement into its several parts:

“To enhance public trust and confidence in County government”
While the county is well within its legal rights to negotiate in private on land deals, once an agreement has been signed then the county’s obligation should be to make that agreement/deal public. The only way “to enhance public trust and confidence” is to show trust and confidence in the public. That means making public and available to all residents any and all signed real estate/business transactions. Once the option agreement was signed on August 26, there was no longer any reason for keeping it secret--and yet it was.

Commissioners have been quoted as saying secrecy was necessary, but not one that I have read has addressed the fact that as of August 26 all business negotiations were over. No longer any need to keep the agreement out of public view. Yet that is what the county commissioners did. What are they keeping out of public view now?

“through sound policy-making and implementation”
This real estate transaction is a very far cry from adequate policy making. Basing their potential spending of $1.15 million (minimum) of the taxpayers’ money on a dated 2007 county survey, the commissioners think that the highest priority of Hendersonville residents in 2011 is a county-purchased, developed, and maintained soccer complex that benefits only one sport in an area heavily residential with inadequate roads. Perhaps they should check with those who would like the reduced library hours reinstated, or a pay increase for law enforcement and teachers.

The economy in 2011 is very different than the economy in 2007, and present-day tax dollars should not be spent on past wish lists that might not even exist today. So the policy-making in this instance does nothing to “enhance public trust and confidence” and the implementation, of keeping this deal secret for two months after it was signed, is not exactly inspiring either.

“professional management”
This I can’t speak to. I believe the city manager's office is professional, but they prepared a draft proposal on the soccer complex and listed potential costs and benefits using fairly unsubstantiated numbers--perhaps the only ones they were given to work with.

This proposal also included what seemed to be financial commitments from the Henderson County Soccer Association (HCSA) that we heard at the November 7 county commissioners’ meeting are not real numbers, but “soft commitments” (according to Steve Wyatt, county manager). In other words, there is no guaranteed financial commitment from the HCSA yet the county is ready to purchase the property anyway. Why, when the numbers don’t work?

“and active citizen participation”
 Let’s just look at this one for a minute. . .

Keep

looking. . .

Had enough?

Do I even need to address this one? The only citizens that participated in this were the soccer folks (well, and the owners of the Highland Lake Golf Club, just trying to sell their property).

The only people who were there October 19 to speak about this purchase for the soccer complex at the county commissioners’ meeting (when the real estate agreement was made public and the commissioners voted to exercise their option) all spoke in favor of the project. Why?

Well, just maybe because NO ONE else had heard anything about it. Yet the soccer community was there to express support. I don’t mean to malign the soccer community—I think they are being used just as much as anyone else. I mean the county and HCSA leadership that knowingly kept this secret even after the option agreement was signed in August. That was the time when all of this should have been made public.

Although, now that I think about it, maybe the county did reach this part of its goal here—they certainly have “enhanced” "active citizen participation" if the news stories are anything to go by.

People fill the Historic Courthouse during a Henderson County Board of Commissioner meeting to discuss building a soccer complex at Highland Lake Golf Club.
MIKE DIRKS/TIMES-NEWS

Next: Goal 2: To responsibly manage growth and its impacts.