|
|||
|
Canary Coalition Releases Buncombe Public Disclosure Findings 2nd "wave" of records received after Attorney General contacts County "Lease Option" signed with Progress Energy in March, 2005 without proper authority.
April 27, 2007
After ignoring legal obligations under the Public Disclosure Law and denying the existence of records other than the few documents released when the Canary Coalition made a formal request in January, Buncombe County released a second "wave" of records in March to the non-profit Clean Air advocacy organization. The second release came only after numerous letters and visits from both the group's Executive Director, Avram Friedman, and its attorney, Rachel Doughty, and after the county was contacted by the Attorney General's office.
"There was reason for the County's reluctance to release the records it was withholding," explains Friedman. "Among the documents delivered on March 11, was a lease-option agreement on the land adjacent to the Woodfin landfill, with Progress Energy, signed by County Manager Wanda Greene, dated March 9, 2005, previously undisclosed to the public. The County Manager does not have the legal authority to sign a lease-option without a formal decision by the County Commission to do so. Yet, there is no record of the Commissioners voting at a public meeting to give her this authority. There was no public hearing on the matter in 2005, as required by law. There was no public notice posted in the newspaper to inquire about competitive offers as required by law. Therefore, either the County Manager is responsible for taking improper authority in signing the lease-option, or there was a private, unannounced meeting of the Commissioners in which there was a vote taken to grant her the authority, in violation of the Open Meetings Law. In addition, since this lease-option was an integral part of the process that resulted in the Commissioners granting the final lease, the validity of the entire legal process is now in question in regards to the Progress Energy lease of the Woodfin property."
"Despite the fact the town of Woodfin has refused a Conditional Use Permit for Progress Energy to build the diesel-oil burning electrical generating plant," continues Friedman, "the issue of the land-lease is still alive and important because the lease doesn't restrict Progress from using the land for some other purpose, such as dumping highly toxic waste ash from its Lake Julian coal-burning facility. It's also possible for Progress to try again to build the plant in a few years if future elections in Woodfin change the political landscape in that town. So, it's important for the people of Buncombe County to make sure the lease is officially terminated. I don't think anyone can justify allowing Progress Energy to maintain a one-dollar-a-year lease of valuable county property if they aren't paying the tax revenues that were supposedly going to materialize from the power plant."
"On Thursday (April 26), when County Attorney Joe Connolly was asked about the status of the land lease, he was evasive and refused to comment," Friedman says. "He said he was currently immersed in issues revolving around the new zoning ordinance and couldn't focus on the Woodfin issue. He also refused to inform me of the process that would be necessary to make the decision about whether or not to nullify the land-lease contract. Whose decision is it? The Commissioners? The County Attorney's? The County Manager's? Again he refused to answer citing his involvement with zoning issues. Asked if he could tell me when he would be available to answer these questions he said, 'No, I could not.' Apparently the people of Buncombe County don't have the right to know. When I called the County Manager's office to ask these questions I was informed that all questions about the Woodfin land-lease will be directed to the County Attorney."
"In February, the Canary Coalition contacted the North Carolina Attorney General's office, presented them with its evidence against the County, and asked the State to get involved by investigating legal wrong-doing in Buncombe in relation to the Woodfin land lease to Progress Energy. The Attorney General's office responded by sending a packet of information to the Canary Coalition informing the organization of its rights under the Public Disclosure and Open Meetings Laws. The Canary Coalition had no indication of the Attorney General's direct involvement until a meeting with the County Attorney, in April, at which Joe Connolly complained that the Canary Coalition and the Attorney General were costing Buncombe County 'thousands of dollars' with their records requests," says Friedman.
A detailed letter from the Canary Coalition's Attorney to the County Attorney's office, outlining the legal issues, can be viewed at www.canarycoalition.org/canary/ltrcty.doc
A copy of the lease-option agreement, dated March 9, 2005, can be obtained upon request by emailing info@canarycoalition.org (3.5 megabytes). |
|||
