RFP Staff
♦On Tuesday, Salisbury City Council entered closed session, allegedly “to consult with their attorney”. Several sources within city hall report the Local Government Commission issued an interlocutory decision less-than-favorable to Salisbury’s attempt to borrow and spend for the Taj Mahal at 329 South Main Street. “Interlocutory” means it’s an interim decision, which allows the City of Salisbury to supplement their request with further information, and explain other items in greater detail, before a final decision will be made.
Some of the issues of controversy include: (1) The false assertion that the public debt is for economic development of a ‘commercial’ building when, in fact, the building is proposed to house a non-federal office building for the Rowan-Salisbury Schools — whose funding partner is the Rowan County Commissioners; (2) The 35 month tenant on a 20-year loan agreement; and (3) the lack of a ‘no further action’ letter from NCDENR. That letter from Mooresville DENR representative actually means nothing, even though up until this point, Salisbury has successfully ‘spun’ it to fool local media.
What is “said” in staff meetings, no longer “stays” in staff meetings. Such is the breakdown of trust and respect among our brow-beaten public servants, who feel unsafe in a rapidly diminishing work environment. Since there is no loyalty from management to the employees, there is no reciprocal loyalty.
And with the clock ticking for supplemental information to overcome an interlocutory denial from the LGC, the excuse-mongering has already begun. During Tuesday’s meeting of city council, Brian Miller proclaimed a new conspiracy theory that the county is expending all its resources to, in the city manager’s words, “sabotage” the city at every turn in order to block or stall the central office. One county official predicted back in the early spring that Salisbury was just going through the motions of trying to land the central office loan — that they knew they had less than a snowball’s chance of gaining LGC approval, but they could politick the issue to condemn the County Commissioners, making them scapegoats for Salisbury’s loss of South Main Street’s so-called economic boost.
Why? Well, this November is a municipal election, so they have to look busy. And the city’s twisted leadership is so detached from terrestrial reality that they truly believe in November 2014, in the County Commission election, that the City of Salisbury will be able to promote their slate of Salisbury shills to unseat Jim Sides. Rowan County voters are unpersuaded by Salisbury’s carnival act.
