Up & Coming Weekly

December 12, 2017

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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DECEMBER 13 - 19, 2017 UCW 11 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM JEFF THOMPSON, Senior News Reporter. COMMENTS? news@ upandcomingweekly.com. (910) 484-6200. Local governments have not col- laborated on a joint multi-million- dollar construction project in recent memory. Agreeing to the shared cost of a proposed consolidated 911 emergency dispatch center has been difficult for Fayetteville City Council and Cumberland County Commissioners. The council spent nearly three hours behind closed doors Dec. 7 discussing the project as well as an economic development issue involving private investments near downtown baseball stadium property. Council spent 20 minutes in public session before agreeing to submit a revised 911 interlocal agreement proposal to county com- missioners. This, after county com- missioners withdrew from initial negotiations, effectively reverting the project back to square one. County Commissioner Glenn Adams, who served as chairman of the board until earlier this month, advised then-Mayor Nat Robertson that the county was withdrawing from deliberations because the boards had reached an impasse on construction funding. He claimed the city had reneged on an agree- ment that it would pay two-thirds of the cost of building the plant. At stake is a $15 million grant from the state that would match city and county funds for the $30 million facility. Both units of local govern- ment have generally agreed on the shared cost of operations once the center is built. The sticking point is the formula the city and county would use to divide construc- tion costs. Details are unavailable because city council and its attor- ney have kept discussions private. City Attorney Karen MacDonald said closed meetings to discuss the matter are lawful under the North Carolina Open Meetings statute ex- ceptions, which allow contract dis- cussions to be conducted privately. Council, however, failed to follow proper procedures for publicly an- nouncing the purposes of the closed meetings. MacDonald confronted reporters representing Up & Coming Weekly and The Fayetteville Observer who objected that they were not kept informed, as provided by law. Once the meeting was re-opened to the public, council agreed unani- mously to again have City Manager Doug Hewett make a follow up proposal to county commission- ers. It outlines revised construction funding levels agreeable to the city and reiterates the city's insistence that it be responsible for dispatch center operations. Mayor Pro Tem Ted Mohn noted "we could build it without the county," but he did not elaborate. City Council members Larry Wright and Bill Crisp were not present for the vote but had attend- ed most of the closed meeting. The subject discussed privately by city council with developers of the former Prince Charles Hotel renovation project was not made public. PCH Holdings, Inc. project manager Jordan Jones and two of his associates attended the meet- ing, which was unusual. The firm is not only turning the old hotel into apartments, it's investing millions in a new four-story hotel and other amenities adjacent to the minor league baseball stadium. Jones said after the meeting that the discussion involved who would pay for a parking deck to be built on top of the new hotel. Originally, it was part of the company's plan. City Council private meetings by JEFF THOMPSON NEWS At stake is a $15 million grant from the state for the proposed consolidated 911 emer- gency dispatch center. Go Online 484-6200 www.uandcomingweekly.com Flip our pages for news, views, art and entertainment! Call and ask one of our marketing representatives to help you grown your business. Personal Injury, Military, Veterans, and Criminal Law Litigation Over 30 Years Experience Timothy M. Dunn Attorney and Counsellor at Law 150 N. McPherson Church Rd., Ste. B Fayetteville, NC 28303 (910) 484-5151 | dunnlaw@nc.rr.com Experienced Civilian and Military Trial Lawyer

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