PLACE Forum

Feb.16, 2007 column by Lisa Brouillette : Column Sure Did Cause A Ruckus

(first published in the Opelika-Auburn News)

COLUMN SURE DID CAUSE A RUCKUS

What a ruckus is raised by stating facts.

In my previous column, I listed some corporations in which Auburn’s mayor and other local developers are partners. I also pointed out that at least four of the mayor’s partners are property owners who will benefit from the city’s $1M plus Samford Avenue Extension project.

Nobody has challenged my facts: the corporate info is public record and landowners clearly benefit when the city builds roads and utilities through their land, thereby opening it up for development.

However at the council meeting following my column, seven council members (Phelan, Dowdell, Worden, Beard, Kelley, Dulaney and Norman) presented a joint statement which said, among other things, “Ms. Brouillette, insinuates that friends of the Mayor benefit from a road extension to the detriment of the public.”

Not true. First, I didn’t insinuate. I said flat out that it was the public’s right to inquire about the mayor’s actions related to city agreements which benefit his business partners. I stand by that statement. Second, I didn’t refer to “friends of the mayor” but to business partners of the mayor.

Gee, fellas, did I strike a nerve?  It sure seems so, as evidenced by your joint public statement – which was created outside of a public meeting and which prompted the Opelika-Auburn News to file a complaint of a possible Open Meetings Act violation.

Is it just the mayor’s business connections you don’t want written about?  Or your own business relationships, which are too numerous to list in this one short column?

As elected officials, your private business becomes the public’s business.  That’s why you are legally required to file your personal financial info with the Ethics Commission and your campaign finance info with the Secretary of State. Those financial details provide the public with the context to judge your actions in office.

*   *  *  *  *  *

Speaking of overlapping interests, did you know the city of Auburn’s Industrial Development Board (IDB) plans to provide interim financing for the first building in AU’s Research Park?  A further twist is that the city’s IDB members include AU’s current provost, a former AU provost, an AU dean, and  two of the mayor’s business associates (Phil Clowdus and E.L. Spencer Jr).

Not much is known yet about the proposed city/AU agreement. There was no discussion when the AU Board of Trustees approved it, as a last-minute agenda addition, at their Feb. 2 meeting.

The city and the university should work together. But AU is involved in legal action with the original developer of the Research Park, which is probably why the city is being asked to step in.

Given the problems which have plagued the AU Research Park, should the city invest further than the $5M Auburn taxpayers already paid for the Park’s infrastructure? Does the city/IDB have so much extra cash it can – or should – loan it to the university? Perhaps that will be discussed at Tuesday’s IDB presentation to Council.

Comments Off