UPDATE: Mayor Bill Knight says that Perkins is keeping his assignment to the transportation advisory committee. I admit a significant error here: As the mayor pointed out to me, the assignments reflect no change in Perkins' status regarding the transportation advisory committee; both the current assignment and the previous assignment under Johnson list him as an alternate. I made the mistake based on Perkins' statement to me that he was still trying to retain his seat, and that he was talking to Knight to try to resolve things. I apologize for the confusion.
I wanted to ask Knight about the allegation scrutinized here that Matheny threatened him if he did not reassign him to the War Memorial Commission, but the mayor was reviewing tonight's agenda, and we had to cut the conversation short.
ORIGINAL POST: At-large Greensboro Councilman Robbie Perkins would like Mayor Bill Knight to reconsider a decision to remove him as council liaison to a powerful intergovernmental transportation committee.
The mayor sent out his assignments last night. As is customary for the mayor, Knight retains one of the liaison positions on the Metropolitan Planning Organization Transportation Advisory Committee that was previously held by former Mayor Yvonne Johnson. In the previous term, the other two positions were held by Perkins and District 1 Councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small. Knight has removed Bellamy-Small and substituted District 3 Councilman Zack Matheny to fill the position, and eliminated the position held by Perkins.
Perkins said he e-mailed Knight this morning to advise him that the city needs three members assigned to the transportation committee and one alternate. Perkins’ primary interest in the appointment is promoting the completion of the Urban Loop.
“The Urban Loop projects are, I think, critical to creating jobs and economic development,” he said today. “I have learned an awful lot from my work with Doug Galyon, and I feel that could be very valuable. You don’t go throwing that type of training away. Mr. Galyon is one of the foremost transportation planners in the state. He spent time to teach me a lot. What he’s taught me I think can be used to the city’s advantage in obtaining funding for some of the city’s projects.”
Bellamy-Small said she sent Knight a memo in November asking him to keep her assigned to all three transportation-related boards, including the transportation advisory committee, the Greensboro Transit Authority board and the Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation board. She said she plans to tell Knight that she does not want the assignment to the zoning commission.
Perkins said he is confident that an agreement can be worked out with Knight, and downplayed the possibility that he and his allies would use a parliamentary procedure to overturn the mayor’s decision.
“I’m very hopeful that once Bill makes a few phone calls and tries to engage the council we can sort it out,” he said. “This is not a hard problem to solve.”
At the end of a council retreat on Dec. 12, the council members discussed Knight’s pending assignments and the fact that if members were unhappy then a majority of five members could vote to overturn the mayor’s decision.
“It seemed to me that five of us had not been consulted,” Perkins said later.
Knight remarked at the retreat: “I feel like I’m being threatened.”
A statement by Bellamy-Small that the previous mayor had consulted members about which boards they would like to serve with drew protestations from at-large Councilwoman Mary Rakstraw and District 5 Councilwoman Trudy Wade.
“Yvonne gave all of us a list and asked us to check off what we were interested in,” Bellamy said. “In January she was pleading with us to get back with her.”
Wade said she remembers it differently. She recalled that then-Mayor Johnson invited her to lunch and said she would have the city clerk leave a sheet in her cubicle, but that never happened.
Wade and Rakestraw complained at the council retreat that Johnson showed favor to other members who received more prestigious appointments. Wade was assigned to the Minimum Housing Standards Commission, the Community Resource Board and the Parks and Recreation Commission, while Rakestraw was assigned to the Redevelopment Commission, the Greensboro Housing Development Partnership the Planning Board and the Commission on the Status of Women, according to a list provided by the city.
After the blow-up at the retreat two days ago, Wade asked Knight to not give her any assignments.
“Everyone was really being so childish and petty about it that if it was that important to get the five votes, I decided I just wanted to concentrate on District 5 and go to neighborhood meetings.”
In some ways, the assignments maintain continuity. Knight granted a request by Matheny to remain assigned to the War Memorial Commission, which advises the Greensboro Coliseum Complex Director Matt Brown.
“It’s a major economic development driver, the coliseum is,” Matheny said. “It’s something I’m comfortable with. I just continue to make sure I go to meetings just to make sure we’re in touch with council. I usually make some kind of comment at every council meeting to update them on what the commission is doing. We’re going to have a major question about War Memorial Auditorium, and I want to be part of that.”
Matheny said he told Knight that he wanted to stay with the War Memorial Commission before assignments were sent out, and the mayor told him he would have to wait to find out his decision like everybody else. Matheny said he did not raise the possibility of overturning a decision by Knight to deny him an assignment to the War Memorial Commission, much less threaten the new mayor, as reported by one Greensboro blogger.
Knight appears to have heeded another cue on the matter of council liaison appointments.
“I’m willing to give up the ABC Board,” Bellamy-Small said.
To which Rakestraw responded: “I’ll drink to that.”
Rakestraw received the assignment.
Mayor Bill Knight:
• Inherits Greensboro Partnership Board, Greensboro Housing Authority, Piedmont Triad Partnership from predecessor Yvonne Johnson
• Picks up Minimum Housing Standards Commission from Wade
• Audit Committee, described as a “potential new liaison assignment”
Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Vaughan:
• Picks up Downtown Greensboro Inc. from Johnson
•Inherits Economic Development Alliance from former Mayor Pro Tem Sandra Anderson Groat
• Picks up Hope VI and East Market Street Development Corp. from former District 2 Councilwoman Goldie Wells
• Greensboro Airport Authority, described as a “potential new liaison assignment”
At-large Councilman Robbie Perkins:
• Retains Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation from last term
• Picks up Rental Unit Certificate Advisory Board from former District 4 Councilman Mike Barber
• Picks up Planning Board from Rakestraw
• Picks up Parks and Recreation Commission from Wade
At-large Councilman Danny Thompson:
• Picks up Greensboro Sports Commission and Bryan Park Commission from Barber
• Picks up Community Resource Board from Wade
• Picks up Chamber of Commerce from Groat
• Picks up Redevelopment Commission from Rakestraw
District 1 Councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small:
• Retained on homeless issues
• Picks up Zoning Commission (Note: A list of council liaison assignments from April 2008 lists Matheny as the liaison at that time, but he says he doesn’t remember serving in that capacity)
• Picks up Elm Street/Lee Street Development from Perkins
District 2 Councilman Jim Kee:
• Picks up Greensboro Housing Development Partnership from Rakestraw
• Picks up Heart of the Triad (strategic planning committee) from Perkins
• Picks up Human Relations Commission from Groat
• Picks up Piedmont Triad Council of Governments from Matheny
District 3 Councilman Zack Matheny:
• Retains Board of Adjustment from previous term
• Picks up Land Development Ordinance Advisory Committee from Wells
District 4 Councilwoman Mary Rakestraw:
• Retains Commission on the Status of Women
• Picks up Tourism Development Authority from Johnson
• Picks up Library Board from Wells
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