Dist. 4 councilwoman Mary Rakestraw's four appointees were in attendance while Dist. 2 councilman Jim Kee's appointee was absent. Mayor pro-tem Nancy Vaughan may appoint one additional committee member. The meeting began late as the committee attempted to wait for the absent Galen Oliver.
David Kraft, who submitted one of the proposals, stated the night before at city council that committee member Jace Ralls should be removed because his daughter is involved with one of the other proposals. Ralls attended the initial meeting last night, and there was no discussion of his conflict of interest.
The meeting began with introductions of the committee members. Ralls worked for the parks department and said he was a longtime curb market customer. Violet Landreth said she was also a longtime customer. Denny Crowe lives in Jamestown, is a small business owner and is a vendor at the curb market. John O'Sullivan is faculty at A&T and has worked around farmers' market issues. He lives in Chapel Hill.
The committee will review the proposals before their next meeting on March 10 at 5 p.m. They will eventually make a recommendation to the parks department which will pass it along to city council. Council is the only body that actually decides which, if any, of the proposals are selected.
According to a schedule circulated during the meeting, the process is already behind, but Jackson said he is still confident they can meet the July 1 deadline to turn it over to the new managing body. Vendors pay yearly table fees on July 1 so if the transfer can happen by that date, fees can go directly to the new managing organization.
Ralls asked if the committee would use consensus to make their decision, but Jackson said that is up to them. O'Sullivan suggested they aim for consensus if possible, and it seemed everyone concurred but an official decision was not made.
"Why did all of this come up?" Landreth asked. "I am walking into this cold."
Jackson said it is not uncommon for the city to request proposals to privatize aspects of what they do and cited a number of examples including mowing in city parks. He said hopefully the transfer would be a financial benefit to the city and could improve current management problems.
Landreth also asked questions about Friends of the Market, who have been the center of some controversy. Council recently requested an audit of their expenses, and a March 1 memo to council from the city's auditors said, "it does not appear that fraud has occurred," but that $322.69 was unaccounted for. This is 4.5% of the group's total expenses.
Friends of the Market is an outside nonprofit that has worked with the parks department to raise money to improve the curb market with enhancements like a large sign on the outside of the building.
Landreth asked if Friends of the Market was submitting a proposal, and after Jackson said no, Crowe jumped in and said they were but under a different name.
When asked after the meeting which group was connected to Friends of the Market, Crowe said she didn't know. She said the idea was just "floating around" and people were saying it, but would not say who told her.
The committee's meetings are public but do not invite public comment. Nine people attended last night's meeting, eight of whom are associated with David Craft and Charles Brummitt's proposal (one of whom was Craft). Rodney Gann, who submitted the proposal Rall's daughter is part of, came towards the end.
The four proposals are available on the city's website. More background is available from YES! Weekly.
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