Author: ericwrowell_6hzp00

There is a town board meeting tonight at 6:30pm – the pre-meeting starts at 5pm. You can view the agenda or download the full agenda packet here. You can watch a live stream of tonight’s meeting at the town’s Ustream page here. I can’t cover every agenda item so I always encourage residents to review these agendas and discuss any items of interest with the mayor or a board member because even a single motivated resident can make a difference on how the votes turn out on some of these items.

Tonight’s agenda is light, but I did want to comment on one item.

Other Business:

– Item B. Consider approving  first amendment to the Carolina Rapids agreement. Carolina Rapids (formerly known as the North Meck Soccer Club) is based out of Cornelius and offers youth and adult soccer leagues to Huntersville and non-Huntersville residents. Carolina Rapids is in the 9th year of a ten year contract with the town for field usage at Barry Park – the current contract ends in August 2018. Barry Park is the large park/soccer fields on the west side of Huntersville beside Barnette Elementary. The proposed amendment to be voted on tonight would extend Carolina Rapids’ use of Barry Park for another ten years until August 2028.

I had three questions upon review of this agenda item: why is the board set to vote on an amendment to a contract sixteen months before it ends; is it really prudent to enter into a long term contract with a single business given the continual growth of youth sports leagues in this area; and has the town requested or received bids for field usage from any other soccer leagues besides Carolina Rapids?

The Parks and Rec committee voted 7-1 to approve the recommendation to amend the existing agreement during its June 15, 2016 meeting. There was no discussion of other bids in the minutes from this meeting. I’d welcome any feedback from any PRC members from that time regarding why they chose to vote to approve this amendment and whether any discussion of other bids took place.

I criticized the prior town board for rushing through the renewal of the management contract for HFFA before an election when that contract didn’t end for approximately another 8 months. Maybe a member of the current board can explain why they shouldn’t be subjected to the same criticism if they vote tonight to approve a renewal/amendment of the Carolina Rapids contract sixteen months before it ends.

This town board recently did the right thing by asking for bids on the management contract of the HFFA. Why wouldn’t the same logic apply when deciding whether to sign a long term agreement for “management” of the soccer fields at Barry Park? Youth sports is big business, to be sure at least one other area soccer league would be interested in submitting a bid for long term usage of the valuable asset managed by Huntersville Parks and Rec.

Eric

The Huntersville Police Department (“HPD”) conducted a general traffic roadside safety check on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017 from 10-11am on Verhoeff Drive near Seay Drive. I was made aware of this checkpoint after I spoke with a resident who was stopped while driving their two kids to swim at HFFA and had their car searched by HPD. I don’t normally travel through that part of town mid-morning during the week so I was curious why HPD would decide to set up a checkpoint on Verhoeff Dr. for just one hour during the middle of a workday – almost as if it was just a spontaneous decision. Was this checkpoint reasonable and is this really the best use of HPD resources?

North Carolina law is pretty clear on checkpoints (see NCGS § 20-16.3A) so I sent a request on March 12 to the town and HPD for more information. I requested HPD provide records or information related to: HPD’s written checkpoint policy; number of officers and the duration of the checkpoint; any report resulting from the checkpoint including any citations or tickets; the most recent time a checkpoint was conducted at this location prior to Feb. 28; and the primary programmatic purpose of the checkpoint. Huntersville Police Chief Cleveland Spruill promptly responded to my request on March 13 and provided the information below.

HPD Checkpoint Reply

From Chief Spruill’s response, we learned that HPD is in compliance with NC law by having a written checkpoint policy as well as a written authorization form outlining the checkpoint plan that must be completed prior to conducting a checkpoint. According to the resident I spoke with who was stopped, HPD also complied with NC law by having a least one vehicle at the checkpoint with its blue lights in operation; however, the resident thought they were approaching a crash site because there were no other indications a checkpoint was ahead. We also learned only three citations were issued during the hour-long checkpoint – although I don’t yet know if all three citations were issued to the same driver. [Interestingly, these citations did not appear in the police blotter in the Herald Weekly for the week of Feb. 28, nor do these citations appear in a search of HPD’s RAIDS online program.] I am still waiting on a response to the subsequent request I sent to HPD on March 15 for copies of any incident reports related to the three citations issued. And I am also still waiting for a response to my questions about why “other” was selected under the planning checklist for how the Communications Center was notified and when was the most recent date/time HPD conducted a checkpoint at this location.

Even though it appears HPD complied with the basic requirements of NCGS §20-16.3A on Feb. 28, an NC court reviewing this checkpoint would still have to determine the reasonableness of the checkpoint. Shea Denning at the UNC School of Government wrote a blog post in 2015 summarizing a recent NC case dealing with the reasonableness of checkpoints. (If you’re really interested in NC checkpoint law, Jeff Welty’s more thorough checkpoint paper can be read here.) Many people would argue it’s never reasonable for law enforcement to stop law abiding citizens without a warrant and without any reasonable suspicion, but the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled otherwise. HPD would likely argue the checkpoint was reasonable because it resulted in three citations being issued and did not significantly impact traffic. I would like to know whether elected officials in Huntersville think issuing three citations (two of which were for minor moving violations) is sufficient justification for violating the liberty of the individuals who were stopped and questioned without a warrant and without reasonable suspicion and were not issued citations?

The resident I spoke with who was stopped provided some additional details about their experience. After being asked to provide their license (but not their registration), the HPD officer at their driver’s side window noticed two young children in the back seat and asked for consent to check the car seats. The resident hesitantly gave consent and then before they realized what was happening two different officers opened both the passenger and driver’s side rear doors and began inspecting the car seats and shoulder/lap restraints startling the two young children who had no idea what was taking place or who these strange adults were. The resident was eventually allowed to leave the checkpoint after being detained for a few minutes, but only after being chided by one officer and advised that the resident should attend one of HPD’s upcoming car seat safety checking stations – even though both children were properly restrained. [HPD has been conducting these car seat safety checks for the last year or so in partnership with the Huntersville Fire Department, Inc. and Safe Kids CharMeck.] Is this really the kind of interaction HPD wants to have with law abiding residents just trying to go about their already busy day?

An aside – if asked for consent by law enforcement to search your vehicle or residence, you can and should ALWAYS decline consent for any search. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people (even criminals who knowingly have contraband in their car or residence) still give consent to search for many different reasons, but you do have the right to just say no.

When most people read about checkpoints in the paper they’re reading about late-night checkpoints resulting in arrests for DUI and drug offenses, not mid-morning checkpoints on a minor thoroughfare in Huntersville. Then again, if HPD considers this type of mid-morning checkpoint stopping law abiding residents going about their busy day to not only be reasonable, but an efficient use of resources, maybe we should all get used to the idea of being stopped for general traffic roadside safety checks during the middle of our busy workdays in Huntersville.

Eric

There is a town board meeting tonight at 6:30pm – the pre-meeting starts at 5pm. You can view the agenda or download the full agenda packet here. You can watch a live stream of tonight’s meeting at the town’s Ustream page here. I can’t cover every agenda item so I always encourage residents to review these agendas and discuss any items of interest with the mayor or a board member because even a single motivated resident can make a difference on how the votes turn out on some of these items.

Other Business:

– Item D: The board will consider whether to authorize up to $100,000 for yet another transportation study, this time focusing on northwest Huntersville and the proposed extensions of Birkdale Commons Pkwy, Hugh Torance Pkwy, and Ervin Cook Rd. The good news is that CRTPO has agreed to provide up to $50,000 in reimbursement at the conclusion of the study – of course, the reimbursement would still come from taxpayer dollars so I’m not sure how that makes it any better. My question, has this corridor never been studied before? If it has, why is another study needed? [Update: passed 5-1]

– Item F: The board will consider appointments to the recently formed Ordinance Advisory Board. Three members with expiring terms are seeking to be re-appointed, but there are 14 other applications listed so there’s clearly a high interest level among Huntersville residents to get involved with this advisory board. [Update: all three current members were re-appointed – Hines, Henson, and Walsh]

Consent Agenda:

– Item C: The board is being asked to appropriate $2,340.99 to the Huntersville police department’s insurance account. Why you may be asking? Likely because of a motor vehicle accident involving a police vehicle, but that would just be an educated guess since the town consistently declines to specify the basis for this frequent consent agenda item. And who is responsible for repairing police vehicles that have been damaged in an accident? [Update: after Commissioner Boone removed this item from Consent, Chief Spruill advised this was related to an MVA during a high-speed chase on I-77. He also advised there were only two facilities in the area capable of performing all necessary repairs to police vehicles and that the police vehicles are repaired at the least expensive of these two options – the Toyota Collision Center at Toyota of North Charlotte.]

– Item G: If approved, a public hearing will be called for March 20 to consider corporate welfare an economic development incentive grant to new Huntersville business Oerlikon Metro. According to the Charlotte Observer article on this job announcement, the expansion is possible because of a $1 million incentive grant from the One North Carolina Fund. According to the OneNC site, corporate welfare awards are allocated to local governments as part of a negotiated challenge grant. By statute, OneNC requires that a local government provide an incentive to match the OneNC funding. The required local match depends on the tier designation of the county – in a Tier 3 county the local government must provide no less than a dollar for dollar match of the OneNC grant, although the matching funds can take various forms including cash, in-kind services, or donations of land. Mecklenburg County is designated a Tier 3 county by the Commerce Department. Of note, the local government may establish ALL OR PART of its match by securing PRIVATE COMMITMENTS of assistance to the project. How much, if any, of the local match will Huntersville work to obtain from private commitments?

Since Huntersville is in a Tier 3 county, this would seem to me to indicate the town will be on the hook for at least a million dollars of matching funds to ensure the Oerlikon Metro expansion. Strangely enough, Commissioner Bales neglected to include this information during her comments about the Oerlikon announcement at the February 6 board meeting. My question on this topic remains the same, how were any jobs ever created before the existence of the OneNC Fund and our current corporate welfare incentive system?

Oh, and of course the board will be going into closed session at the pre-meeting tonight to discuss the Oerlikon incentive even though it’s already public knowledge how much the state is providing because residents can’t be trusted to know how our elected officials intend to negotiate with our money. Fortunately the town is well aware that closed session minutes are public record so I’ll be sure to post an account of the minutes once I receive them.

Eric