The June 24 run-off debate between the two candidates for Alderman for Ward 1, incumbent Sabrina Bengel and Rick Prill, a retired career city manager, was sponsored by the Ghent Neighborhood and hosted by the YMCA. Watching New Bern Now’s video clip of MSD topic below, it was a very interesting debate that provides insight into their respective leadership styles and qualifications.
As I watched it, I focused on the questions relating to the Municipal Service District (MSD) because of the on-going controversy regarding lack of transparency and citizen input, Kessler’s vision for downtown, establishment of a social district, and other serious downtown issues. In my opinion, her responses to that question provide an insight into the incumbent’s mind-set and style of leadership during her past three terms of office.
The question directed to Alderman Bengel, “Do the property owners in the Municipal Service District have any input into how that money gets spent, since they were the one’s paying for it,” referenced the area bounded by Broad and Hancock Streets, to both water’s edge, in which property owners are assessed an additional property tax (a third more) to assist with funding downtown public improvements.
Her reply, “There is no civilian or no property owner oversight … I came into it, probably in the ’90s and started going when I got asked to come to a meeting … it is very loosely put together, there is no structure that says there must be a formalized board or committee. It is up to the Mayor and Board of Aldermen on spending of those funds … I was never the chair because I was the only woman in the group … I just get a lot of grief and finally I became the quote-unquote chair … I led the way. I tried to keep minutes, tried to keep notes and agendas and I tried to put it forward, and then COVID came, and I’m just going to be honest, COVID just kind of wiped us out. We weren’t meeting or getting together, and we have basically not really done anything, except the purchase of the lot … that’s the only thing that we’ve really done with any money so far. We haven’t spent it, and I will tell you that I like to be able to speak to some of the larger property owners (she is one) just getting some advice, but the decisions are basically my presentation to the Board of Aldermen which they act on … it is just a casual group that meets from time to time.”
The only validity to her comments is that she was appointed to the committee in the 1990s, and apparently after I retired at the end of 2014, and by her own admission, she took over, decided there was no need for formalized meetings and called them when it suited her.
However, prior to her takeover, the MSD Advisory Committee members were officially appointed by the Board of Aldermen (BOA) and meetings were structured. Throughout my 30-year tenure at Swiss Bear, I organized and coordinated the meetings, took minutes, and handled correspondence. The quarterly meetings, chaired by the Swiss Bear Board member designated to fill the at-large Municipal Service District Advisory Committee position. The city manager, directors of Public Works and Planning, and on occasion, the city finance director attended the meetings along with nine to 12 members. Meeting dates, published on the city website, were open and often attended by non-committee citizens. The committee’s final recommendations were voted on and then sent via a letter to the city manager, requesting consideration by the BOA. Project priorities focused on Urban Design Plan recommendations and what MSD funds could be leveraged for projects that would make the most impact to attract investors. The major streetscape improvements were a prime example.
So how did this happen? From my perspective, the years between 2010 and 2016 were in flux for much of the time. The continuity of working closely, in partnership with the BOA and a professional city manager ended with the 2010 election and Bill Hartman’s retirement in 2010 or 2011. The mind-set of the new BOA (Sabrina won the Ward 1 position) was “we’re in charge now and we know what’s best,” coupled with the retirement of several long-serving city department heads, several Interim city managers, a new city manager that left after one year (whose position was filled by the Director of Public Works), my retirement in December 2014, and the year lag before a new Swiss Bear director was hired, opened the door to numerous changes among the city and the growing lack of transparency. My personal opinion, Alderman Bengel used her position to take control and determine how the MSD monies could and are being spent, confirm her mindset, I know what’s best, when she told the run-off attendees, “the decisions are basically my presentation to the Board of Aldermen which they act on.”
More of “we know what’s best”: “We’ve just recently used funds ($227,000) to buy a piece of land across the street from the Farmer’s Market … we hope that it may be the site of the future Pepsi Museum if we can get Pepsico back in November. Hopefully with Covid being over they’ll be back. We hope that’s going to be the future home. Originally, we had looked at the Talbot lot for potential of the Pepsi Museum, but some comments that we heard in the community, we thought this might be a better way. If you walk down Hancock to the Firemen’s Museum, you’d walk to the Academy Museum, and then there was the thought that this would help attract people down that street to the depot … It’s by listening to other communities and getting experience, that’s our master plan.”
Well, that is not a master plan. The arrogance, lack of wisdom, or disinterest in up-dating the previous urban-design plans has probably cost our city millions of dollars of investment over the past 12 years of the current Board. The 1977 Downtown Revitalization Plan, 1990 Urban Design and several others were instrumental in developing a “shared vison” that guided the growth and redevelopment that complemented the character of our downtown and leveraged millions of dollars of investments in new construction and rehabilitation projects.
The property owners knew what their tax money was being used for, they supported the numerous fundraising campaigns Swiss Bear organized and coordinated to assist with financing MSD projects. Had there been an up-dated plan, the controversy generated with the city’s poor handling of Kessler Collections would not have happened, and I daresay, under the current circumstances, Sabrina’s hopes Pepsico will fund a multi-million Pepsi Museum, is wishful thinking.
The run-off debate reinforced the need for strong professional city leadership, committed to and focused on the betterment of the city. Regardless of the outcome of the election, it is important for the property owners and New Bern citizens to demand accountability and transparency by the city officials.
For more information on the MSD click here.
By Susan Moffat-Thomas, retired Swiss Bear executive director