Published Tuesday, May 12, 2009
It’s unclear if Vincent’s mayor, town council or zoning board members violated Alabama’s open meetings law. It’s also unclear why those officials did business in unpublicized meetings.
It is apparent, however, that they violated the trust of every Vincent citizen when they agreed to meet on March 31, individually or in groups of less than a quorum, with representatives of the company proposing to locate a lime quarry in Vincent.
We don’t know what went on at those meetings, and that’s the problem. If those meetings were innocent, why not present the information at a town council or zoning board meeting? After all, by the time the meeting took place, the Vecellio Group had completed the vast majority of its purchases of land, which total more than 1,000 acres in Vincent.
The citizens of Vincent are left to wonder, what, if anything, did council members and zoning board members and the mayor agree to in private that they couldn’t or wouldn’t agree to in front of their constituency?
Alabama’s open meetings law is referred to as the Sunshine Law for a reason. Alabama’s residents are best served when the sun shines brightly on every aspect of the workings of government.
Regardless of citizens’ opinions about a quarry locating in Vincent, a shadow has been cast over the project because of the secrecy involved. It will be tough work indeed for Vincent’s mayor, council and zoning board members to win back the trust of the people they were elected to serve.
We Say is the opinion of the Shelby County Reporter editorial board.
This is the only article they have published that has been factual and unbiased on this issue. Since this was published, they have become more of an advocate for the quarry than for the citizens of Vincent.
The ones who attended were also made to sign a confidentiality agreement. Why was that asked for and what did it contain? The paper never reported on that either. *Note on the accompanying link at the end of this post how Council member Bridgette Jordan-Smith does not want to "answer anymore of your questions" when she is asked about the quarry.
They also left out the fact that the land purchases were done through 5 Delaware FLLC shell companies under the guise of "bio fuel operations".
So much for fair and accurate reporting in Shelby County, Alabama.
*Please see link to the right; "Quarry May Be In Vincent's Future"
I don't have a vested interest in what happens in Vincent one way or the other. I am just an artist(a good one if I do say so myself) but I am also in the market for real estate; hoping to re-locate.
ReplyDeleteAnd in my search for property I considered several parcels in Vincent for many of the same reasons you mention in your blog. It is beautiful country and affordsble which is very important to this starving artist. But in the end I decided not to buy any land in Vincent because of the proposed quarry. I may re-consider as time goes on but I simply could not buy land that was about to take a nose dive in price.
I am just one person but I think I am a pretty average person in many ways and I think most average people do not want to live anywhere near an earth-gutting operation such as this.
My point is, and you can take it for what it is worth, is that I declined to purchase land in Vincent, solely because of this quarry. I believe I am likely to be one of many. And simple supply side economics states that when demand goes down so does the price.
You have good reason to be concerned. And I do hope that you are mistaken about council members benefiting from something that is going to be so detrimental to the rest of your community.
Best of luck with it, regardless of the outcome.