Hunger for power may be behind city’s opposition of
Neuse II
Posted: Saturday, November 19, 2005
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One can’t help but wonder what triggered the seeming vendetta city inspections Director Tommy Lee has against the CSS Neuse II gunboat replica.
At a time when well-paying jobs are practically non-existent in Kinston, and people are tripping over themselves to move away, Lee appears to be one of the factors that is hastening the city’s rapid decline.
Stories are legion about the inspections department’s lack of cooperation with people wanting to do business here, or expand their businesses. One manufacturer of electronic switches was considering moving his business to the Global TransPark, but quickly changed his mind after Lee’s department raised one roadblock after another.
That’s not an isolated story. Contractors and business owners who aren’t on Lee’s "favored" list tell horror stories about their attempts to gain cooperation from the city.
That brings us to the latest horror story: an attempt to build a boat that would be a Class A tourist attraction for Kinston.
Lee claims his concerns are for public safety and about the city’s liability if someone were harmed. He says he fears a lawsuit.
Does Lee stay up nights worrying about the city’s liability if someone were harmed inside Vernon Park Mall or Carraway’s? It’s doubtful, but those places are different from the replica boat. The mall and Carraway’s are privately owned buildings. They fall under the state’s building code regulations, and the city has every right – indeed, it is obligated – to ensure that the buildings are safe.
Neuse II is a boat owned by a non-profit organization, Naval Training Ship CSS Neuse. As a boat, it is not covered by state codes. Fire inspector Terry Queen raised this point during a meeting Friday between representatives of the city and the boat.
If Lee doubts that the Neuse II is a boat, he should open his eyes. Even a 3-year-old can make the distinction between a boat and a building.
Yet Lee continues in his assertion that the city has control over the Neuse II. And that is the keyword: control.
Lee is a member of the same Pride of Kinston board of directors who returned a $65,000 grant to Golden LEAF. The money was earmarked for completion of the Neuse II. That same board tried every trick in their book to force the turnover of the boat to the city, or some other group over which they believed they had control.
This was despite parks and recreation Director Bill Ellis saying he didn’t want the boat. His department did not have the money to pay off the debt, to staff it or to maintain it. How much clearer could Ellis have stated his case?
Figuring out why Lee is so desperate to gain control over the Neuse II is not easy unless his motive is to accumulate more power. Ted Sampley, who has overseen the boat’s progress, says Lee has a conflict of interest. Lee is a member of the CSS Neuse Gunboat Association, and Sampley believes Lee feels threatened by the success of the replica, which is the only full-size facsimile of a Confederate ironclad in the world. It already has brought national attention to Kinston. Imagine the stir that would result from launching the boat on the river.
It would require someone of intense self-interest to oppose a project that could bring only good to the city, so believing Sampley’s assertion is a difficult pill to swallow. Lee is, after all, a city employee. Seeking self-gain at the expense of people whose taxes pay his salary would be tantamount to extreme abuse of his position, even when the self-gain does not result in lining that employee’s pocket.
If the Neuse II, whose success would benefit every person in Lenoir County, fails, look no further for the reason than Tommy Lee and the others in this city who also make a hobby of accumulating power.
The real shame is that Kinston’s elected officials don’t have the gumption, or motivation, to stand up and clean house at City Hall. But maybe being power hungry is not limited to the inspection director’s office.
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