Monday's HURA Meeting Results

New officers were elected Monday at the Huntington Urban Renewal Authority meeting, but it didn't seem to be business as usual.

The board has had enough members in attendance twice this year to have an election, but had not done so until today's meeting at 1:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers.

Nate Randolph was elected chairman of the board, replacing Philip Carter who then declined every other nomination for office. Brandi Jacobs-Jones became the new vice chairman, Diane Mufson took over as secretary and Herb Stanley as treasurer.

Carter immediately stepped down from the chair to allow Randolph to take over, but seemed blind sighted by the results. For the remainder of the meeting, he sat displeased, joking with a few, certain members while snapping at others.

The board itself seemed fairly unorganized, but that could be due to a new slate of officers taking over only seconds after the election. Items on the agenda were skipped then returned to, Randolph wasn't so sure of Parliamentary Procedure and no one seemed to know how long they have served on the board.

Discussion of the Artisan Avenue Redevelopment Project was postponed because of the absence of Charles Holley, Huntington's director of management and planning, and it was on to the old business. New business was revisited later in the meeting to discuss the land bank concept. Two authorities are being considered for Huntington's land bank, Huntington Municipal Development Authority and the Huntington Urban Renewal Authority. Randolph said taking on the task would require more time, responsibility, possible training and hiring of subcontractors.  City Council will make the decision on who will be the authority.

Jacobs-Jones, also the chairman of the Huntington Municipal Development, identified that conflict of interest and abstained from voting on the motions while the other members elected to lobby for the authority. The board discussed hosting a workshop on land banks to get free advice from experts then decided it was premature because they do not know they will become the land bank authority.

Another odd discussion was about the board receiving a bank statement from a bank that previously carried the board's money, showing that the account held half of a million dollars. The sum initially excited the board, but upon further investigation, Jacobs-Jones said that it was a "figment" and that it was only insurance or the protection for the current, real funds.

While on the subject of banks and money, Stanley made the motion that the board should move funds to a local bank that would not charge the current activity fee being paid with Chase and proposed that a request for proposals be sent out to all banks that qualify. The motion carried and the information collected will be examined at the next meeting.