The Industrial Commission vs. MURC
Team Santiago abolished the volunteer Industrial Commission
with a 3-1 vote. Commissioner Udalovas was against the abolishment of the
Industrial Commission. The fact that the Industrial Commission and economic
development is in Commissioner Udalovas’ department did not seem to matter to
the other commissioners. In fact, Commissioner Parent discussed how he and
Mayor Santiago are meeting with potential new businesses. Why once again has
Commissioner Udalovas been shut out of her department?
Team Santiago rehired the Millville Urban Renewal
Corporation (MURC) with a 4-0 vote. Derella, Quinn, and Parent formed MURC
supposedly for the purpose of “economic development”. In reality it was a back
door way to get the College Innovation building on High Street built without
the public knowing how much it cost. MURC was the brainchild of Don Ayres and
Kim Warker Ayres. Their main focus has always been the downtown art district at
the expense of concentrating on industry and jobs.
Don Ayres works for MURC. While Don Ayres was on “medical
leave” Jerry Velasquez, Executive Director of the CCIA, ran MURC and negotiated
with himself to build the Innovation Center. Kim Warker Ayres was on the
original board of directors for MURC and the Holly City Development Corporation
and the Millville Housing Authority and was employed by the college. Now she is
working for the CCIA. You need a program to keep track of the wheels within the
wheels and all the self dealing that goes on. Can anyone spell conflict of
interest?
The College Innovation Center is a beautiful building but at
what cost and what benefit to the city. A project like the Levoy with neither
facility paying real estate taxes. Homeowners make up the shortfall. And where
are the “feet on the street”? A better
question is where are the students? Have any downtown businesses benefited? All
the same old players using the same old tricks and unfortunately with the same
old exaggerated claims and lack of benefit to the taxpayer. The city put over a
million dollars into the Innovation Center and is getting zero back. The
Innovation Center is owned by MURC which collects rent from Cumberland County
College. Now Cumberland County College is in financial trouble in part due to
their branch campus experiments. The College no longer runs its the branch
campus in Bridgeton. The College is continuing to stay at the Millville Arts
and Innovation Center but to do so had to layoff and reduce the hours of 40+
employees.
MURC is the organization Team Santiago has hired to once
again decide the City’s economic development path. The people of Millville will
not know what is going on. Remember the Industrial Commission has been
abolished. Its meetings were open to the public and made up of volunteer members
of the business, financial and professional community. MURC will also control
the city’s UDAG and UEZ money which was previously mismanaged and was the basis
for the city’s lawsuit against MURC. Team Santiago has quietly, with no
explanation, and quietly voting after a closed session, dropped that lawsuit.
This lawsuit could have recouped the $300,000 MURC owes the city.
This is yet another example of more of the same old same old
in the city of Millville. Partisan politics at its best with no transparency.
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