Strong personalities, a large dose of political ambition and a measure of back-stabbing has kept the Evermore Community Improvement District mired in controversy and ineffectiveness for over two years. Dwight Harrison, owner of Harrison Volkswagen and the board member who has initiated two recall efforts against other members who opposed him has, by my observation, been the cause of most of the discord.

Arguably in the best interest of the CID, Harrison suggested early last year that the entire board, including himself, resign to allow for a fresh start. Jimmy Norton, Snellville’s representative on the panel, and Gary Custar, the County Commission appointee, promptly tendered their resignations. Chairman Emory Morsberger and member Don Robison volunteered to resign and encouraged Harrison and his comrade, Kenny King, to do the same.

Despite claiming to be the one to originate the idea, Harrison balked, childishly saying that he didn’t want to be “bundled” with Morsberger in a mass resignation. King, who had initially also agreed to quit, refused as well.

True to their word as honorable men, Morsberger and Robison promptly stepped down, effective at the end of the year. Both Snellville and the county have filled their seats on the board and, today, the  CID members will vote to fill the remaining vacancies. Both Harrison and King have resisted calls for their resignations. (See the update at the end of this article for the status of Harrison and the remaining members.)

Not only will the Evermore CID miss an opportunity for a fresh start today, but the problems that have plagued the CID for years will continue, at least for the forseeable future:

• At a meeting last year, Harrison read a confidential email between he and another board member regarding a sensitive CID matter, for no other purpose but to embarrass the other board member;
• Harrison leaked another private email regarding CID business to a political crony, who stood and read excerpts during the same meeting. There was no purpose to ex-Commissioner Marcia Neaton’s performance but to discredit Harrison’s opponents;
• Harrison and King subverted the CID’s bid process, ignoring more qualified proposals to give a $6,000 contract to his uncle. After I exposed Harrison’s misdeed, he used a CID board meeting to publicly criticize me. He did not, however, deny the substance of my article;
• As Chairman, Harrison reportedly paid the landscaping service provider, Russell Landscaping, thousands of dollars in excess of the annual contract, without the knowledge of many of the other board members;
• Harrison initiated a recall effort against fellow board members for no other reason but to change the balance of power on the board to his favor. He succeeded because he holds the proxies for numerous CID property owners. Harrison’s use of proxy votes violates the spirit of the state law governing CIDs, which prohibits the practice;
• After the first recall, Harrison recruited Don Robison to fill one of the seats. In a subsequent meeting, Robison voted against Harrison on one issue. After the meeting, Harrison reportedly attacked Robison verbally, angrily cursing him in front of CID staff. Soon after, Harrison initiated a recall against Robison;
• After the first recall and when the votes shifted to Harrison’s advantage, he led the effort to fire Executive Director Brett Harrell. Harrell had fired Economic Development director David Stedman, then a Harrison ally, for a failure to satisfy the expectations of his position. Harrison, King et al reinstated Stedman to his former position;
• Harrison and King led the effort to hire a political crony of questionable qualifications, former Snellville City Manager Jim Brooks, as the new Executive Director;
• When Harrison discovered that Stedman had aligned himself with Harrison’s opposition on the board (after Harrison’s verbal dress-down of Robison), Harrison began a campaign against Stedman and other board members which included the reading of the private CID emails described above;
• When Harrison’s other ally on the panel, Forrest Adair, died suddenly, the new majority angered Harrison by refusing to renew Brooks’ contract;
• The new majority also stopped an effort by Harrison and Brooks to again award the landscaping contract to Russell Landscaping. Russell had apparently submitted an inaccurate bid. It has been alleged that Harrison and/or Brooks gave Russell a chance to change the bid (higher) and may have even disclosed to Russell the amounts of the competing bids;
• Harrison began a second recall effort against Morsberger and Robison (his former ally) solely to again swing the balance of power in his favor;
• Harrison made the motion to fire Stedman (his former ally) and eliminate the Economic Development position, strangely enough, for failure to perform his duties adequately… the same reason for which Harrell had fired Stedman;
• Harrison’s antics have jeopardized the CID’s effort to revitalize the Hwy 78 corridor. Three potential investors rose at one meeting to bemoan the discord on the board and, indirectly, criticize Harrison’s self-serving actions. All three said that the lack of civility would figure in their decision to relocate their enterprises to the district. Privately, one investor called Harrison “dangerous.”

Today, the CID property owners will likely vote to support Harrison’s self-aggrandizing agenda, and that will be unfortunate. As long as Harrison holds a position of influence, the CID will continue to wallow in mediocrity and inactivity.

Update: Harrison quietly submitted his resignation on Friday evening, January 21. The only public notice of his resignation was buried in an AJC story about the appointment of Snellville’s member. Harrison’s departure will not occur until April, when a regularly-scheduled round of elections will occur. Had Harrison resigned with the others, of course, his position could have been filled today with the two already vacant. As of Monday, neither Kenny King nor one of the newer members, Thomas Carraway, had submitted their resignation. Chip Adair was elected in December to serve the remainder of his father’s term.)

For background: http://projects.ajc.com/search/?term=evermore