Business

Business advisory panel launches City Hall review

Business Advisory Committee members, convening for their organizational meeting on Monday, April 28, were Beau Waddell, Gloria Wagner, Randy Hunter, Greg Hearne and Dr. Robert LaBorde.

By Bill Moss, Published: May 5, 2014

Better customer service, bigger signs, a long-range plan for water service and consistency in inspections are on the docket for a new committee advising the Hendersonville City Council on how to get business-friendly.

Convening its organizational meeting on Monday, April 28, the Business Advisory Committee elected local McDonald's franchisee and immediate past Chamber of Commerce Chuck Edwards as chair and Hannah Flanagan's owner Matt Johnes as vice chair. Then members began to toss up topics they wanted City Manager John Connet to report on.
Height restrictions on signs is one target.
"We'd like 'em higher, I can tell you that," said Nissan dealer Randy Hunter.
Larry Rogers, the executive director of the pro-business Partnership for Economic Progress, suggested having business owners testify about problems they have encountered.
"One of the things I would like to see discussed" is the regulatory process, he said. "Some business people have had dealings, maybe not good dealings, with the city. They can tell you what went wrong."
Councilman Jeff Miller said "there's an interpretation issue" when it comes to fire inspections. A fire inspector told him he had to add a sidewalk at the back entrance of his drycleaning business. He spent $7,000 on one. "Then when the head inspector came he asked me why I wasted money on a sidewalk," Miller said.
Rogers said he had heard similar stories.
"One guy called me that had got caught between two inspections," he said. "He told me it was easier to get a license in New York City than it was in Hendersonville."
Andrew Tate, the president of the industry-recruiting Partnership for Economic Development, said he would like to hear about the city's long-range plans for water service.
Miller said while he accepted the need for regulation many of the complaints involve either a bad attitude by city regulators or confusion over regulations.
"I would like to make the path as clear as possible and as friendly and as cordial as possible," he said.
Miller pointed out that Connet had already launched a top-to-bottom review of City Hall functions with the goal of improving customer service and access. He has adopted a program used in Salisbury, Concord and other towns to upgrade service to newcomers, residents and businesses.
The City Council created the Business Advisory Committee in January to review and make recommendations on proposed regulations and fees and to make suggestions on how the city could operate in a business friendly way.
Members in addition to Edwards, Johnes, Hunter and Tate are Beau Waddell, Gloria Wagner, Greg Hearne, Dr. Robert LaBorde and Tom Cooper. Also attending Monday's meeting was Chamber of Commerce President Bob Williford.
"Of course we want them to review what we're thinking about doing," said Mayor Pro Tem Ron Stephens, who also attended the meeting, as did Mayor Barbara Volk. "But we also want to get ideas from them, maybe hear ideas we haven't even thought of."
Connet left the meeting with plenty of assignments.
"I think I've got the next three or four meetings wrapped up," he said, "maybe seven or eight."