Politics

Election aftershock: Divided council puts Collis on Planning Board

Jeff Collis listens to council debate.

By Bill Moss, Published: November 8, 2013

A divided Hendersonville City Council on Thursday appointed Jeff Collis to the city Planning Board in a surprise post-election move that drew strong criticism from two council members and heightened the political ill will left over from the hard-fought campaign.

Taking up three appointments to the Planning Board, the council reappointed current members Steve Johnson and Fred Dutcher without controversy. Councilman Jerry Smith then nominated Collis, who joined Smith and Mayor Barbara Volk in voting for himself. Council members Steve Caraker and Ron Stephens voted no.
Collis lost in Tuesday's election, and will be replaced by Jeff Miller. Smith won re-election.
"I voted no because I think it's a process question and it raises an ethical question," Councilman Steve Caraker said after the meeting. "Jeff Collis is qualified to serve on the Planning Board but I don't think the vote should have happened while he is a sitting council member. I don't think he should have been allowed to vote for himself."
Stephens agreed.
"I think there are other people with better experience that should be on the Planning Board," Stephens said. "I think it's ill-advised."
Caraker said he called city attorney Sam Fritschner in advance of the vote — having heard of the intention of Smith, Collis and Volk to appoint the council member — and said Fritschner told him Collis "could vote for himself."
Collis suggested Caraker and Stephens were settling political scores.

Caraker and Stephens won council seats in 2011 by a thin margin over Ralph Freeman. The result was Stephens, 602; Caraker, 600; and Freeman, 586. After he lost in the primary last month, Freeman endorsed Mayor Volk over Stephens. Freeman was the third Planning Board member up for reappointment.
"I already had heard scuttlebutt that they were not going to reappoint Ralph Freeman to the Planning Board or to anything else," said Collis, a state probation officer and two-term council member who is mayor pro tem. "I see how spite works a lot of times and I knew what was going to happen."
"It's kind of a step down but I want to stay involved," he said of the Planning Board role. He spoke with planning director Sue Anderson about the appointment. "She thought I could contribute something to the group and I felt like it would."
Collis said he was disappointed at the two no votes.
"I had hopes that it wouldn't be that way because I've appointed Ron to the Planning Board before and supported Steve," he said. "It all came down to spite. There's been some ill feelings between Steve and Ralph for some time actually going back to the campaign two years ago."
Collis said he was offended at Stephens' criticism of city employees during the campaign, and he found it "disheartening" that Caraker was critical of the staff during Thursday night's council meeting. Caraker, a plumbing contractor, told city utilities director Lee Smith he wanted a refund of a $50 fee his company had paid to get access to city water meters because the agreement was not what Caraker thought.
"I think that's just a picture of things to come," Collis said, "things have just gotten so explosive and divisive up there."
Collis said he checked with Volk to see if it was OK for him to vote for himself.
"I actually talked to the mayor, who is a registered parliamentarian," he said. "It is not against procedure. I would not have done anything improper.

"I've voted for myself (for committee posts), Steve Caraker has voted for himself. If they were so worried about it, he shouldn't have voted for himself to serve on the French Broad MPO. It's just inappropriate when they didn't want me on there."