Manchester Times Interview of Alderman Ryan P. French

Manchester Times Interview of Alderman Ryan P. French

In the Wednesday 2/1/2012 edition of the Manchester Times there will be an article titled “Kohl’s Developer: City officials good to work with”. For this article Editor Josh Peterson requested an interview of Alderman Ryan French.

“This interview was done in a written format so there would be no room for misrepresentation of my opinion, as this has been my policy when doing interviews since being elected to the Board of Alderman. The full interview will hopefully help identify what the real issues are regarding the Kohl’s situation and how we fix them moving forward.

From the beginning I have highlighted a problem that is within the inner workings of the Board of Mayor and Alderman. The lack of communication and participation of a select few individuals continue to cloud the goals of the City. The constant politicizing of issues has continued to overshadow our procedural flaws and allowed them to worsen over the years.

The facts of a $32,000 project vs. a $35,000 project simply have nothing to do with the true issue at hand. It is time for members our board as the elected representatives of this city to own our responsibilities the citizens and work towards correcting the legislative procedure of which future developments will be handled. The excuses and avoiding of responsibilities these officials are sworn to uphold is absolutely ridiculous and needs to stop immediately. ”

-Alderman Ryan P. French

RyansReasons.com

Josh Peterson (Manchester Times): The city attorney opined that the city couldn't move the controversial sewer line legally. Do you not agree with the city attorney? Or are you suggesting this line should have been moved regardless?

Alderman Ryan French: The line could not be moved based on the theory that it would be improving an individual’s property. As I stated in my letter the definition of a property improvement is subjective, and simply put, yes the line should have been moved be it for Kohl’s or any other business looking to develop the site. For example Murfreesboro did extensive work on medical center parkway including laying new lines, moving old lines, and adjusting other infrastructure. The $300,000 incentive package offer came only after Kohl’s cut the $300,000 from their development budget for the site. When the initial request was made to move the sewer line the answer was simply no.

Josh Peterson (Manchester Times): What do you think the city should have done to expedite this process as you suggest that no one took this seriously? Give me some examples? How was the process not taken seriously?

Alderman Ryan French: When I was elected in 2009 I suggested that the city move towards the development an Economic Affairs Committee that would oversee communications between our committees within the city and external entities such as the Chamber of Commerce and private developers. It was never seriously entertained. The process in which this particular proposal was handled was at best inefficient. For example: the BOMA should have known very well that the water and street departments would not be able to absorb an additional project of this size, so why make request of these departments for the additional cost in the first place. Furthermore why was the response of these departments the deciding factor? In the water committee meeting Alderman Norman suggested that the funding mechanism may have to come from the general fund due to the fact the water department simply could not work the additional cost into their budget. This was NEVER put on the agenda and never voted on by the full board, despite the general consensus that it could not be funded at the committee level.

Josh Peterson (Manchester Times): The "gentleman's agreement" the city supposidly didn't hold up. 25 years ago with the Roberts' family. ... The article states the sewer line was laid some 25 years ago with a gentleman's agreement tha the city would move the line if ever needed for commercial development...

Well, the sewer line was laid in 1970-1971 according to easements at the deeds office. This is far from 25 years ago - about 41 to be exact. The Roberts did not own the land at that time according to deeds. The Roberts bought the two parcels in 1978 and 1993, respectively. what gentleman's agreement are we talking about?

Alderman Ryan French: I have never mentioned a gentlemen's agreement and I’m not sure about the particulars of this case. However as a general practice I think it would be good business for the city to respect property owners when it comes to easements. The time frame and who the easement was obtained from and when it was obtained simply has no bearing on the end result of this process.

Josh Peterson (Manchester Times): Once again, this question may not necessarily pertain to you as you didn't write the article, but the Kohl's Divide suggests John Roberts said the sewer project would cost $32,000. Is that the number you understand? Because that is not the number in the minutes.

Alderman Ryan French: I believe the number was $35,000 but again this is simply not the problem. The problem lies within the process used to handle the situation, and the lack of participation outside the few Alderman and Mayor.

Josh Peterson (Manchester Times): I got in contact with the president of Realtylink, which is doing business for Kohl's. He send me a response that reads in part: "I can comment that the Manchester market is an underserved retail market and I do expect further retail development in the near future in Manchester. I would also like to say the City of Manchester and their various elected officials such as the Mayor, City Council, Planning and Permitting have been very good to work with and very encouraging towards retail development. I have not experience anything in regards to Manchester other than a great place to do business, Neil Wilson

Mr. Wilson seems to think Manchester was good to work with? Are you suggesting he is not telling the truth? Or that Manchester could have done better?

Alderman Ryan French: Any good business person always wants to leave the door open for future development and I certainly would be willing to talk to this gentleman about any number of things. The facts are we are talking about internal issues and how the process is executed from start to finish. We simply do not have alderman willing to put the work in, and make our part time job full time commitments. It takes a lot of time for a person to serve the best interests of any city, of any size and do it well. At the end of the day that store could have been open in September had we followed a proper process. I have been clear from the beginning, I have had open dialog with my constituents and colleagues Alderman Norman, Alderman Parsley, and Mayor Superstein. My feelings about this process or lack thereof should not come as news to anyone involved.