The Huntington Urban Renewal Authority is thinking of taking its money and running, to a new bank.
Right now HURA holds its' account at Chase bank, whose home office is located in New York. Member Diane Mufson, who has been on the committee for two years, suggested moving the account to a bank with local ties.
Mufson said that moving to a bank like First Sentry, which is a community bank based in Huntington, would be “more supportive than a bank not based in the area.” With the account at Chase, Mufson said that the the committee was being charged a fee for little or no actions.
While originally the motion was to outright move the finances, committee member and director of administration and finance for the city, Brandi Jacobs-Jones, suggested to get a proposal from the local banks before moving funds.
The committee agreed that moving the account would seem like a way to help local economy, but local banks could still be able to charge the same service fees as national banks.
Also HURA voted on to try to acquire the position of Land Bank Authority. As Land Bank Authority the board would able to have first rights on delinquent tax properties and after 18 months of owning the property, it could resell the properties to gain a profit.
HURA though was not the only city backed commission interested in landing the Land Bank authority, as the Huntington Municipal Development Authority has expressed interest to City Council for it to be given the authority account.
HURA member Philip Carter, a professor in Marshall’s social worker department, said that leadership sets them apart for acquiring the Land Bank deal.
“We have the ability and savvy to deal with big business and the Federal Government.” Carter said, “We have the experience with HURA as the protector and growth advocate of the neighborhoods.”
Carter also suggested that the committee use a study to see if it can invite Land Bank administrators from cities similar to Huntington. Examples used were Lexington, Columbus and Pittsburgh, to come and share experiences with the board in hopes of sharing ideas in making Huntington a better city.
According to HURA member, and new president of the committee architect Nate Randolph, this is a pilot project from the state of West Virginia, in which there is a home rule of “Doing something in your own community.
Randolph also mentioned a project that the committee has already have had great success with, the Artisan Avenue project in the area by using new streets, new housing and new roads. Also mentioned was Pullman Square, which the Authority was instrumental in planning.
Along with planning the many ventures to help the city, the committee decided on their officers for the fiscal 2009 years.
In what was seemed to be a shock to him, long time chairperson Carter was replaced by Randolph. After the election, members of the committee tried to nominate Carter for other positions, but he declined nomination every time.
Filling out the rest of the cabinet positions for the committee, Jacobs Jones was named vice president, Mufson was named secretary and new member Herb Stanley was named treasurer.
Elections were finally held after enough members were there to have a full meeting. The last time a real meeting was held was in January.
While many important issues were introduced in the meeting, one of the more light-hearted moments involved a look at the committee’s Federal Reserve bank account.
According to Randolph the committee was sent a letter that said the committee’s old account had an excess of over $1 million. While they didn’t believe they had the money, they decided they would investigate into the claim.
As the committee thought, the claim was too good to be true and it was just an insurance policy that was left over after the committee moved its' account.
The committee meets every third Monday of the month in the city council chambers.
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