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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At Tuesday night’s Danville City Council meeting, Lee Vogler made a terrific, well-needed speech. We’re glad to print his remarks in full here on SouthsideCentral.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
From: Lee Vogler<\/p>\n
Tonight, I want to address an issue that everyone on this Council has been asked about over the past several months and probably will continue to be in the days ahead. But I will do my best to correct some misconceptions that exist, as well as discuss the reality of the situation.
\nThe Tobacco Commission has been a very important partner with the City of Danville in recruiting new industries to our region over the past 15 years.\u00a0 This partnership has helped create thousands of jobs at industries that are alive and well today.\u00a0 We also know that there have been instances where companies did not live up to expectations.\u00a0 I don\u2019t believe that we have done a good enough job explaining to the public what happened, what is happening and what has been done to, hopefully, prevent these mistakes in the future.\u00a0 I believe in speaking directly to the people and that is what I hope to do tonight.
\nHere are some of the statistical facts in regards to these Tobacco Commission grants:
\n-The Tobacco Commission has awarded 47 grants totaling more than $37 million to the City of Danville over the life of the program.
\n-Of the 47 grants, 31 of them have been fully successful.
\n-10 of them are currently active, though likely some will fail
\n-2 grants were restructured and the clients have repaid an agreed upon portion of their grants to retire the balance.
\n-4 grants, which equals 8.5% of those awarded, are currently in default.
\n-Of those, Blue Ridge Fiberboard repaid the small amount they owed.
\n-US Green Energy has entered into an agreement to pay back their grant money and so far, have done so.
\n-That leaves Web Parts and GOK International.
\nI was not here when the Web Parts grant was decided upon, but in regards to GOK, I can say we made a mistake.\u00a0 As it turns out, the information that we (as City Council) were given was incorrect and possibly untruthful.\u00a0\u00a0 In an effort to bring jobs to a community that desperately needs them, we accepted statements as facts. But ultimately, the buck stops here. With us. City Council. I wish we had done more to question the information we were provided with and the assurances we were given. But we didn\u2019t do enough. I didn\u2019t do enough. And that is something that I will regret for a long time. So I accept my share of responsibility for this and although we can\u2019t go back in time and change what has been done, we can take steps to ensure it doesn\u2019t happen again.
\nHere are some of those steps that have already been taken:
\n-As most of you know, last year we hired a new Economic Development Director, Mr. Telly Tucker. I believe he will be a great asset to our city.
\n-Brown Edwards, Certified Public Accountants, performed a special audit of grant and incentive payments issued to seven clients.\u00a0 They provided recommendations on strengthening financial oversight of grant administration that our Economic Development Department immediately put into operation.
\n-Danville Commonwealth Attorney\u2019s office was notified of suspicious grant client activities that were uncovered by the audit and an investigation has been ongoing since last year.
\n-The City retained attorneys at Taxing Authority Consulting Services to pursue collection of grant and incentive funds in cases of non-performance.\u00a0 Two lawsuits have been filed.
\n-Last year, the City retained the law firm of Kilpatrick Townsend to more thoroughly vet national and international grant prospects to ensure that clients selected for funding are business worthy.\u00a0 This one is key.\u00a0 This guarantees that the vetting process no longer hinges on one man or one department.<\/p>\n
On a broader note, in a few months, we will be rolling out a new open data platform for the public to use. This essentially \u201copens the books\u201d to the entire City of Danville budget.\u00a0 Every line item. Every expenditure. Every dime and every dollar will be made available to the public in an easy-to-use online system.\u00a0 This is something I have advocated for since joining this Council. I am glad to see it’s on its way.<\/p>\n
Notably, the public\u2019s trust has been shaken over the past year.\u00a0 This is unacceptable.\u00a0 My hope is that we begin to regain that trust with some of the steps we\u2019ve taken that I\u2019ve mentioned tonight.\u00a0 I\u2019d love to sit here and tell you that this council will never make another mistake.\u00a0 But that would be a lie.\u00a0 We are not a perfect body because we are not a perfect people.\u00a0 We never will be.\u00a0 But we can learn from our mistakes.\u00a0 We can grow from them.\u00a0 And hopefully, eventually prosper from them.\u00a0 Someone once said that when you make a mistake, you take your knocks, you learn your lessons, and then, you move on.\u00a0 And that is what we will do.<\/p>\n
I can say with all sincerity, and my wife would say to a fault, that every day I wake up and every night I go to sleep, thinking of ways to make Danville a better place for all.\u00a0 I know that is true of everyone sitting up here.\u00a0 We love this city.\u00a0 We wouldn\u2019t spend the long days and sleepless nights if we didn\u2019t. There is a lot to be accomplished over the next couple years and I believe we have an obligation to do our very best for the people of this city.\u00a0 When we work together, we can achieve great things.\u00a0 And with your help, that is what I intend to do. Thank you.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At Tuesday night’s Danville City Council meeting, Lee Vogler made a terrific, well-needed speech. We’re glad to print his remarks in full here on SouthsideCentral.<\/p>\n
[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[58,122,105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-danville","category-governmentcentral","category-youcentral","odd"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pwqFk-36O","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11989,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2015\/02\/09\/strong-but-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":11954,"position":0},"title":"OpinionCentral: Strong, But Wrong.","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"February 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Danville Register & Bee published a strongly worded editorial in Sunday's newspaper, but they missed the target. Our leaders need to take ijob (sic) creation seriously (Register & Bee article, paywall may apply unless you break through it) Let's analyze some parts of the editorial that they got wrong...\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Danville"","block_context":{"text":"Danville","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/locations\/danville\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"sclogo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/sclogo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":32187,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2016\/07\/02\/lee-voglers-nomination-speech-for-alonzo-jones\/","url_meta":{"origin":11954,"position":1},"title":"Lee Vogler’s Nomination Speech for Alonzo Jones","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"July 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"On Friday, Lee Vogler nominated Alonzo Jones to be the new vice mayor of Danville. SouthsideCentral is glad to publish that nomination speech unedited for you to read. Again, this speech is from Lee Vogler as he nominated Alonzo Jones for Vice Mayor. Fellow Council Members: I am nominating Councilman\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "YouCentral"","block_context":{"text":"YouCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/youcentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/aYuclKg.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17069,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2016\/02\/16\/danville-city-council-live-21616\/","url_meta":{"origin":11954,"position":2},"title":"Danville City Council – LIVE! (2\/16\/16)","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"February 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Editor's Note: This article is in editing mode now. Things can and will change. I'll let you know when the article is finished. SouthsideCentral is LIVE! at tonight's Danville City Council meeting. The meeting starts at 7 PM, and it should be over quickly as there are only three non-controversial\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Danville"","block_context":{"text":"Danville","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/locations\/danville\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/AhydRDX.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/AhydRDX.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/AhydRDX.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/AhydRDX.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7409,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/19\/danville-city-council-race-2012-update-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":11954,"position":3},"title":"Danville City Council Race (2012) – Update #1","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"March 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 So now we know who's running for Danville City Council. Let's take a look at the field and see what's out there. Five spots are open and all five incumbents have filed for reelection (told you that you would, David Luther), and two challengers make it a seven person\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Danville"","block_context":{"text":"Danville","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/locations\/danville\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7423,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2012\/04\/26\/endorsements-danville-city-council-race-2012\/","url_meta":{"origin":11954,"position":4},"title":"Endorsements: Danville City Council Race (2012)","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"April 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"SouthsideCentral has listened and talked to all of the candidates in the 2012 Danville City Council race and now it's time for our endorsements. To start the endorsements off, I want to be clear that all seven people running for the race are qualified for the office and would make\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Danville"","block_context":{"text":"Danville","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/locations\/danville\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27166,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2016\/05\/17\/danville-city-council-live-51716\/","url_meta":{"origin":11954,"position":5},"title":"Danville City Council – LIVE! (5\/17\/16)","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"May 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"SouthsideCentral was LIVE! for Tuesday's Danville City Council meeting. This article is now complete, so enjoy reading it! Tonight's meetings start with a special work session at 5:30 PM, the business session at 7:00 PM and the work session after that.\u00a0 Let's get started! 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