Evermore Community Improvement District’s feud proves costly

On his first day at the Evermore Community Improvement District, interim executive director Wayne Hill shook things up. Like a teacher managing some errant schoolboys, he shuffled the seating assignments for the board of directors.

“I got tired of looking at four and four,” Gwinnett County’s longtime commission chairman said of the two warring factions. “Somebody told me, ‘They’re going to fire you the first day.’ I said, ‘They may.’ ”

It wouldn’t have been surprising. Evermore is Gwinnett’s oldest community improvement district and, by most accounts, the most dysfunctional.

Since 2009, board members representing commercial property owners along U.S. 78 have ousted two executive directors, conducted a board recall and delayed votes on important contracts. They have hurled insults, exchanged inflammatory e-mails and engaged the court system in a soap opera-style drama that rivals “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.”

Using funds from property owners who voluntarily tax themselves, the districts each year leverage millions in federal, state and local dollars to enhance traffic flow, beef up security and add curb appeal across miles of commercial arteries. The ultimate goal: raise property values for property owners.

Last month, Chairman Emory Morsberger asked the entire board to step down so “some new blood” could move the district forward. So far, four of the eight members, including Morsberger, have announced they would.

In many ways, the board’s battle has cost more than good will. It has cost momentum on economic development initiatives. Some say it has damaged the reputation of other Gwinnett community improvement districts — called CIDs — as stewards of public good. And in two instances, the dispute has cost Evermore taxpayers thousands of dollars.

In 2009, the Evermore board shelled out $102,275 in legal fees — more than 10 percent from its annual tax collections — as the two factions fought for control of the district. By comparison, that same year, the Gwinnett Village CID spent $22,500 in legal fees. The bulk of the Evermore money, as much as $70,000, was spent in a court battle related to the recall of two board members.

The recall grew out of the December 2008 firing of CID economic development director David Stedman by then-executive director Brett Harrell; a move many say triggered months of infighting and paralyzed the board with 4-4 votes. It also was the flash point of the two-year feud.

“That was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back,” board member Gary Custar said.

Ultimately, the side that declared victory — made up of four founding board members — removed two board members aligned with Harrell. Then they fired Harrell and rehired Stedman.

The recall prompted an investigation by the Gwinnett County district attorney’s office, which examined legal fees between Dec. 22, 2008, and June 12, 2009, when Evermore had two sets of attorneys. The district attorney’s office found insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges.

To fill Harrell’s shoes, the board hired former Snellville interim city manager Jim Brooks. He lasted a year. Hill assumed the helm in November, hoping to navigate through what he termed “strong personalities” while helping to find a permanent executive director. Shortly after his arrival, Stedman, the economic development director, was fired for the second time.

Board member Dwight Harrison said the district was spending $200,000 a year for economic development and not getting much in return.

Stedman maintains that the former Olympic tennis stadium, which Evermore is trying to salvage, could make U.S. 78 a destination for economic growth. Evermore is in the process of studying the stadium’s feasibility. If it weren’t for the board acrimony, Stedman said, the study could have been finished by now and sparking new investment in the Park Place area.

“The CID runs people off ,” he said. “[Investors] don’t want to deal with an organization that’s that dysfunctional.”

Evermore’s so out of sorts, in fact, that Harrison recently collected signatures to launch a second recall, this time against new chairman Morsberger and colleague Don Robison. To authenticate the signatures on the recall petition, the board paid an attorney $200 an hour before agreeing to deliver the petition to the county. That drew fire from some of Evermore’s property owners.

“I don’t understand the procedure y’all are going to go through in spending taxpayer money to hire an attorney. It’s our money,” longtime owner Vickie Roberts told the board. “I don’t think that’s the right thing to do.”

The recall was called off with the recent resignations of Morsberger and Robison. The legal bill: $2,500.

Evermore unlike others

Metro Atlanta has 14 community improvement districts, and some have hummed along for more than two decades.

In 2003, owners launched Evermore — initially called the Highway 78 Community Improvement District — so they could have a say in a median project on U.S. 78. The district has about 470 commercial property owners and a budget of $780,000.

For years, Evermore boasted improvements on U.S. 78, paving the way for heightened security, new traffic lanes and 15 miles of sidewalks.

Unlike other CID boards, which are made up of mostly middle-management business types, Evermore’s board is composed almost entirely of company and industry leaders; some with strong personalities.

Morsberger is a well-known developer. Harrison runs a Volkswagen dealership. Kenny King owns a home-building company. Forrest Adair, who passed away in September, was managing partner of a real estate company. (Adair’s son, Chip, was elected in December to fill his father’s seat.)

Other members such as Custar, Robison and Jimmy Norton manage businesses. Tommy Carraway is vice president of a bank.

“You have a lot of strong-willed, noncompromising people on that board,” said Chuck Warbington, executive director of the Gwinnett Village CID. “On the one hand, that’s commendable. On the other, you don’t get anything done and it hurts property owners.”

Some argue that was the case with a recent landscaping contract, which was put off during a series of meeting no-shows by select board members over the summer. A vote delay meant that no grass was cut or garbage collected from October to December.

‘The Snellville disease’

Of Evermore’s eight board members, six are elected by property owners. The other two are appointed: one by Gwinnett County, the other by Snellville. About 25 percent of the Evermore district sits in the city limits.

The Gwinnett Village and Lilburn CIDs also have city appointees, from Norcross and Lilburn, respectively. By all accounts, those districts have good working relationships with the cities whose boundaries they overlap. That’s not the case with Evermore. The board has repeatedly locked horns with the Snellville City Council.

“I would call the relationship strained,” Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer said. “I have repeatedly told everybody that we are supportive of the CID. Our concern is how it’s set up.

“They’ve got the Snellville disease,” he added, referring to the city’s years of political backbiting.

Last year, the City Council reconsidered its decision to give Evermore $650,000 for a joint road project. Initially, Evermore asked the city for $500,000, according to city officials. Then the board changed its request to $700,000. One councilman said he felt “hoodwinked.”

Gerald McDowell, executive director of Lilburn’s CID, said Evermore’s rancor has repercussions for other districts as well. He believes the infighting could change the perception of districts as good public-private partnerships, ultimately hurting their ability to land government grants.

“When we go to Washington, D.C., there may be some hesitance to award funds to a CID group because of the negative actions of Evermore,” he said.

Plus, for the Lilburn district, which just formed last year, Evermore’s spats could have potential members thinking twice about joining a district, he said.