Graham’s city council may end up returning to the question of whether the city’s new mayor, Chelsea Dickey, can take a trip to a conference in New Bern sponsored by the North Carolina Main Street program.
The Main Street program says it provides “downtown strategic economic development planning and project-specific technical assistance to communities in the Main Street program” across the state, to quote their own self-description.
Last month, on a motion from councilman Bobby Chin, the council struck the $1,500 that was being proposed to be allocated for Dickey’s trip. The motion passed 3-2, with Chin, Bonnie Whitaker, and Ricky Hall voting to delete the funding; Dickey and councilman Jim Young were opposed. The item had been included on the council’s “consent agenda,” a list of putatively non-controversial items. However, council members can single-out specific issues to be voted on separately, which is the approach Chin took in proposing to approve all requested budget allocations except for the $1,500 trip.
The Main Street program touts itself as building “local capacity for downtown revitalization, small business development, and rehabilitation of historic properties.”…