Council creates investigative committee for issue
The Town of Tryon has received a complaint regarding a 2008 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) from a family whose house was left out of the project after cost estimates exceeded the budget.
Tryon Town Council met May 15 and created an investigative committee to look into the complaint, which was made by Brook Hannon on behalf of Haywood Hannon.
Tryon participated in a CDBG revitalization project that involved using $600,000 in CDBG funds to rehabilitate five owner/tenant occupied houses belonging to low-to-moderate-income individuals, six houses in need of emergency repairs, as well as water, sewer, street, flood and drainage work in the West Livingston Street area.
Tryon Town Council held a special meeting and public hearing on April 2 to close out the grant and to send money not utilized back to the state. The town spent $556,467 on the project and is required to send $43,533 back to the state.
During the April 2 meeting, Brook Hannon questioned why the house owned by his grandfather, Haywood Hannon, was not rehabilitated when it was scheduled to be done during the project. Brook Hannon said his family hooked onto Tryon’s sewer in anticipation of the work and would not have done so if they’d known the house would not be included in the project.
During the project, estimates for the Hannon house came in at $70,000 when the budget was set at $52,000. Tryon Town Council agreed to contribute $10,000 toward the rehabilitation if the family could come up with the remainder. Tryon officials also said the town ran the sewer connection at no cost to the homeowner.
Representatives of Isothermal Planning and Development (IPDC), which administered the grant for Tryon, said the grant does allow for one house to be dropped from the project.
During council’s meeting on May 15, attorney Bailey Nager informed the town that Brook Hannon’s complaint constitutes an official complaint and an investigative committee needs to be formed. Council appointed Mayor Alan Peoples and commissioners Doug Arbogast, George Baker and Wim Woody to the committee. The investigative committee plans to meet Tuesday, June 5 at 9 a.m., with findings scheduled to go to the full council during Tryon’s next meeting scheduled for June 19.