Huntersville Town Board Went Down To Georgia

Three members of the Huntersville town board – Commissioners Bales, Walsh, and Munger, along with the town manager, a member of planning staff, and Ryan McDaniels from LKN Economic Development, all recently traveled to Alpharetta, GA after receiving an invite from the new owners of the Birkdale shopping center. The first three: Bales, Walsh, and the town manager, traveled together in one vehicle down to Alpharetta in late January; the second three traveled down sometime in February [Edit: The second trip apparently hasn’t occurred yet.]. All town board members and the mayor were made aware of the invite, but only three chose to accept.

This trip has not been disclosed or discussed publicly despite two town board meetings being held since the trip in late January. If this was really just routine due diligence by our elected officials to learn more about how the second highest taxpayers in Huntersville have benefited a similarly situated municipality in Georgia, why the failure to disclose to the public? How much did this trip cost taxpayers and what expenses were paid by the new owners of the Birkdale shopping center? I attempted to learn more by submitting a records request on Feb. 17. I received two batches of emails included below as part of that request, but I am still awaiting additional documents, if any, including contracts, receipts, or invoices. 

The emails below are open to review by the public. Draw your own conclusions.

Eric

Alpharetta request
Alpharetta request2