LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The origins of a Kentucky Senate bill targeting the board makeup of the West End Opportunity Partnership are "somewhat shocking," the NAACP of Louisville's representative on the board said Thursday.
Senate Bill 259 would let the partnership, a public corporation guiding investment in western Louisville, strip board positions from institutions that don't follow internal policies on vacant seats.
Laura Douglas, the partnership's interim president and CEO, has acknowledged she pushed the legislation without the board's knowledge because the NAACP has abided by the new rules. She told a Senate committee this week that she didn't need to consult the board to seek "assistance" from the General Assembly.
Three board members already have criticized Douglas' action, saying she overstepped her authority. The NAACP's representative on the partnership board, Jeana Dunlap, agreed with them on Thursday, saying that's not how most boards operate.
"In most cases, in my professional experience, the staff are there to carry out the business as directed by the board of directors," Dunlap told reporters during a press conference at NAACP offices. "To learn in that committee hearing that the current interim president/CEO does not seek out or feel obligated to carry out the business of the board as directed by the board members is quite concerning and somewhat shocking in my view."
Created by the Kentucky General Assembly in 2021, the partnership will manage revenue from a sweeping tax increment financing district that takes in more than 12 square miles Louisville's west end.
For 20 years, a portion of tax money generated there wouldn't flow to state and local governments Instead, the partnership would control it and decide how to spend it.
Supporters claim the economic development tool will be used to revitalize part of Louisville that has languished for decades. Critics argue that taxpayer dollars will be used to gentrify the area and possible force out longtime residents.
The dispute now in Frankfort involves internal policies approved by the partnership board last September that require the NAACP and six other organizations on the board to provide more than one candidate when vacancies occur.
The NAACP has refused to provide multiple candidates for Dunlap's seat since the bylaws were approved. The Louisville civil rights group chose not to do so, its president, Raoul Cunningham, told WDRB News, because partnership staff have asked him not to reappoint Dunlap.
Cunningham said Douglas told him last year that Dunlap had been "disruptive." Douglas did not dispute Cunningham's account in an interview with WDRB last week, but declined to get into specifics of what she said was a private conversation.
SB 259, sponsored by Sen. Denise Harper Angel, D-Louisville, would codify into law the new bylaws. But it would go a step further and put those seven entities at risk of losing their board seats if they refuse.
"Senate Bill 259 goes beyond the action taken by the board," Dunlap said. "And so at that time last September, there was no discussion about institutions forfeiting their place on the board."
She called the origins of the policy "somewhat questionable."
When the policy was introduced at the partnership's board development committee last August, chair Jennifer Hancock said the proposal would give the committee "more autonomy and flexibility and authority regarding who is nominated to the board."
SB 259 awaits action on the Senate floor.
Related Stories:
- Ky. Senate committee advances bill that could strip NAACP of west end investment board seat
- Kentucky bill exposes rift between NAACP and West End Opportunity Partnership
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