Commissioner Marie Wood is shown during a meeting Thursday night when fellow city council members unanimously appointed her to serve on the Mount Airy Downtown Inc. Board of Directors, a move opposed by her opponent in the 2019 municipal election.
A member of the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners is taking on an additional leadership role with her appointment to a downtown organization that’s heavily involved in the Spencer’s redevelopment.
Marie Wood will be joining the board of directors of Mount Airy Downtown Inc. — also known as MAD — via a unanimous vote by her fellow commissioners at a city council meeting Thursday night.
Yet a lack of unanimity for what might normally be a routine appointment had surfaced earlier in the week when it was challenged by a man who ran unsuccessfully against Wood for a South Ward commissioner seat in the 2019 municipal election.
Gene Clark sent an email to all council members urging that another commissioner be appointed for the Mount Airy Downtown board besides Wood, over a past controversy involving the Mount Airy Redevelopment Commission on which she served.
That now-defunct group was appointed by the city government to lead the transformation of former Spencer’s manufacturing facilities downtown which the municipality bought in 2014.
The commissioners voted 4-1 in 2016 to disband the redevelopment entity that the majority believed was exceeding its authority by going beyond the Spencer’s property to threaten existing businesses nearby with the power of eminent domain.
Given that history of the Redevelopment Commission, Clark, one property owner involved then, asked city officials last week to not appoint Wood to the downtown board, now heavily involved with efforts to bring an upscale hotel to a former Spencer’s site.
But the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of Wood’s appointment Thursday night, when Mayor Pro Tem Ron Niland, also a commissioner, cited her endorsement by the downtown body.
“It’s my understanding that the Mount Airy (Downtown) Inc. board has voted unanimously to ask Marie to be part of this group,” Niland said. “She has served with honor on this board and in the past.”
The city commissioners approved Wood’s appointment with no discussion.
MAD endorsement
The Mount Airy Downtown governing board has 10 voting directors, including merchants, property owners and business people in the downtown area and representatives of financial, real estate and other interests there.
It also contains two non-voting members appointed by the city commissioners on an ex-officio basis as liaisons between the municipal government and Mount Airy Downtown. Wood is replacing David Rowe, who held such a role before resigning as mayor last fall, and Niland asked her to serve now.
Thursday morning, after Clark’s opposition became public, the downtown group released a statement announcing its unanimous vote in support of Wood being approved for the ex-officio capacity.
“Since the resignation of Mayor Rowe, we have had a vacant position for a city appointee,” it reads.
“Commissioner Wood is a dedicated public servant who has been attending the MAD Inc. meetings while serving as the chair of the Downtown Vision Committee,” the latter being among new advisory groups formed by Niland to tackle various issues.
“Her efforts to inspire committee members to explore visionary projects and plans for the downtown are in line with our mission, vision and goals for downtown Mount Airy,” the statement adds.
The downtown board consists of Bryan Grote, Jerry Coram Jr., Skyler Harrison, Jessica Icenhour Roberts, Gene Rees, Andi Schnuck, Anna Kriska, Will Sheppard, Greg Perkins, Herman Heil and Mount Airy Public Works Director Mitch Williams, also an ex-officio city appointee.
Ted Ashby, its past president, serves in an advisory role.
Wood had no comment last week regarding Clark’s email, but said she would “consider it an honor” if fellow commissioners agreed for her to serve on the downtown board.
Tom Joyce may be reached at 336-415-4693 or on Twitter @Me_Reporter.
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