Knoxville City Council has decided to not pay the membership dues to be a part of the Knox County Area Partnership for Economic Development.
The motion to pay the same $2,000 fee they gave last year ended in a deadlocked 4-4 vote last night, which was not enough to pass.
The no votes came from aldermen Jim McGovern, Toby Myers, Lester Naslund and recently appointed Dan Eiker.
KCAP President Ken Springer was present to engage council members in a dialogue but was unable to sway the lone vote that would have changed the decision.
Springer told aldermen that the partnership is a “regional resource” and he would continue to promote development in Knoxville regardless if they paid the fee.
He explained the effects of economic development are real but says it’s sometimes hard to see the tangible benefits.
“I know Knoxville, you guys are two miles away from Galesburg. The project lands in Abingdon, there’s going to be benefits,” Springer pleaded with aldermen. “They may stop and fill up gas and they may come here or their employees may come here and shop or get dinner or something. There’s an inter-connectivity of economies and that’s why we have one single group to cover the whole region.”
Aldermen Kirk Heller asked fellow members, “Which one of you guys is going to step up and do economic development if we don’t invest in it?”
Heller also pointed to Petersen Health Care, saying the facility wouldn’t have opened without KCAP.
