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Market rules eyed

Posted on October 11, 2007December 22, 2007 by Staff

By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

The Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday considered management guidelines for the farmers’ market that will be held at the county’s new Public Market House in Hillsborough.

The guidelines, presented by Fletcher Barber, director of the Orange County office of N.C. Cooperative Extension, specify that the market will have a board of directors made up of vendors, as well as a manager.

The county held a ribbon-cutting ceremony last month for the Public Market House, which is set to open in March 2008.

In August, two opposing groups appealed to the board for control of the Hillsborough Farmers’ Market. Jeffry Goodrum, speaking on behalf of 13 vendors, asked commissioners to recognize his group as the official Hillsborough Farmers’ Market Board of Directors. Beverly Blythe, the market’s founder and co-manager, said most vendors opposed the takeover by the group. Commissioners told both groups that they would determine how the market should be run.
“This has really been a challenging task, and it has really given me a lot of sleepless nights,” Barber said, stressing the importance of operating only one farmers’ market, despite the disagreements between vendors. Having more than one farmers’ market would divide the community, he said.

Several commissioners expressed concern regarding the dispute between the two groups and agreed to fund half the cost of mediation in order to select the board of directors.

“I would say let the process run its course,” Commissioner Barry Jacobs said, adding that the first mediation should be open to current market vendors as well as potential vendors.

In addition, Jacobs said one or two seats on the board should be reserved for non-vendors and that the commissioners, rather than vendors, should select the market manager.

“People can be dissatisfied with us instead of one another,” he said.

Board Chair Moses Carey emphasized the importance of developing clear rules for the market before the mediation process begins.

The market is now held in the SunTrust Bank parking lot in Hillsborough. The new Public Market House is under construction next to the Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough.

The board requested a final set of guidelines to review at their first meeting in 2008.

In other county business, the board returned for further negotiation a sponsorship offer by Sports Endeavors for the West Ten Soccer Complex. The complex is under construction in Efland.

Sports Endeavors had offered $150,000 in exchange for naming rights to the complex for five years. In addition, the company offered up to $150,000 more to match sponsorship funds from the community.

Commissioners said the offer was not enough for five years of naming rights, and asked staff to negotiate another offer from Sports Endeavors.

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