T-L Photo/J.D. LONG Harrison County CIC President Dale Arbaugh, left, addresses the county commissioners’ letter to the group demanding that Nick Homrighausen, the county’s economic development director, be terminated.

CADIZ — For the first time publicly, the Harrison County Community Improvement Corp. on Tuesday addressed a letter of ultimatum county commissioners sent to the CIC last week.

Commissioners read a letter at their Feb. 23 meeting outlining their terms for doing business with the CIC: Terminate Economic Development Director Nick Homrighausen or be financially severed from the county.

There were other points of interest to be agreed upon, but that was the main issue the commissioners were adamant about.

CIC President Dale Arbaugh spoke on the subject at its meeting Tuesday and addressed various issues, including some accusations he’s fielded over the past year.

“As you’re all aware the commissioners have sent us a letter regarding the services we’re providing for them,” Arbaugh began, noting he wanted board members to look over the letter thoroughly before publicly addressing the subject. He said one accusation is that the HCCIC keeps two sets of financial books, which he denied.

“I will attest that there is only one set of books and they are audited yearly (and) have had no issues with them,” he said.

He said the accusation had come to him in the form of an anonymous email.

“But we’ve never done anything as executive committee in regards to land sales, major projects, contracts, etcetera, without the board’s at least knowing about it and/or approval of them in the process,” Arbaugh said.

He also noted the CIC has had multiple meetings with various people including the county commissioners. Regarding the cooperative agreement presented by the commissioners, Arbaugh said the organizations “pretty much have it, for the most part, ironed out.” He admitted there are a few sticking points to be finalized but said they have made progress, including on communication issues.

Finally, he addressed the Homrighausen issue, saying he’s been accused of “not knowing what Nick was doing, or I did not have control of Nick.” He said he and the rest of the executive board members, which include Bob Hendricks and John Jones, knew on “almost all occasions” what Homrighausen was working on.

Then he came to the real point. The employment of Homrighausen and the commissioners’ demand to terminate it.

“It’s basically coming down to one issue, it’s … Nick being on the payroll or not,” he said bluntly. “… But the ultimate decision is coming down to is, where is our future going to be? Are we going to maintain our status quo where we’re at and try to keep on operating, or are we going to basically, for the lack of a better way, have the commissioners terminate our contract? And are we going to move to terminate Nick’s employment with us and try to come up with another way to work within the county?”

Arbaugh left it up to the board members to decide, reminding everyone that he has attempted to keep the peace between the two entities.

“I thought we were making progress and then I get something else that changes my mind on where we’re at with things,” Arbaugh told the board.

Board Member Dave Wheeler began to speak but was interrupted by member and former HCCIC attorney John Tabacchi, who suggested it would be wise to enter a closed-door session for discussion of personnel. Members voted to go into executive session with Wheeler casting the lone vote against doing so.

Members returned to open session after about 30 minutes. Arbaugh announced no action had been taken and recommended that the board “sit on this and think about it.” Arbaugh then suggested a special meeting before the next scheduled meeting in April; the commissioners’ deadline for the HCCIC to make a decision is April 21.

“But I think that would be the best thing – that you guys have a chance to do one more think through, digest this and I want the board to make the decision,” Arbaugh said, adding that a decision via secret ballot would be a good idea.

No date was set for a special meeting before the meeting was adjourned.