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Live Oak council appoints Heather Henderson to CRA board after two applicants
Summary
The Live Oak City Council appointed Heather Henderson to the Community Redevelopment Agency(CRA) at-large seat after reviewing two applications. Henderson, a longtime resident who has used CRA funding, said the program helped her home and business; concerns about a city employee were raised during public comment.
The Live Oak City Council voted to appoint Heather Henderson to the at-large seat on the city—ommunity Redevelopment Agency board following presentations from two candidates.
Henderson, who introduced herself as a lifelong resident and emergency management employee, told the council she has used CRA funding for fencing and hurricane repairs and wants to help restore dilapidated downtown properties. "The CRA can do so much for those businesses and also for those homes," she said.
The appointment followed remarks from another candidate who described experience as a broker and concerns about downtown parking and the style of prior CRA outreach. During the public comment period, Sheneesh Brown, owner of Green Fork Kitchen, urged council members to record specific evaluation concerns about a city employee she identified as "Mr. Sessions," alleging missing money, poor communication, lack of training and possible harassment; a different speaker later defended the manager but used the name "Mister Sexton." The transcript contains inconsistent spellings for the manager nd the council did not resolve the discrepancy on the record.
A councilmember moved to appoint Henderson; another councilmember seconded, and the council voted in favor. Councilmembers Brown Robinson, Jefferson and Campbell were recorded as voting yes. The motion was announced as carried and Henderson was congratulated; the length of the term and any formal swearing-in date were not specified in the meeting record.
Why it matters: The CRA oversees targeted redevelopment tools such as grants and façade or infrastructure funding in the downtown district; an at-large board member helps set priorities for those funds. Henderson said her experience using CRA programs and her work in emergency management would inform her service.
The council then moved on to ordinance business and opened several zoning items for quasi-judicial public hearings later in the agenda.
