At Monday night’s meeting, with a vote of 5-3, the Henderson City Council nixed a proposal to allow food trucks to operate in a designated area of downtown Henderson.

Gavin Jackson, owner of Gavin’s Grub Hub, proposed parking and serving food from his food truck in the City-owned parking lot at the corner of Garnett and Orange streets, next to Gupton’s Sporting Goods.

Jackson’s food truck has been a regular at various events in the community as well as a fan-favorite at the Vance County Regional Farmers Market. Jackson is also the former chef at the Henderson Country Club.

City Council members George Daye, Melissa Elliott and Mike Rainey represent the three votes in favor of allowing the food truck to operate downtown.

In a phone interview with WIZS, Rainey said, “You see these trucks in all other big cities. It’s a thing. It’s just a way of getting people downtown for one thing. It gives [people] another outlet to find their lunch or whatever the case may be, and it keeps them downtown. People who work downtown have a [place] to go eat; they can go anywhere they want to, but this gives them another avenue for lunch. It’s just another business trying to establish itself in the City of Henderson.”

Henderson City Council member Sara Coffey, who voted against the food truck proposal, told WIZS News by Facebook message for publication, “We were not given the complete information about the trucks. The restaurants that would be affected were not given a chance to voice their opinions. They were not given complete facts either. To me when someone comes in and buys a business and puts down roots to serve our public such as [Uncle] Lews and [Next Door] Bistro have done, I think it’s only fair they share their opinion. They are employers, taxpayers, water users, pay electric bills and have waitresses that depend on tips to feed their families. Even though I’m not against food trucks, I do believe restaurants should weigh in on their placement. I don’t want any business harmed that has invested in our city by a mobile unit that is here today, gone tomorrow without having input.”

In an article titled “While the iron is hot” written for The Daily Dispatch and republished in part, with permission, Henderson-Vance Downtown Development Director Kaine Riggan expressed his frustration with the Council’s decision:

I know all of the council members who voted “no” did so out of what they consider to be the best interest of the city they also love, but I can’t help but wonder what makes them say no to anyone who wants to open a legal business on Garnett Street.

It ain’t exactly an easy sell, folks. And businesses are moving out faster than they are moving in. Southside Office Supply left last month. Gupton’s Gun Shop is closing next month after 60 years. And another upcoming big departure is so fresh a wound that I can’t even make it public yet.

Opposing votes voiced opinions that it might hurt the other restaurants.

Rainey, longtime owner of City Tire, made a point that all the new, used tire places popping up aren’t exactly great for his business, but we can’t stop them from opening because of it.

I have been meeting with Henderson’s merchants, studying successfully revitalized downtowns and listening to advise for almost 12 months, now, and one thing is clear: While we are saying no and closing stores, neighboring towns are saying yes and reaping the revenue as a result.

This past weekend, I hosted Leon Steele, Kinston’s Downtown Development director, for a lunch on Kerr Lake and a tour of our downtown. In his town, with similar demographics to ours, he has full city and county support, revenues from a Municipal Service District tax and historic tax credit renovation projects peppering his Main Street program. In total, a $400,000 annual budget for Kinston’s downtown efforts compared to Henderson’s $52,000. I wanted to know his secret.

He credits a codes department and planners willing to find a way to make things work as the key to their success, as well as the city’s willingness to embrace change. “It takes leaders who think the downtown is important enough to start saying yes to things,” Steele said.

I think we have those leaders at the city level, we just need to work on being more aware of the speed of our process so as not to lose good leads when we get them.

Meanwhile, Jackson can park his truck in downtown Oxford or downtown Warrenton within the week.

“I can’t wait around for months for them to decide whether or not to let me run my business and pay my taxes,” Jackson said when I told him about Monday’s council decision. “It shouldn’t be this hard to get started.”

I would like to thank Mayor Ellington and the city staff for pushing the “food truck ordinance” forward very efficiently. I expect that it will make it through committee and back before the council in coming months and will most likely pass the next time. I just hope we still have a prospect on deck when it does.

Elaborating on his opinion, Jackson stated in a Facebook message to WIZS, “We pay for all kinds of permits, inspections, county and city inspections, registration on the vehicle and mobile kitchen, environmental health permit; we buy fuel and propane from local businesses, which is my source of power. We do pay property taxes on the truck and mobile kitchen and the property taxes on our home because this business allows us to live here. We plan to employ [other] people and is it not important to employ me? My family? We all work at this business.”

In a recent poll on WIZS Radio’s Facebook page, 98 percent of 358 participants voted in support of food trucks in downtown Henderson.

Please visit WIZS’ Facebook page [click here] to express your opinion on the food truck topic. You can leave your comments on the posting for this article or from yesterday’s thread. We would love to hear from those both for and against food trucks in downtown – especially from downtown restaurant owners.

The Monday, July 16 edition of Town Talk will also feature more discussion on the food truck debate. Feel free to call in at (252) 492-5594 to share your opinion.