On Saturday, August 20th, 2022, 146 patriots gathered in Buncombe County at 9AM at the Woodfin Community Center for a day of North Carolina Election Integrity Training and learning how to make it Easy to Vote and Hard to Cheat. It was incredibly successful and the day accomplished what the NCEIT team hoped it would.
Because we value and respect you, a crew of 12 of us arrived at 6:30AM to make the place look decent, a very difficult task for reasons stated below. This letter was sent to Shannon Tuch, Woodfin Town Manager, all of the Buncombe County Commissioners, residents of Woodfin, and key folks in Buncombe who attended.
Why did we rent this place? We needed a place that could afford a large crowd and we needed to keep the cost at a minimum. Your entry fee covered materials, lunch and the venue. This was the only place we could find that met those needs. We tried churches and other community centers to no avail. We thank you for your patience and your understanding. It is my hope that maybe, just maybe, something will be done about the care and maintenance of this facility paid for by Buncombe taxpayers. You deserve better!
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Complaint From a Customer: There is no excuse for filth and disrepair and deliberate negligence of the Woodfin Community Center.
External
Inbox
Jane Bilello <jane@nceit.org>8:36 PM (11 hours ago) August 21, 2022
to STuch@WoodFin-NC.gov
Town of Woodfin
Shannon Tuch
Town Manager
90 Elk Mountain Rd.
Woodfin, NC 28804
STuch@WoodFin-NC.gov
828 253 4887
Jane Bilello
NCEIT
218 Vincent Place
Hendersonville, NC 28739
Cell: 209 986 3845
Dear Ms Tuch:
On July 6, 2022, I signed a contract with the Woodfin Community Center for rental of that space for August 20, 2022 for the purpose of educational training. With a debit card, I paid $525.00 on July 6th, 2022 and on July 15th, 2022, I paid $265.00 for a total of $790.00. The contract I signed states a rental fee of $250.00 with a deposit of $500.00 for a total of $750.00. We had no alcohol. Why $790?
This is the additional problem. Others who rented Woodfin Community Center complained that the place was dirty. There were beer bottles and cake left on the floor. It also had no air conditioning. I called Ryan Vinson to talk to him about this. He said that it would be cleaned up by Merry Maids and it would be clean for our use on August 20th. He also informed me that the air conditioning would be fixed. So, three of us came to inspect the place starting approximately 3 weeks before our event. We made three visits to the Center. Picked up the key. This is what we found - on two visits!
The floor was so dirty that we stuck to the floor. The floor is tile. Cleaners remove dirt and grit. I know because I have tile in my house. The excuse that it was an old floor and it had always been that way did not hold sway. It obviously was not cleaned.
The kitchen was filthy. Both refrigerators had never been cleaned. They contained sprinkles, crud stuck to the shelves, and some brown gunk stuck to the bottom shelf. There were crumbs and sticky stuff on the counter tops. The bottles of cleaner were empty. The closets smelled.
The toilet seat in the handicapped ladies’ room was broken. It would not stay up. The toilet paper dispenser in the handicapped ladies’ bathroom was held together with scotch tape. It did not work. Other than a light over the vanity in both the ladies and men’s room, the other two fluorescents in both bathrooms were burnt out.
There was garbage all over the lawn. The garbage pails were full and stunk. Mr. Vinson said that the garbage was picked up by the town once a week. The grass was mowed every other week. However, we came to make sure the place was clean. The garbage pails were still full and stunk. Garbage was also stuck to the cement patio on the side of the building.
We spoke to Mr. Vinson again when we returned the key. He said that Merry Maids would return to clean the floor and the kitchen.
The day before our event, on August 19th, 2022, at approximately 11:30AM, two of us came to pick up the key to inspect the facility again. This is what we found.
The floor had been cleaned. It looked good. We did not stick to the floor.
The kitchen had never been cleaned. It was still filthy.
The fluorescent lights in both bathrooms were still dead.
I brought my blower from home anticipating debris on the sidewalk. It was still there. So, I used the blower to blow out the sidewalk of the debris strewn on the sidewalk and all over the lawn. It wasn’t enough. We hand picked out paper, bottle caps and other debris from the lawn.
The air conditioning worked. This was a good sign. However, it quit on August 20th. We had to go out and purchase 5 fans to keep the place cool until 3PM.
The fluorescent light in both bathrooms still didn’t work.
The toiled seat was still not repaired. The toilet paper dispenser held together with scotch tape was not still not replaced.
The garbage pails were still full and stunk. There was garbage stuck to the patio where the garbage cans are kept.
When we returned the key to Janice in the office, we informed her of what we found. Very nice lady. She called me a few hours later to tell me the toilet seat had been fixed and the lights replaced so they worked. That was a welcome relief and I thanked her profusely.
Saturday, August 20th, 2022, the day of the event.
A crew of 12 of us arrived at 6:30AM. We cleaned the kitchen: the countertops and the filthy refrigerators. Disgraceful.
The fluorescent lights in both bathrooms had been replaced and worked. However, the toilet seat still would not remain upright. It had not been repaired properly. It should have been replaced.
We decorated the filthy front doors, back and front. A little paint would have been great.
The air conditioner quit within an hour after folks arrived. It seemed that the kitchen air worked but the main room did not. So, one of our folks went out and bought 5 fans to keep the temperature down for the 146 of us who were there from 9:15AM to 3PM. Purchasing fans for $105.00 was an expense we did not expect or anticipate.
We washed down the kitchen after we finished.
We also brought our own toilet paper and paper towels and plenty of hand disinfectant.
Ms. Tuch, we all understand ‘old’ facilities that need updating. However, there is no excuse for filth and disrepair and deliberate negligence. That’s all this is. Deliberate negligence. You have some nerve charging this kind of money for this dump. I had thirteen North Carolina counties from across the state in that room on August 20th. The opening remarks focused on this place as a physical manifestation of the failure of government. A waste of Buncombe tax payer dollars. A very poor face for Buncombe.
I know Buncombe is trying to pay for greenways and parks. That’s all well and good but it has nothing to do with cleaning facilities you are renting to the public and charging a ridiculous amount of money for a filthy, unkempt facility in total disrepair. How dare you. Repeated reasonable requests to at least fix and clean every day wear and tear went unanswered. Have you no shame!
We left this dump in way better shape than what we found it. I am forwarding this to your commissioners, residents of Woodfin who attended as well as the many Buncombe county folks who attended our event. Something needs to be done. I expect our $525.00 deposit - over charge - to be returned and a reimbursement of the $105.00 we spent on fans at the very least.
We will never rent this place again and we will make sure no one else we know does either. This is shameful and a blatant disrespect and disregard for every hard working taxpayer in your town and county!
Totally Disgusted With You,
Jane Bilello
209 986 3845
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North Carolina Election Integrity Team
NCEIT.org
Jane@NCEIT.org
Cell: 209 986 3845