It’s never happened before, but Guilford County has now taken the very odd step of holding an economic development incentives hearing without telling the public the name of the company before the hearing takes place.

That means that county residents have no idea whether they should or should not come out on a cold night, find parking near the Old Guilford County Court House, go through security and speak for the project, speak against it or stay home. And, since the county is providing county residents no information, it could be an explosives company, a uranium enrichment plant or a business conducting deep shaft mining and making rocket fuel.

The public notice, released last week, stated that the Board of Commissioners would hold a public hearing for an unnamed “innovative manufacturing company” that’s considering leasing the property at 2506 Sinclair Ave. in High Point. According to the notice, the company is considering a $30 million capital investment and the creation of 99 new jobs by December 31, 2029, with an average wage of about $62,000.

The county will be considering an incentive of up to $300,000 in taxpayer money.

Whenever an incentives project makes it onto the Board of Commissioners’ agenda, that means it’s a done deal. However, for legal reasons surrounding the incentives process, the company and the county have to pretend that the business is still considering alternative locations outside of the county.

Stated above are all the facts the notice provided.

For a county government that talks a lot about transparency, this move will catch people off guard because Guilford County hasn’t historically handled public hearings this way.

For decades, incentive hearings have worked like this: The county announces the company beforehand, the public gets time to consider the merits, and, when the hearing is held, people can offer comments based on something more tangible than a mystery inside a black box.

Not that many years ago, they named the company in the public hearing announcement.  Then a couple of years ago, they started waiting until closer to the hearing.

Now, it’s none of your business until the big reveal at the public hearing itself.

North Carolina law does allow counties to withhold a company’s identity right up until the hearing itself. The statute governing incentives hearings is NC General Statute 158-7.1, which lets a governing board consider incentives for an unnamed company as long as the meeting is properly noticed. That’s all the county needs in order to satisfy the legal requirement.

But there’s a difference between checking off the legal boxes and conducting a process that gives citizens a fair shot at participating. If the public doesn’t know what type of company is asking for taxpayer money, they have no idea if they ought to be concerned about environmental impacts, traffic issues, hazardous materials, noise, neighborhood compatibility or whether the company is a good corporate citizen.

Over the years, there’s been a lot of debate about incentives, but even the people who disagree with the practice agree on one thing – the public should at least know who they’re discussing.

The county’s brand new approach means that residents walking into the hearing won’t know if the proposed tenant manufactures medical equipment, fabrics, automotive parts or something that requires extensive environmental review.

In the absence of any information at all, it technically could be anything.

Incentive hearings have always been one of the few times county residents can directly weigh in on how public funds are used to attract private businesses. When the name of the company is known in advance, people can talk to their neighbors, ask questions, do research, look at the company’s track record and prepare comments.

When the name is withheld until the hearing itself, that opportunity evaporates.

The project may turn out to be ordinary and uncontroversial – like, say, High Point furniture and lamp maker Design Source LTD – or it could involve something residents have very strong feelings about.

Who knows.

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