Mount Airy Commissioner Jon Cawley has stepped down from his seat on the Sports Development Committee, at the request of fellow commissioner and committee leader Todd Harris.

The Sports Development Committee is a group of individuals appointed by the city board of commissioners to study a proposed athletic complex on City View Drive, with the goal of luring softball, soccer, and other sporting enthusiasts to the city for large regional tournaments.

Harris, in justifying his request for Cawley to step down, said he felt that Cawley was too busy to serve on the committee, and cited several commission and committee Cawley has missed in recent months.

He said the request was not in retaliation for Cawley’s vote last week against spending $3,200 to conduct soil borings at the former landfill site which would be the home for the proposed facility. The soil borings will help determine the feasibility of the site for such use, and determine how much of the land there can be used for fields.

That request passed 4-1, with Cawley the lone dissenting vote. At the time Cawley said he had questions about the feasibility of whether the complex was needed and could be successful, and he felt those questions should be answered before city money is spent on such things as soil borings.

Cawley cast that vote Thursday night, and Harris asked Mayor Deborah Cochran if she would ask Cawley to step down Friday. Cawley said the timing of the request was “unusual,” and we agree. We find it odd that one commissioner would decide another was too busy to serve, and the request for Cawley to step down coming just hours after his vote certainly raises questions.

Most of all, though, we wonder why others are not joining Cawley in asking for a more in-depth look at whether there is a need for such a complex. The last thing the city needs to do is spend tens of thousands of dollars — or more — only to learn halfway through the project that there really isn’t a demand for such a facility, that other venues in this region of the country already fill that need.

Please don’t misunderstand, we wholeheartedly support the concept of the complex. We just believe a little more study is needed before spending much city taxpayer money, and we believe a committee which excludes dissenting voices — if that was the intent with this move — is a committee which does a disservice to the residents of Mount Airy.