The Lowndes County Ham and Eggs show is
the only one in Georgia and
one of only two in the country. Now, you might wonder why? Many
folks are interested in good, local foods and the craft of curing
meats. Well, it has to do with regulations and having the hogs
slaughtered and cured in USDA certified facilities.
Years ago,
men, women and children would cure the meats at home and
bring the hams on the appointed day to the contest (and auction).
But, now no meat can be sold
Received today. -jsq
Subject: Meeting with Andrea
Just a quick recap of a meeting I had yesterday with VLCIA’s Andrea
Schruijer. When asked where we were with the private prison issue, she
responded, “we contractually agreed to a 3rd extension with a term of
365 and CCA has until March 13, 2012 to request that extension.” So I
asked,” if CCA doesn’t request a
3rd extension, then the issue is over,
right?” She replied, “If there’s no response from CCA, then it is up to
the board to determine how to move forward.” When I asked her why they
would even consider honoring a contract extension to CCA knowing some
of the controversy over CCA’s business practices, she replied, “because
there is a partnership between the VLCIA and CCA and we are
contractually bound to a 3rd extension.”I pointed out that the private prison industry wasn’t interested in
public safety and rehabilitation they simply wanted to make a quick
buck off the lives of others. I informed her of the chronic employee
turnover, understaffing, high rates of violence and extreme cost
cutting which all have been attributed to CCA.I told her that Lowndes County already had its own share of air
pollution and that amount of air pollution here is directly
proportionate to the amount of lung and bronchial caner in our area. I
encouraged her to consider sustainable businesses for the future
economic growth of our community, not smoke stack business. Her reply,
“so what you are saying is that you think the industrial should just
close its doors?” I actually hadn’t thought about that but the
question did make me ponder.I left her with
a 91 page research report which takes a critical look
at the first twenty years of CCA’s operations. I requested an email
response of her thoughts about the report and am currently awaiting the
response…Biomass did come up in the conversation and Mrs. Schruijer was quick to
assert that
They’re even quieter about it than the Industrial Authority,
but the Valdosta City and Lowndes County governments are in the
private prison deal just as deep.
Jay Hollis, CCA’s Manager of Site Acquisition, in his
Valdosta-Lowndes County, GA / CCA Partnership: Prepared Remarks
of August 2010, wrote:
Our Valdosta/Lowndes County site quickly became our primary due to its
local and regional workforce, collaboration of local leadership, site
characteristics, proximity to necessary services and infrastructure,
and accessibility to name a few.
So who is this local leadership?
We look forward to working closely with Valdosta/Lowndes leadership as we move forward in the months to come.
Finally, I’d like to take a moment to recognize a few folks that have been essential to the project:
Apparently CCA picked Lowndes County for a private prison for reasons
that were
not what VLCIA’s consultant seemed to think would influence the selection.
According to
Valdosta-Lowndes County, GA / CCA Partnership: Talking Points
(undated, but it refers to
“The agreement formalized by the Industrial Authority on 8/17”),
The Valdosta/Lowndes site became the primary due to the local and
regional workforce, collaboration of local leadership,
site characteristics,
proximity to necessary services and infrastructure, accessibility, etc.
Nothing in there about
low poverty or high wages.
One could even read that the other way around,
as in a low-wage population looking for jobs.
Looks to me like our Industrial Authority didn’t do much due diligence
about private prisons.
Also note that the contract of 17 August 2010 between VLCIA and CCA
was signed after the announcement in July 2010 that CCA had selected
Decatur County.
More about that in another post.
-jsq
Apparently VLCIA, or one of its expert consultants,
thought CCA was looking for a thriving county economy
in choosing a private prison location.
That doesn’t seem to be what happened.
Economic Impact of Project Excel
by Clifford A. Lipscomb, Ph.D., 2 November 2009:
The VLCIA has noted that Project Excel is considering other
locations. Below I provide a comparison of key economic indicators for
these alternative counties — Grady and Decatur.
Table 1. Characteristics of Selected Counties
Variable Decatur Grady Lowndes Population, 2008 28,823 25,115 104,583 % Pop w/ Bachelor’s degree 12.1% 10.6% 19.7% Median HH Income, 2007 32,650 33,060 38,666 Persons below poverty, 2007 22.5% 22.2% 20.5% Persons white non-Hispanic, 2008 54.8% 60.6% 60.0% In closing, it appears that Project Excel is an excellent candidate for
location in Lowndes County.
So which other county did CCA actually pick?
All the CCA documents VLCIA provided in response to Matt Flumerfelt’s Open Records Request
are
on the LAKE website.
I will continue posting what I see in them (in the category
CCA), but you may find things in them I don’t.
If you find something particularly interesting, please send it to the
LAKE blog submission address or comment on the blog so we can all see it.
-jsq
Has CCA supplied a key document required by the contract?
If not, is the contract still valid?
According to “SCHEDULE 1.6.2 DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE”
CCA was supposed to provide to VLCIA
Submission of Preliminary Specifications (Section 1.6.1)
No later than 6 months after receipt of the Survey
CCA did provide a
Title Objection Letter
19 November 2010,
and that was due “within 30 days of receipt of the Survey”.
So these Preliminary Specifications were due
about six months ago.
Let’s see them!
If those specifications have not been received by VLCIA,
maybe the contract with CCA is no longer valid.
Or maybe VLCIA already received
the NTP
and is moving on with implementing the project.
Seems to me the community should be informed, one way or the other.
-jsq
Apparently the Industrial Authority can end the contract for CCA’s private prison
six weeks from now, by simply not doing anything until then.
CCA has already paid for two extensions on their Option Agreement
for land purchase.
The
Second Extension Term
was paid for in March 2010
and forwarded to the land owner.
Here’s video of
Col. Ricketts announcing it to
the VLCIA board 15 March 2011.
That second extension expires 13 March 2012, six weeks from today.
A Third Extension Term is possible, but has to be negotiated.
Here’s what
Purchase and Development Agreement of 17 August 201
says:
1.4.2.3. Third Extension Term.
The Authority shall use commercially reasonable efforts to obtain an option
for a third extension term of twelve (12) months
(the “Third Extension Term“).
In the event the Authority is able to obtain such extension option
on terms and conditions such that any required earnest money to be paid
by the Company in connection with the exercise of such extension option does not
exceed $75,000, and there is no increase of the price of the Site
or any other payments not already required by the Option Agreement,
then the Authority shall enter into a written agreement
(the “Third Extension Term“)
with the Seller reflecting the terms and conditions of such extension option….
What happens if the Authority does not provide such an extension option?
