The only thing a board member said about it was Chairman Roy Copeland
reminding me that the board didn’t answer questions in Citizens Wishing
to be Heard.
Col. Ricketts added that in staff’s discussions with CCA,
CCA had indicated they were mulling it over internally, and
VLCIA should “stand by” for CCA’s next move.
That’s right, your local Industrial Authority, whose staff and land purchases
are funded by your tax dollars, should stand by waiting for a private
prison company to tell them what to do.
And the Industrial Authority board’s silence is an answer:
they said nothing different from their previous vote for the contract
to bring in this private prison;
nothing different from their previous acceptance
of the first and second option extensions;
and nothing in objection to what Col. Ricketts said.
So your tax-supported Industrial Authority wants a private prison in
Lowndes County, Georgia.
Do you want that?
Do you want a private prison with fewer guards per prisoner
Continue reading →
Do you know why the county sold this property for less than the assessed
price to the current owner in 2007 minus the wetlands that interject? Did
they know it would be considered for a private prison at that time? Now
the current owner will make the million dollar profit instead of the
county. Since this is considered industrial park acerage owned by the
county why would the county sell it if an industry/business was not
promised at that time? What is the 100 acres the development agreement
says the owner will be given? Is that the 119 acres of wetlands? If
the county decides not to allow the private prison what happens to the
earnest money that has been deposited to date since that would not be
an action by the buyer or the seller?
The seller was not the Lowndes County Commission, which would start with
“LOWNDES COUNTY”, and it’s not the City of Valdosta, which wouldn’t be
hyphenated with the county name like that.
Could it be the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority?
Industrial Authority Executive Director Andrea Schruijer told me to expect
their board to say something at their 2PM Thursday board meeting about the
private prison Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) wants to build
on US 84 at Perimeter Road. If they don’t give CCA another extension,
the contract expires March 13th.
There’s still time to contact them, (229) 259-9972.
Or go to their board meeting at 101 North Ashley Street,
2PM Thursday February 23rd.
A private prison would not increase employment in Lowndes County. It
would not even save the state money. And it would have high risk
of closing after or even before it opened, because of escapes and
inmate disturbances, and most importantly because the state and federal
governments can no longer afford to incarcerate so many people. That would
leave us and the state holding the bag for any investment in building it.
Outsourcing public justice for private profit at taxpayer expense is
not only bad business, we the taxpayers can’t afford to pay for it while
public education is under increasing budgetary pressure.
As members of the local community, we do not wish to live in a private
prison colony, with the attendant risks of inmate violence and escape,
and the accompanying public opprobrium that would drive away the
knowledge-based workers we claim to be trying to attract.
Finally, public justice should not be a matter of private profit.
John S. Quarterman
lives in Lowndes County
You may recognize the wording from the
petition.
You can always write your own letter with your own reasons.
Yesterday Andrea Schruijer promised to get an agenda for
tomorrow’s 2PM Thursday 23 February 2012 Industrial Authority board meeting (101 N. Ashley Street)
online.
It’s
there,
and it has content!
What it does not have is any mention of
anything about Project Excel, or CCA, or the private prison,
even though Ms. Schruijer told me yesterday to expect the board
to say something about that.
You can still
express your opinion to them before then.
And since this agenda says
**TENTATIVE**
maybe that item will get added before tomorrow afternoon.
What this agenda does have is numerous specific items
under the usual broad headers such as
Existing Industry/Project Report.
So instead of listening to Col. Ricketts
and trying to figure out what he’s talking about,
you can see such things as
“e-Snychronist® Existing Industry Retention
and Expansion business information system (BIS)” in writing.
You still don’t see names of the
“five (5) Prospects”
or the “three (3) companies that are developing expansion plans”.
Maybe I buy the competitive information argument for the prospects,
but I’m not so sure about the three expanding companies, especially
if they’re already local.
And considering the things VLCIA has tried to sneak in under cover
of not mentioning competitive information, such as biomass and a private prison,
I’m not sure I buy that argument at all.
Also on the plus side, the agenda includes an actual schedule for bids
Continue reading →
Thursday’s Industrial Authority
retreat and board meeting are both open meetings, which the
public can attend.
And at the 2PM board meeting apparently there will be news about
Project Excel, CCA’s private prison.
VLCIA Executive Director Andrea Schruijer clarified on the telephone just now
that
Thursday’s 9AM-2PM board retreat
is an open meeting; the public can attend.
She said the agenda was made by the facilitator, and she had not seen it.
The purpose of the retreat is for board members to talk about their experiences
and roles as board members.
The retreat is not for discussing specific projects.
Regarding the 2PM board meeting Thursday, she said she thought the agenda
was on VLCIA’s web pages.
When we looked and found it wasn’t there,
she said apparently there was some confusion due to the rescheduling
of the meeting, and the agenda would be there soon.
Notice: The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority Regular Meeting
has been rescheduled for the month of February. The meeting date will be
Thursday, February 23, 2011, 2:00 P.M.
at 101 N Ashley Street.
Notice of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority Board Retreat,
Thursday, February 23, 2012, 9:00 AM- 2:00 PM
at 101 N Ashley Street.
Since I’m familiar with that location as the old closed pawn shop,
I called VLCIA’s new PR person, Meghan Duke, for clarification.
I congratulated her on her recent appointment, and repeated what I’ve
been saying for some time now, that VLCIA does many good things most
people don’t know about and with some PR maybe we would.
She said she was working on educating the public.
And also in
her recent response about the Notice to Proceed (NTP),
VLCIA Executive Director Andrea Schruijer
didn’t answer the other question, which was
whether VLCIA had received the Preliminary Specifications
(
see section 1.6.1)
that appear to have been due at least half a year ago,
according to the Development Schedule in Schedule 1.6.2 of the Agreement.
Without those Preliminary Specifications,
maybe CCA has already breached the contract.
She copied VLCIA’s attorney.
Probably he could interpret the termination clauses of the contract that way….
5.1.2. Expiration. If the Company has not issued the NTP by the expiration
of the Term of the Option Agreement, then this Agreement shall expire
and terminate, without any further liability on the part of any Party
to the other, except as otherwise expressly provided in this Agreement.
The current, second, extension term
expires 13 March 2012,
one month from Monday.
If there’s no NTP and no third extension before then, there’s no private prison
(see 5.1.2).
So has VLCIA sent CCA
terms for a third extension option?
If not, this thing may be over in a month and a few days.
If yes, what are those terms?
The Development Schedule contains, among other things, milestones
for the work and assignments of responsibility to the Parties for
the attainment of certain milestones.
Here it is:
So it’s not clear why she said CCA hadn’t provided a Development Schedule.
I went to Thursday’s Industrial Authority board meeting expecting
to hear something from the board about the private prison.
What I heard:
