{"id":19258,"date":"2017-10-09T07:07:38","date_gmt":"2017-10-09T11:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=19258"},"modified":"2017-10-09T07:07:38","modified_gmt":"2017-10-09T11:07:38","slug":"appointments-to-public-facilities-authority-lcc-2017-10-09","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2017\/10\/appointments-to-public-facilities-authority-lcc-2017-10-09.html","title":{"rendered":"Appointments to Public Facilities Authority @ LCC 2017-10-09"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nAppointments to the board that floated bonds for the county palace,\r\nREZ-2017-10 Laurel Run Homes, and two road abandonments,\r\nto be considered this morning at 8:30 AM and voted on Tuesday evening.\r\n

\r\nWhat is the Lowndes County Georgia Public Facilities Authority, which issued\r\nthe bonds\r\n548757BE2<\/a>\r\nand\r\n548757BG7<\/a>\r\n “Refunding Judicial Administration Complex”?\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\r\nAccording to\r\n\r\nthe county’s website<\/a>\r\nit’s a\r\n\r\n five member board, with two vacant seats, one expiring May 31, 2018 (Clay Griner) and two already expired May 31, 2017 (Crawford Powell and Steve Gupton).\r\nYou may recall Crawford Powell as a former County Commissioner and Steve Gupton\r\nas the attorney for the Development Authority.\r\nThat web page says:\r\n

\r\n

\r\nCreated via Resolution 05-1130, the general purpose of the authority\r\nis declared to be that of providing through the acquisition,\r\nconstruction, installation, renovation, expansion, modification or\r\nrehabilitation, any buildings, structure, facilities, improvements,\r\nfurnishings, fixtures, machinery, equipment and services for the\r\ncitizens in the county. Members are appointed to three year terms\r\nand meet as needed. For more information, contact the Office of the\r\nCounty Clerk, 229-671-2400, or sdenson@lowndescounty.com.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nLooking on the county’s website under County Ordinances<\/a> finds\r\nnothing remotely resembling that resolution.\r\n

\r\nSearching for “05-1130” on the county’s website does turn up the Commission Regular Session Minutes of\r\nfrom May 24, 2005<\/a>, which include:\r\n

\r\nAppointment of the Public Facilities Authority Members (Resolution #05-1130)<\/strong> — Chairman Casey\r\nstated that the five proposed members to serve on this Authority had indicated a willingness to serve and were well qualified to serve on the Authority.\r\n\r\n
NAME<\/th>EXPIRATION DATE<\/th><\/tr>\r\n
J. Stephen Gupton, Jr.<\/td>5\/31\/08\r\n
Rodney N. Casey<\/td>5\/31\/08\r\n
Antonio C. Henderson<\/td>5\/31\/07\r\n
Harry B. Sullivan<\/td>5\/31\/07\r\n
Joseph G. Stevens<\/td>5\/31\/\/06\r\n<\/table>\r\n

\r\nMotion by Commissioner Lee to appoint the recommended members to the\r\nLowndes County Public Facility as presented and for the terms as\r\npresented, second by Commissioner Carter. Motion carried.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nThe \r\nWork Session Minutes for May 23, 2005<\/a>\r\nmerely say under Appointment that Chairman Casey proposed those names.\r\n

\r\nBut there’s another item:\r\n

\r\n

\r\nResolution# 05-1131 — Water-Sewer Bond Issue Reimbursement<\/strong>\r\n
\r\nHarrison Tillman, Financial Consultant, reminded the Commissioners\r\nthat, as had been discussed at the Commissioners Retreat, bond\r\nfunding would be needed to provide for water\/sewer projects.\r\nContinuing Mr. Tillman stated that originally, the bonds were to be\r\nissued through the Utilities Department, but it had been determined\r\nthat to reduce costs, avoid tying up funds in the Utilities\r\nDepartment and avoid sinking funds, etc. the bonds should be issued\r\nutilizing the Public Facilities Authority. According to Mr. Tillman,\r\n$12.5 million would cover most of the projects discussed at the\r\nRetreat and would repay some of the old revenue bonds. Mr. Tillman\r\nexplained that by approving the Reimbursement Resolution, County\r\nGeneral Funds could be used fund water\/sewer projects before the\r\nbond proceeds became available; once the then bond proceeds were\r\navailable, those funds would reimburse the County for those funds\r\nexpended.\r\n
\r\n
\r\nMr. Tillman spoke briefly about the possibility of using the Public\r\nFacilities Authority for short-term financing for jail construction\r\nand use SPLOST V to repay those loans.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nThe Regular Session Minutes<\/a> have more:\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\nResolution# 05-1131 — Water-Sewer Bond Issue Reimbursement<\/strong>\r\n
\r\nJoe Pritchard introduced Harrison Tillman, Financial Consultant, and\r\nGlen Thomson, Alston & Bird, Bond Counsel. Mr. Tillman explained the\r\nproposed $12.5 million bond issue would finance improvements and\r\nexpansion of the water-sewer infrastructure as identified in the\r\nWater-Sewer Master Plan and to pay off $585,000.00 of old revenue\r\nbonds.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nMr. Thomson informed the Commissioners that Resolution #05-1311\r\nwould authorize Lowndes County to utilize General Funds to begin\r\nprojects and to repay the County from the bond proceeds once they\r\nbecome available. Mr. Thomson noted that the County would enter into\r\nan Intergovernmental agreement with the Public Facilities Authority\r\nwho would actually issue the bonds and eliminate the need for the\r\nCounty to tie up Utility Department funds and avoid sinking funds,\r\netc. that would be necessary if the bonds were issued by the\r\nUtilities Department.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nMotion by Commissioner Lee to approve Resolution #05-1311, second by\r\nCommissioner Carter. Motion carried.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nWhere is this Water-Sewer Master Plan?\r\nIt’s not on the\r\nUtilities<\/a> web page.\r\nThe Work Session Minutes for November 11, 2002<\/a> say\r\n“Mr. Clark stated that the Water\/Sewer Master Plan would be\r\navailable by the end of this year.”\r\nIt’s also mentioned in 2010<\/a>,\r\n2015<\/a>,\r\nand\r\n2017<\/a>\r\nfiscal year operating budget documents.\r\nMaybe it’s buried somewhere on the Finance page.\r\n

\r\nAnyway, apparently this Public Facilities Authority was supposed to be\r\nabout financing drinking water and sewers.\r\nYet it quickly morphed into funding Chairman Casey’s pet project of\r\nthe new county palace.\r\n

\r\nTanya B. O’Berry, VDT, 6 December 2005,\r\n\r\nFinance resolution passes; Proposal would create public facilities authority<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\nVALDOSTA — Lowndes County Commissioners approved a resolution\r\nFriday that will offer Lowndes and its cities an alternative form of\r\nfinancing public facility projects.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nIn the called meeting, County Attorney Walter Elliott reviewed the\r\nlegislation drafted from the one recently adopted for Troup County\r\nby the Georgia General Assembly that will form a public facilities\r\nauthority in Lowndes.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“The proposed authority for Lowndes County is essentially the same\r\nas an authority created by the General Assembly last year for Troup\r\nCounty, the county seat of which is LaGrange,” Elliott said. “The\r\nauthority proposed will provide a method of financing public\r\nfacility projects that will be less expensive than other available\r\nmethods.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe proposed legislation approved by the board sets specific\r\nresponsibilities of the Authority and outlines the board members and\r\ntheir responsibilities. It also outlines the terms under which bonds\r\nmay be issued.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“This Act shall not and does not in any way affect the right, power,\r\nor authority of any local government unit or any other political\r\nsubdivision for municipality of the state to own, operate, or\r\nmaintain public facilities or to issue revenue bonds as provided by\r\nthe Revenue Bond Law.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe Commissioners discussed the feasibility of revenue bonds, which\r\nare at an all-time low, according to Chairman Rod Casey.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“This is a way to pay for projects that we have coming in the\r\nfuture,” Casey said. “The bonds will be issued for the project, and\r\nnow they are at a 40-year low. That is the main reason to use them.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nCommissioners recently financed the Judicial Complex project with\r\nrevenue bonds through the Central Valdosta Development Authority.\r\nThe bonds were available through the CVDA because the property is\r\nlocated within the district.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nElliott said the Public Facility Authority will be available to\r\nissue tax-free bonds for public facilities in Lowndes County,\r\nincluding city as well as county projects. “Some of the projects for\r\nwhich the proposed authority could issue tax-free bonds are\r\nadministrative office buildings, arts facilities, libraries, law\r\nenforcement facilities, fire stations and public works facilities.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe proposed local legislation will be sent to the General Assembly\r\nfor review and possible establishment of the authority.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nFor information, citizens may contact Paige Dukes, Lowndes County’s\r\npublic information officer, at 292-6142.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nThe Friday before that article was December 2, 2005.\r\nNo minutes for that Commission meeting appear to be on the county’s website.\r\nDid the legislature ever pass anything?\r\nWhy do we have to ferret out this information?\r\n

\r\nThe agenda sheet<\/a> for\r\n5.a. \r\nLowndes County Public Facilities Authority<\/a>\r\nsays with the two previously vacant seats and the two expired\r\nfour are vacant, and only Crawford Powell wants to be reappointed, plus\r\n“Mr. Scott Purvis is also interested in serving on the authority.”\r\n

\r\nGupton, Powell, and Joseph Stevens were appointed\r\n\r\n12 June 2012<\/a> (Powell replaced Richard Lee), and\r\n\r\nthe Authority proceeded that same year<\/a>\r\nto issue bonds for the county palace.\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nAs I asked in 2012, why didn’t they use a GEFA loan<\/a>,\r\nwhich charges zero percent interest?\r\nI also asked in 2012, \r\nif the county bragged it owed $0 (zero dollars) on the county palace in 2010<\/a>\r\nbecause SPLOST supposedly paid it off,\r\nwhy was there money still owed in 2012, requiring refinancing?\r\nChairman Bill Slaughter send me \r\na letter in response to some of my questions in Citizens Wishing to Be Heard<\/a>,\r\nwhich didn’t explain the zero dollar claim on county flyers from 2010.\r\nCounty Manager Joe Pritchard later\r\n\r\nsent me email<\/a> saying the newspaper\r\ndid the graphic with the $0 claim, not the county.\r\nI don’t believe he ever did produce any correspondence with the VDT\r\nto substantiate that.\r\nHowever, he did in response to an open records request\r\n\r\nmake available the bond documents<\/a>.\r\n

\r\nGupton and Powell were reappointed May 27, 2014<\/a>.\r\nThey did not speak in the preceding Regular Session<\/a>.\r\nOn 11 May 2015<\/a> they discovered Stevens id not want to be reappointed.\r\nLooks like they never found anybody to replace him.\r\n

\r\nHere’s\r\nthe agenda for this morning and tomorrow evening<\/a>.\r\nFor \r\nREZ-2017-10 Laurel Run (Tuscany Palms)<\/a>\r\nsee also\r\nlast month’s Planning Commission meeting<\/a>.\r\n

\r\n

\r\nLOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS\r\n
\r\nPROPOSED AGENDA\r\n
\r\nWORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2017, 8:30 a.m.\r\n
\r\nREGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017, 5:30 p.m.\r\n
\r\n327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor\r\n<\/p>\r\n

    \r\n
  1. \r\nCall to Order<\/a>\r\n
  2. \r\nInvocation<\/a>\r\n
  3. \r\nPledge of Allegiance to the Flag<\/a>\r\n
  4. \r\nMinutes for Approval<\/a>\r\n
      \r\n
    1. \r\nWork Session- September 25, 2017<\/a>\r\n
      \r\n
    2. \r\nRegular Session- September 26, 2017<\/a>\r\n
      \r\n<\/ol>\r\n
    3. \r\nAppointments<\/a>\r\n
        \r\n
      1. \r\n\r\nLowndes County Public Facilities Authority<\/a>\r\n
        \r\n\t\t\tAppoint members\t\t\r\n

        \r\nDocuments:<\/strong>Lowndes County Public Facilities Authority.pdf<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

      2. \r\nPublic Hearing<\/a>\r\n
          \r\n
        1. \r\nREZ-2017-10 Laurel Run (Tuscany Palms), C-G, R-A, and R-21 to R-10, R-21, and R-A, Water and Sewer, ~3.9 acres<\/a>\r\n
          \r\n\t\t\tGLPC Recommendation: Approval
          \r\nTRC Recommendation: Approval\t\t\r\n

          \r\nDocuments:<\/strong>Rezoning Case REZ-2017-10.pdf<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

        2. \r\n\r\nAbandonment of Portions of Old Lake Park Road and Hickory Grove Road SE<\/a>\r\n
          \r\n\t\t\tBoard’s Pleasure\t\t\r\n

          \r\nDocuments:<\/strong>Abandonment of Portions of Old Lake Park Road.pdf<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

        3. \r\nFor Consideration<\/a>\r\n
            \r\n
          1. \r\nAbandonment of a Portion of Morning Bird Drive<\/a>\r\n
            \r\n\t\t\tBoard’s Pleasure\t\t\r\n

            \r\nDocuments:<\/strong>Abandonment of a Portion of Morning Bird Drive.pdf<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

          2. \r\nAdopt Resolution accepting infrastructure for Laura Avenue<\/a>\r\n
            \r\n\t\t\tAdopt the resolution<\/span>\t\t\r\n

            \r\nDocuments:<\/strong>Adopt Resolution Accepting Infrastructure for Laura Avenue.pdf<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

          3. \r\nTrust Deed for New Statenville Highway Dollar General<\/a>\r\n
            \r\n\t\t\tAccept the trust deed\r\nand authorize the Chairman to sign<\/span>.\t\t\r\n

            \r\nDocuments:<\/strong>Trust Deed for New Statenville Highway Dollar General.pdf<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

          4. \r\nBackup Appliance for South Lowndes Data Center<\/a>\r\n
            \r\n\t\t\tApproval of purchase\t\t\r\n

            \r\nDocuments:<\/strong>Backup Appliance for South Lowndes Data Center.pdf<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

          5. \r\nSurplus Computers, Cellular phones, Vehicles and other items<\/a>\r\n
            \r\n\t\t\tDeclare items surplus.\t\t\r\n

            \r\nDocuments:<\/strong>Surplus Computers, Cellular Phones, Vehicles and other Items.pdf<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

          6. \r\nEmployee Health Benefit Administrator Change for 2018<\/a>\r\n
            \r\n\t\t\tApproval of new employee health benefit administrator\t\t\r\n

            \r\nDocuments:<\/strong>Employee Health Benefit Administrator Change for 2018.pdf<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

          7. \r\nReports – County Manager<\/a>\r\n
          8. \r\nCitizens Wishing to be Heard-Please State Your Name and Address<\/a>\r\n
            \r\n
          9. \r\nAdjournment<\/a>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

            \r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>

            Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today<\/a>!<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Appointments to the board that floated bonds for the county palace, REZ-2017-10 Laurel Run Homes, and two road abandonments, to be considered this morning at 8:30 AM and voted on Tuesday evening. What is the Lowndes County Georgia Public Facilities Authority, which issued the bonds 548757BE2 and 548757BG7 “Refunding Judicial Administration Complex”? According to the […]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2,19,20,88,3,449,55],"tags":[9560,3169,258,728,726,623,592,8701,8699,10,9950,8709,136,1143,8702,10006,8710,91,12,7,8734,8479,10005,9086,10004,9949,683,2768,2504,4425,8700,8767,6,8727,90],"class_list":["post-19258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","category-history","category-law","category-lowndes-county-commission","category-transparency","category-transportation","category-water","tag-9560","tag-abandonment","tag-bill-slaughter","tag-bonds","tag-county-palace","tag-crawford-powell","tag-dollar-general","tag-georgia","tag-government","tag-gretchen-quarterman","tag-hickory-grove-road","tag-history","tag-joe-pritchard","tag-joseph-g-stevens","tag-lake","tag-laura-avenue","tag-law","tag-lcc","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-lowndes-county-commission","tag-lowndes-county-public-facilities-authority","tag-morning-bird-drive","tag-new-statenville-highway","tag-october-9","tag-old-lake-park-road","tag-richard-lee","tag-rod-casey","tag-sewer","tag-steve-gupton","tag-transparency","tag-transportation","tag-valdosta","tag-water","tag-work-session"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-50C","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19258"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19262,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19258\/revisions\/19262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}