4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, December 26,2018
Elected officials to be sworn into office Dec. 27
By Allie Dean
adean@dawsonnews.com
Several elected county offi
cials will be sworn into office
Thursday at the Dawson
County Government Center.
Probate Judge Jennifer Burt
will administer the oaths of
office beginning at 11 a.m. in
the assembly room of the sec
ond floor.
District 1 Commissioner
Sharon Fausett will be sworn in
for her second term on the
board of commissioners after
running unopposed on the
Republican ticket. Tim
Satterfield will be sworn in for
his first term as District 3
Commissioner. Satterfield also
ran unopposed on the
Republican ballot. The public is
invited to attend the swearing-
in ceremony.
Dawson development authority chair presents 2018 update
By Allie Dean
adean@dawsonnews.com
Development Authority
of Dawson County Board
Chairman Brian Trapnell
presented his final update
of the year to the Dawson
County Board of
Commissioners on Dec.
20, giving commissioners
a breakdown of the prog
ress the development
authority has made in the
past year, including a new
partnership with the
Dawson County Chamber
of Commerce.
When the staff of the
development authority
quit in September of
2017 due to the board of
commissioners’ refusal
to allocate the authority
any funds for 2018, the
authority entered into a
short-term contract for
services with the cham
ber of commerce.
In February 2018 the
board of commissioners
voted to allocate
$135,000 to the authority
so that it could continue
to operate for the remain
der of the year.
In May the authority
and the chamber entered
into a multi-year agree
ment and created a new
economic development
director position to work
under the supervision of
chamber President
Christie Moore.
Betsy McGriff was
hired to fill the economic
development director
position in July while the
chamber and authority
worked to renovate the
chamber building to
accommodate both enti
ties.
The development
authority moved into the
chamber building in
September, the latest step
the authority has taken to
become more efficient
through better coordinat
ing and planning of quali
ty growth in the county.
“In short, the multi
year partnership with the
chamber of commerce is
one where they serve as
our representative for
economic development,”
Trapnell said.
Kroger bond
project
Trapnell also updated
the board on the current
status of the authority’s
bond project with the
local Kroger.
The bond was ratified
in 2015 and gave the
company some tax relief
for building and moving
into the new Marketplace
store in Dawson County
as opposed to going else
where, which was a fear
of the authority at
the time.
The authority agreed to
provide private bonds for
title in the amount of $23
million at Kroger’s
request, which means that
the property is actually
owned by the authority
and exempt from property
taxes.
The nature of the trans
action is payments in lieu
of taxes, meaning the
county and school system
will still receive pay
ments as if they were
actually property taxes,
just through the authority
instead of Kroger.
Conditions of the bond
meant Kroger must main
tain its old store, remove
the gas island and aid in
finding a new tenant for
the building, as well as
meet a series of annual
job and investment crite
ria.
Trapnell did not have a
recent report from the
store, but shared informa
tion from the Dec. 31,
2017 report.
“As of Dec. 31, 2017,
Kroger has fulfilled 25
additional full time
equivalent jobs than
actually required in the
bond project,” he said. “I
can only imagine we will
get our update from them
shortly how much more
they’ve achieved since
that time in hiring more
(full-time equivalent
workers).”
Kroger also continues
to pay for the old store
location through a lease
agreement and their aver
age hourly wage is 5 per
cent greater than the aver
age hourly retail wage in
Dawson County and 7.2
percent greater than the
average hourly retail
wage throughout the state
of Georgia.
2017 was the first year
of the project, and the
store paid zero property
tax. In the second year,
2018, the store is sup
posed to start paying a
percentage of the tax
through the development
authority, with the
amount increasing each
year.
“The development
authority receives $1,500
in administrative fees...
we’re grateful for it, but
that doesn’t really begin
to cover some of the
operational impact there,”
Trapnell said. “We have
issued an invoice for the
second year directly to
Kroger...very shortly we
expect to start seeing that
payment.”
Completed and
planned goals
Trapnell also addressed
goals that the authority
has had that are nearly
completed or that the
authority wishes to have
completed within the next
year.
Trapnell said that the
authority will be signing
documents to sell its old
office space in
Prominence Court on
Dec. 31. The $115,000 in
funds from the sale will
be used for future eco
nomic development.
“The broad intent is to
make sure those are in
pocket for any kind of
development opportuni
ties that come up down
the road, not necessarily
for operations purposes,”
he said.
The authority board
also recently revised its
bylaws, which will
become effective Jan. 1.
One of the updates will
enhance the ability of the
authority board to dele
gate services to the cham
ber as needed, while
another update changes
the meeting schedule
from six meetings a year
to four.
Trapnell also presented
the authority board’s
communication plan, stat
ing that the board is com
mitted to transparency
and making sure they are
always effectively com
municating with the
board of commissioners.
Trapnell said that by
the end of 2019, the
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authority board plans to
ensure that its strategic
plan is aligned with com
munity needs and expec
tations, as well as com
plete a site selection
study and a study that
evaluates funding options
for economic develop
ment operations, as well
as opportunities for effi
ciency between the devel
opment authority and the
industrial building
authority.
The site selection study
would identify communi
ty investment opportuni
ties for generating prima
ry jobs.
“Retail jobs of course
are very important...but
also planning ways to
maybe generate whether
it be office space, manu
facturing opportunities,
etc., partnering with a
third party to help us
locate space and sites to
do that,” he said.
Finding creative ways
for the development
authority to fund itself
has been a priority of the
authority for some time,
and Trapnell said mini
mizing dependence on the
board of commissioners
is the goal.
Trapnell also said there
is a lot of overlap in what
the development authority
and industrial building
authority do, so seeking
efficiencies moving for
ward will be key.
“This is a team sport,
we all know that, and so
we are very passionate
about making sure that if
there is something that
we can be doing together,
we are doing it together,”
he said.
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