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PAGE 4A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. MAY 13, 2004
School board discloses, contents of March 17 meeting
Board, city still at odds
over pump station development fees
7 am hopeful we can resolve our conflict with the city
without litigation, ” says Board Chairman Tony Young
During the school board’s
monthly meeting, Chairman Tony
Young gave the public a full
accounting of the meeting board
members held with two city council
members over a board-owned
pump station.
The school board would like the
city to waive some $100,000 in
fees for a sewer tap when Harmony
School Elementary is opened. In
exchange the board would give the
city a pump station and sewer line
at Pickens County Middle School.
The school system paid for the
installation of the line from the
school to the (city’s) wastewater
treatment facility in 1988.
Despite meetings with two city
councilmen (Barry Cheshire and
Jackie Gise) where an agreement
was met, according to Young,
Jasper’s mayor subsequently over
rode the agreement and came up
with his own proposal. Weaver’s
proposal waives the tap-fees for the
board’s new elementary school but
asks for property and work ease
ments near another school.
Weaver is asking that the board
give the city property for right-of-
way in front of and beside Jasper
Middle School (old high school).
This would aid the city in its efforts
to construct a five lane road on
Hwy. 53 connecting Spring Street
and Holly Street.
The Progress is including
Young’s comments in their entirety.
Board Chairman Tony
Young ’s' comments to
the public last week:
“I would like to discuss with the
public the facts and circumstances
surrounding our March 17, 2004
meeting. Earlier this year, the
mayor of the city of Jasper had
asked various individuals associat
ed with the school system to con
vey the pumping station and forced
main sewer line which the board of
education had constructed to the
city of Jasper. These individuals
were our Superintendent, Dr. Lee
Shiver; our Assistant Superinten
dent, Mike Ballew; our board attor
ney, Phil Landrum, and myself.
As the board had spent $100,000
to $150,000 of taxpayer money to
install this system, we felt that the
taxpayers should be reimbursed in
some way for the expense. The
board is currently building a school
in the Harmony School area, and it
will need city services in complet
ing that project. Therefore, the
mayor was asked to waive the fees
associated with that project in
exchange for the sewer system.
The mayor refused, and on Febru
ary 23, 2004, the mayor and other
city employees used their backhoe
and other equipment to attach an
existing city sewer line to the
school’s sewer line. They commit
ted this act in full knowledge that
the board had not approved of such
action.
Discussions to resolve this con
flict with the mayor were not pro
ductive. Therefore, the board
thought that a discussion of the
conflict with the decision-making
body for the city, the City Council,
would provide a more appropriate
forum for resolution. Letters were
sent to the council members, and I
have made copies of them available
for you. A city council member
and I believed that our meeting
would be more productive and have
a better chance for a positive solu
tion if we only included those indi
viduals who had the authority to
make a decision, that being the
members of the school board and
the city council. Others who had
facts or information which might
be helpful to those decision makers
agreed to be on call should they be
needed for clarifications or to draft
a final agreement. Those individu
als for the school board were Lee
Shiver, Mike Ballew, and Phil Lan
drum. These individuals did not
attend the meeting pursuant to our
prior agreement; however, they
were in the offices of Landrum and
Landrum awaiting instruction dur
ing the meeting.
Contrary to reports and spec
ulation, this was not a secret meet
ing. The meeting was held at the
Chamber of Commerce at the sug
gestion of a city council member in
an effort to hold discussions in a
politically neutral setting. The
meeting was advertised and press
releases were sent to all local
media, including the Pickens Coun
ty Progress. No media representa
tives attended the meeting which
began shortly after 6:00 P.M. on
Wednesday, March 17, as adver
tised. Board Members Ervin East-
erwood, Joan Locke, Shirley
Whitaker and I attended. The only
city council members who attended
the meeting were Jackie Gise and
Barry Cheshire, and although we
appreciate their willingness to lis
ten to our concerns and help us
work toward a resolution, we regret
that a quorum of city council mem
bers did not attend so that we could
have entered into an agreement to
resolve this matter.
I began the meeting and asked
for a motion to go into executive
session to discuss pending litiga
tion. The motion was made, sec
onded, and unanimously approved
by the board members present.
We believed that executive
session was appropriate because we
felt that the mayor’s actions harmed
the school system in a manner
which could lead to litigation. This
analysis was based upon the advice
of our board attorney and upon the
advice of outside counsel hired by
the board with expertise in the area
of water and sewer law, Henry
Tharpe. This claim was basically
the taking of board property by the
city of Jasper outside the city’s cor
porate boundaries and without
compensation to the board of edu
cation. We also believed that the
open meetings act allowed us to
discuss pending litigation with
these potential litigants for settle
ment purposes. We understand and
are sensitive to others who disagree
with this conclusion.
Because the city council lacked
a quorum, no resolution was
reached at the March 17th meeting.
Our discussion centered around a
brief factual outline which I distrib
uted to Mr. Cheshire and Ms. Gise,
and which I also have made copies
available for the public. The
response of the city council mem
bers was that they were unaware of
the events as we perceived them,
and they would investigate the mat
ter and get back to us. In this meet
ing, we asked the city council
members for the same arrangement
which we had previously asked the
mayor: we would convey the
board’s sewer system in exchange
of a waiver of the city’s fees associ
ated with our Harmony School
project.
A few days after this meeting,
Mr. Cheshire told me that we had a
deal. We then held a meeting
between Mr. Cheshire, Mr. Weaver,
Dr. Shiver, and myself on April 27;
I was under the impression that the
purpose of this meeting was to dis
cuss the mechanics of presenting
the agreement to the city council
and board for approval. However,
my impression was wrong, and I
will present to the board and make
available to the public the written
offer which the mayor drafted after
this meeting. Before the
board considers this offer, I would
like to say that this document does
not accurately represent what I was
willing to agree to, what I thought
Barry and I agreed to, nor what the
board had directed me to offer.
I would also like to state for the
record that despite reported
remarks attributed to Jasper Water
Plant Superintendent David Hall,
neither our superintendent, mainte
nance director, or school board
members who were on the board in
1999 have any knowledge of any
verbal agreement with the city to
appropriate our facilities and prop
erty.
Mr. Hall has not been involved
with any negotiations with this
board or any of our administrative
staff about this issue.
I am hopeful that we can resolve
our conflict with the city without
litigation and in a manner which
will foster cooperation between the
governing bodies in the future. I do
not believe the taxpayers of Pick
ens County would be pleased with
a decision from their board which
gave an asset to the city of Jasper
for no compensation.
Since the taxpayers of Pickens
County and the city of Jasper will
be forced to pay any fees charged
by the city for the Harmony School
project, we also believe that these
taxpayers would appreciate the
city’s efforts in eliminating these
fees as much as possible.
As I believe that the offer we
have conveyed to the city is fair
and equitable for both sides, I am
confident in a positive resolution.
However, if I am wrong and the
city council believes otherwise, I
would like to engage in mediation
with the council in the hopes that
we could resolve this matter with
out litigation.
Weaver’s proposal:
“The Pickens County Board of
Education agrees to convey to the
city of Jasper the Pickens County
Middle School pump station, prop
erty and work easements.
The Board also agrees to pro
vide property for right-of-way
along SR 53 from Holly Street to
property pin at the further distance
west on SR 53, also on Holly Street
from SR 53 to A.W. Lawson Boule
vard in the amount necessary to sat
isfy the Georgia Department of
Transportation and the city in their
efforts to build a five lane road on
SR 53 connecting Spring Street,
Holly Street and SR 53. During
construction the board of education
at their expense will relocate the
west entrance aligning with exist
ing Mary Street. (School buildings
are not part of this agreement and
the GA DOT and city will be
responsible for all costs associated
with survey and construction).
The city of Jasper agrees to
waive payments of $75,000 cost of
construction aid, $35,000 sewer
tap, and $20,000 credit on 6” water
meter for proposed elementary
school on Harmony School Road.
(Sewer tap and water credit
transferable).
For lack of a motion, Weaver’s
offer fell dead on the floor at the
board meeting.
Board members then unani
mously supported a motion to offer
the conveyance of the pumping sta
tion/sewer system to the city of
Jasper for waiver of city of Jasper
fees associated with the Harmony
School Road projects.
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